Rob and I arrived in San Francisco yesterday morning to cool weather, cloudy skies, and of course more food than we could even begin to think about cramming into our bellies. And we were thrilled. This is actually my first visit to San Francisco (I know…how can I even call myself a foodie??) and I’m on a mission to find all the artisan food producers in the area for Foodzie.

Yesterday we stopped into Tartine, the famous bakery in San Fransisco’s Misson District with a constant stream of foodies drooling outside the door. Just about every food writer swoons over the creations that come out of the bakery, so we knew we had to try.

As soon as I walked in, I was lusting after a slice of coconut and passion fruit cake with Bavarian cream, but was turned down by the lady behind the counter. Apparently it was too late in the day to cut into a fresh cake. So instead, we shared a slice of their lemon meringue cake (below) and a heaping bowl of their brioche bread pudding with fresh berries. Both were good, but surprisingly not the exceptional quality that I expected.

Around the corner we stopped into a local market and I found shelves full of California treasures. Plenty of chocolate, cheese, crackers, coffee, honey, jam and a ton of great olive oil. One of the employees setup a tasting of the oils and I found a few favorites. Katz was light and grassy with a peppery finish. Balzana was smooth and buttery. Both fantastic.

Today and tomorrow we’re in Napa. Thanks to the recommendation of a fellow TechStar and foodie friend Susan Mernit - we hung out at Copia’s Edible Garden & Food Festival. We met some really great producers. There was an artisan coffee roaster that turned me (generally not a coffee-lover) into a believer. We have lots to share - check out the blog tomorrow for all the details.