What to eat and drink in the Bay area: Pizzeria Delfina, Koi Palace for dim sum, Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc, Joseph Phelps winery, and Russian River brewery

With less than two full days left in the Bay area, John and I tried to cram everything food-wise into our schedule. We woke up early Monday morning to a dreary, drizzly day and made our way north to wine country. We meant to drive across the Golden Gate bridge since we were heading to Russian River in Santa Rosa first, killing two birds with one stone so John can finally see the acclaimed bridge he’d so often seen in photos and on TV. But being heavily dependent of the GPS, we ended up crossing the Bay bridge instead. Oh well.On the way to Russian River, we stopped by Lagunitas which was only a tiny store. The brewery wasn’t open that day for tours so John quickly ran inside to grab a few bottles while I waited in the car where it was nice and dry. We idled up the highway and finally came upon the famous Russian River who makes two of the top beers in the world (according to Beer Advocate). The place was filled with the lunch crowd. We immediately ordered the flight of beers which gave us a 2 oz.-serving of every beer on tap that day from both the California-style hop ales and the Belgian-style ales. It was a perfect marriage as John liked the hoppier beers while I preferred the sweeter Belgian ones. We also ordered two pizzas: one with mushrooms, the other with corn and cilantro. Both were very good and complemented the different beers. When it came time to check out, John bought half a dozen Pliny the Elders and one Damnation (or was it Salvation?). We left satisfied and full.Our next stop was the Joseph Phelps winery, recommended to us by our friend Stan whom was kind enough to house us for our visit. Admittedly, John and I know very little about wine, so while we paid $80 for a tasting, we liked them all but couldn’t define what it was that we liked about each one. I thought about buying a bottle, but the prices were too steep, and thinking about transporting them and all the other money we’d been spending on food discouraged me from dishing out the dough for a bottle of their pinot noir.Two months before our trip, we had tried to get reservations at French Laundry. I actually called the restaurant back in May when I knew I’d be coming to the Bay area for my friend’s wedding, but they laughed at me and said reservations are only accepted two calendar months ahead of time. So I put it on my calendar, and on August 9, John and I began calling the restaurant to get our names on the list. We both got busy signals for quite some time, and I gave up after a few minutes. John got through a few hours later and was on hold for twenty minutes. Finally, he spoke to a live person who only told him we had to go on a waiting list. I also got through the next day on August 10, but I was disappointed again: October 10 is also full.So fast forward. We never heard from French Laundry. I ended up making reservations at Thomas Keller’s other more casual restaurant, Ad Hoc. We showed up right as they opened, and our entire meal from start to finish was delightful. The restaurant had a casual cozy yet modern feel from the decor to the furnishings to the staff uniforms (John told me they looked like simple Dickies work shirts). The menu is set, and the food is served family style. For that Monday, the first course was a mixed greens salad with sunburst tomatoes, prosciutto, and pomegranate seeds. The second main course consisted of Wagyu beef skewers, pork ribs, cole slaw, and smashed purple potatoes. The meat was good, but the things I could not get over were the purple potatoes. They were lightly smashed with a fork and roasted with what tasted like rich buttermilk, making the bite-sized purple things so simply delectable. I could not stop oohing and aahing about the purple potatoes, and ever since then, they have become my latest food obsession. (Stay tuned for a recipe.)The third course was a cheese and apple mostardo platter, followed by the fourth and last course: cornbread topped with homemade vanilla ice cream and candied cashews. The service, like the ambience, was attentive but not at all stuffy. Best of all, it was a fraction of what we would've paid had we gone to French Laundry. Only regret was not coming on the day they had the fried chicken.We drove back to the city with plans to eat a second dinner. We were pretty tired so decided to order it as take-out. Delfina Pizzeria is famous for their Neapolitan pizzas. We didn’t care that we just had pizza for lunch; we were going to eat it again for dinner. They had run out of the clam pie so we ordered one with a tomato cream sauce and another with prosciutto and arugula. Delfina was nice enough to pack the prosciutto and arugula on the side so they wouldn’t be wilted by the time we opened the box at home.Never before in my life did I like arugula, but twice today I had it accompanied by prosciutto. There’s something about the fatty saltiness and mildly sweetness of the prosciutto that cuts so well into the bitterness of the arugula. Ever since I returned from our trip, I’ve been dreaming about prosciutto and arugula, combining the duo on top of homemade pizzas and salads.We also hit up Bi-Rite, a creamery known for interesting flavors. I sampled the honey lavender and balsamic strawberry, both of which were amazing. We ended up walking out with pints of honey lavender and salted caramel. Lucky for us, it was a rainy Monday night so the line was short—only a five minute wait instead of the usual wraparound-outside line. After we pigged out, it was time for bed. Another day of eating ahead of us before catching our flight back home.The next morning, we stopped by Tartine Bakery to see what the hype was all about. Lucky for us again, there was a short line. Upon the bakery’s recommendation, we purchased a morning bun and the bread pudding. We also threw in a regular croissant and a chocolate pain (“bread” in French, not that we were getting punched by the chocolate). Surprisingly, the two things we picked out on our own turned out to be the best in the bunch. The bread pudding, while good, was not something phenomenal or new to me. And the morning bun, which was like a fancy cinnamon roll, was also too rich for me. Maybe I preferred something simpler.For lunch, we hit up Koi Palace in Daly City for some West Coast dim sum. We noticed everything, to our astonishment, was larger here than in Texas (at least when it came to dim sum). The xiu mai were larger, the shrimp in the dumplings were huge. Everything was so tasty, but we were seriously splitting our pants by this point. We had some time after lunch before our flight so we parked at a park overlooking the water and took a short nap in the rental car. It’s been several weeks since our trip, but we still talk fondly of the Bay area and all the awesome things we ate. Expensive, yes. But totally worth it.