Apr 2, 2021
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Stop by Parada 22
Despite living in San Francisco for over four years, I’ve never had Puerto Rican food. (I mean, it’s hard to fault me for going to El Farolito’s since I work equidistant from Mission and Harrison. But still.) Mexican, Spanish, Peruvian, Caribbean, even Venezuelan. But never Puerto Rican.
If you’re looking for a brunch spot and the line for Cha Cha Cha is out the door, walk 20 yards down the block to Parada 22. They have all the brunch essentials: refurbished wooden tables, pitchers of sangria and enough natural sunlight to justify wearing sunglasses to hide your hangover. My four friends and I walked in close to 2 pm on a Sunday, hoping the rush would be at its end. Even though all the large tables were occupied, the waitress let us sit at the counter sipping on sangria roja until the corner table freed up. (Note: It’s a much smaller space than Cha Cha Cha, so keep your party size small to get seated right away.)
For entrees, everybody ordered a version of meat or seafood sauteed in their signature cream sauce. Pollo, biftec mofongo and, for me, camarones a la criolla. Served with white beans and Spanish rice, it’s a formidable plate for food that I guarantee will not stay leftovers in your fridge for long. (I finished mine a few hours later.)
But the highlight of the menu was a small plate of tostones. What are these things?! (That was rhetorical, but in case you didn’t know like me, they’re fried green plantains with pepper and salt.) Served with side of their cream sauce for dipping - ay, dios mios. Our plate came with five, one for each of us, but I easily could’ve ordered two just for myself.
PS. My Spanglish? Still no bueno.
CALLE ULITSA SALTYKOV-SCHEDRIN
PASAJE DE TATIANA Y ALEXANDER EN LA ULITSA SALTYKOV-SCHEDRIN Se paró un momento al llegar a la esquina de la calle Ulitsa Saltykov—Schedrin. A su derecha, a dos manzanas de distancia, comenzaba la apacible extensión del parque de Táuride, donde tanto le gustaba pasear en verano. Pero en los alrededores de Smolni podía haber alguna trifulca que reclamara su intervención. ¿Qué camino debía tomar?…
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Camping Big Sur!
We decided to go camping in Big Sur at Pfieffer State Park during my mom's "February Break". February was slow for me at Pottery Barn, so I was able to take the week off too. I needed a break from my rough month in Cabo...
We had a three hour drive to get there, so we stopped in Gilroy at In-N-Out for lunch to get Animal Style, Protein Style, No Sauce, double-doubles. Gilroy goes big on lettuce.
This was the first turn off that we stopped at on the 1.
Then we made it to our campsite!! This was our redwood grove.
Trying out the hammock that my friend Bekah lent me!
Now we are all set up at our campsite (#146)
After getting everything set up, we though we would get right up and go on a hike. This was the bridge going across the Big Sur River in our campsite.
After two hours of up hill hiking, we made it to Pfieffer Falls! This was our only picture of the falls, look carefully.
On our way back in to the campsite we ran across this big burnt out redwood, there was a big fire in 2013.
Second Day...KETO CAMPING! We made a low-carb breakfast of carbquik banana pancakes and LOTS of bacon. This method didn't work as well as our pan.
After breakfast we drove to Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. This was the waterfall going on to the beach. It was worth it. True aquamarine ocean colors! We though this hike would be a 9 mile coastal trek, but it ended up taking 5 minutes instead. Much better.
PANO!
Since the beach hike was so easy, once we made it back to the campsite we decided to go for a little walk along the river. We found this cool log sticking out into the river, it was pretty shaky.
Our little stroll down by the river ended up taking at least over three hours and 5 miles of uphill hiking through Buzzards Roost Trail. We saw this grumpy tree face, lots of trees and very few people. We did find some nice hiking sticks for the way back down.
That night we ate our pre-made chicken salad and for dessert we had keto apple pie! Basically a cut-up apple with butter and truvia, we learned that green ones cook faster, and it's better without the peel.
On our last morning we made bacon and scrambled eggs, packed up and then found the Colonial Tree, the oldest Redwood in Pfieffer State Park. Then we drove back to SF and took no pictures along the way.
To celebrate being home, we did not want to prepare any more meals, so we went to a great Puerto Rican restaurant on Haight Street called Parada 22. We had great steak and chicken meals and shared a delicious 1/2 pitcher of sangria!
We had a great time :)
parada 22: my new favorite neighborhood spot!
Somebody, PLEASE...
Could somebody buy me a Monte Cristo from Parada 22 in SF? I will be your loyal, eternal fanboy.
Puertorican food (Taken with Instagram at Parada 22)