CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >>Blue Bottle & Wooly Pig


I'm amazed by how many new espresso places have sprouted up recently in the city in which I live, and I also found a few great places on my recent trip to Northumberland and Edinburgh. So this will be my final US coffee column for the moment -- until I visit again next year, that is.

When I was in the Bay Area in June with my friend Rick, we decided to spend one day in San Francisco. Instead of taking BART over from Oakland, as would be the usual choice, we decided to take the ferry. I hadn’t ridden on a ferry across the San Francisco Bay since the 1990s at the latest, and that would have been from the City up to Marin County. But this ferry route would take us westward, out of the Oakland Inner Harbor, past the Chappell Hayes Observation Tower, and out into the bay passing Yerba Buena Island and the Oakland Bay Bridge, arriving twenty minutes later at the Ferry Building on San Francisco’s Embarcadero. It was so much fun, and I kept moving from side to side to get the best views.

When we debarked at the ferry terminal on the Embarcadero, we planned to spend the day strolling around a bit, visiting the Museum of Modern Art, and of course stopping at a few pubs. But first we needed some coffee and a light breakfast. We walked down Market Street, which is a major transit artery for the entire city, stopping along the way to first admire R-Evolution, a 45-foot-tall metal sculpture of a nude woman (which was unveiled by artist Marco Cochrane only two months earlier), and the Mechanics Monument, sculpted in bronze by artist Douglas Tilden.

Our first couple of ideas for coffee didn't work out, mostly because I wanted something savoury, like a croissant or scone, to go with my coffee, and neither of the cafes had anything left. (My dear and very patient friend Rick has become used to my aversion to sugary pastries for breakfast). As we weaved in and out of the network of streets just south and north of Market, we finally ended up at Blue Bottle Coffee.

Both Rick and I had visited different locations of the Blue Bottle Coffee chain before, my experience being the one in Los Angeles’s Arts District, while Rick has probably been to many of their Bay Area locations. When we walked in we found a sleek, modern place. At the counter a very nice woman served us our coffee and pastries, even though the deafening din of a machine in the back made it a bit difficult to communicate with her. My croissant, although not really buttery, had a perfect croissant texture, and Rick’s pain au chocolate was good as well--and according to our receipt, they were both provided by The Midwife and The Baker. Both of our coffees were made with Hayes Valley Espresso beans. My cortado was very nice indeed, and Rick’s cappuccino looked exactly like a cappuccino should look, meaning much smaller than what tends to pass these days as a cappuccino. I recall those perfect smaller cappuccinos from my years in Seattle at the better coffee places, particularly Caffe D’Arte downtown.

We sat at a table in the front corner by a window, where we had a view of the bustling Friday morning life outside. And after thoroughly enjoying our breakfasts, we still had the whole day ahead of us in the city, and I was very happy.

When we got up to leave, I suddenly noticed on the menu that they had a whole list of “NOLA” coffees, made in the New Orleans style, with chicory added. Damn, I could have had a Hot Nola and pretended like I was back in New Orleans, sitting outside Cafe du Monde in Jackson Square, on the bank of the Mississippi, rather than near the banks of the San Francisco Bay. Oh well, next time.

Originally founded in Oakland in 2002 by W James Freeman, Blue Bottle Coffee currently has over 100 cafes, spread out all over Northern and Southern California, New York, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, Japan, Korea, China, and Hong Kong. And the company is now owned by Nestle.

On my final day in America, before Rick dropped me at the airport to fly home, we stopped in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighbourhood for coffee and lunch. We had previously visited Dogpatch the last time I was in the Bay Area. This dockside area, known for shipbuilding back in the 1800s, is today a trendy neighbourhood full of art galleries, cafes, brewpubs, wine bars, and a craft museum.

After we parked the car and walked past what looked like a large covered bus stop but was actually a covered row of punching bags, we turned the corner and headed toward an equally surreal sight: a little cafe called Wooly Pig. I mean, I knew that Rick was well aware that I don’t eat meat, and especially not pigs. But sure enough, this was where we were headed.

When we entered, we found ourselves in a clean, modern cafe, with a menu full of yummy-sounding East Asian dishes. We decided to split a tofu banh mi sandwich, and we both wanted macchiatos, so we placed our order at the counter and took a seat at a front table. We waited only a couple of minutes for our order, as the very efficient and businesslike staff buzzed around serving the lunchtime clientele, who all appeared to be East Asian except for ourselves. So this was a good sign.

Our macchiatos were huge but really strong, and they were really good as well. Our sandwich was delicious, and the “shrimp chips” were the same as prawn crackers in the UK, and they were big and very good. As we looked around the room while we dined, we noticed that everybody there was dressed in black and white, except for my blue denim jeans and Rick’s blue shirt. But hey, the two of us were probably already standing out anyway, so we weren’t concerned.

The Wooly Pig started in 2011, originally as a sandwich shop. The name “Wooly Pig” is meant to convey the feeling of comfort, with wooly suggesting warmth and coziness, and pig representing food, family, and the joy of sharing a meal. The owners grew up with the diverse tastes of different Asian cuisines, and they wanted their cafe to celebrate culture and a connection to their roots. And their motto is "Made with Hella Love, Authentic Asian Comfort Food”. So that pretty much sums up the menu and vibe.

When I first attempted to do a bit of research on the name, I learned that the Mangalica, or Wooly Pig, is a Hungarian breed of domestic pig that was developed by crossbreeding the Hungarian Nagyszalonta and Hungarian Bakony with the European wild boar and the Serbian Sumadija breed. The pig has a thick, curly coat of hair that comes in a variety of colors.

But there were no woolly pigs in sight anywhere, or woolly mammoths or woolly rhinos--just good food and a good feeling. I mean, what a great choice this was for my final US coffee and lunch for the year.

Speaking of San Francisco reminds me of a three-way WhatsApp conversation about a recent incident where police tried to ticket a driverless car:

Have you heard about this yet? Welcome to the future! “California police stumped after trying to ticket driverless vehicle for illegal U-turn". Apparently San Bruno oficers pulled over a driverless Waymo taxi, but they say a ticket wasn’t issued, as their citation books didn’t have a box for “robot”. That’s funny. I hadn’t heard about this incident. I hadn’t even considered whether the waymos would be programmed to pull over in response to the lights or sirens of a police pursuit. Apparently they are. but are they capable of rolling down the window and presenting their driver’s license and vehicle registration? I read more about Waymos, and it looks like a passenger has the option of sitting in the front seat if they want to watch the video screen. In this particular case, though, I think I would rather have been in the back seat looking innocent. And what happens if the car decides to appear in court to fight the charges? “I think we need a bigger dock.”

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