Marengo On Union in San Francisco — An Awesome Place To Eat For A Date Night

It was my first time eating at Marengo on Union (which is located at 1980 Union Street in San Francisco’s Marina district) and since I’m from the Midwest, the first thing I think of when I hear the word “sliders” is White Castle. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I love me a Crave Case of gut bombs as much as the next guy, but I never usually enjoy them anytime before 3am. I quickly learned that these sliders are different, tastier than the White Caste I’m used to and even though they’re more expensive, they’re totally worth it. Here’s how my night went.

I went here for a date night with my wife and when we showed up it was the traditional small and intimate setting that is pretty much the standard for most SF restaurants. This also means that you’re almost always going to have to wait to be seated, but this wasn’t a big deal for us thanks to the Whiskey Bar in the back (that has a glass roof that opens up to let in the sun). We headed back there and had a few drinks while chatting with some of the others who were also hanging out. There was good music, nice bartenders and they came back and grabbed us once our table was ready.

Once we got to the table we made some quick decisions on what we were going to eat. For an appetizer we went for the queso dip and for the main course we ordered two sliders each and they were made up of the American, the Shroomer and the Crispy Chicken. I also put in an order for some sweet potato fries — it was a Friday and I was feeling saucy, so why not?

The queso dip was the bomb and went great with the Belgian beer I ordered. We were both hungry, so it didn’t stand a chance and was a great way to kick off the meal. That was just the warm-up for the sliders and sweet potato fries, which came out about 15 minutes later. We both really liked the American slider, which is a deliciously shrunk down version of a traditional cheeseburger, but for me the crispy chicken slider trumped the burger. It was topped with some type of corn salsa that was super tasty and I could have probably eaten four more of them, but I held back.

The atmosphere of Marengo on Union is upbeat, fun and a little loud, but not too loud to have a conversation with the person across the table. Our bill was reasonable for what we ate — it ended up being about $35 for our food plus a beer, which isn’t bad at all for San Francisco. The soundtrack to the background music keeps a good beat going and there are tables that can fit anywhere from two to twelve people so no matter who you’re with they should have the room.

We’ll definitely head back here for some grub sometime soon and if you’re looking for a place to hang with some friends or to take a date, Marengo on Union is an awesome option you should check out. if you have any other questions about this place, let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

The Tcho Chocolate Tour In San Francisco

Last weekend was Stephanie’s birthday, so we did all kinds of cool stuff including the Tcho chocolate factory tour in San Francisco. I decided to have it be part of her birthday weekend extravaganza for a few important reasons.

1. Timing: The tour was early on Saturday morning, but not too early which means it gets us out of bed, but it’s not too painful. The tour that we took started at 10:30am, so we had time to get up, get moving and grab some breakfast before heading over.

2. Location: The Tcho factory is right in the middle of the awesomeness that is the Embarcadero. More specifically it’s in the Pier 17 building, which is less than 2 miles from our apartment. It was a beautiful day out and Stephanie loves to walk, so it made for a nice little morning stroll.

3. Learning: One thing I learned after Stephanie and I did a tour of the Korbel Champagne Cellars in Sonoma for our anniversary was that we both really enjoy doing fun things that help us learn more about the stuff we like. Going all through Korbel and learning about how champagne is made was a lot of fun for us and it also gave us some great fun facts that we can use at parties (did you know that the wires on champagne toppers are are twisted 6.5 rotations? Well, now you do.).

4. Chocolate: The only thing that Stephanie loves more than chocolate is Kool-Whip, so this tour was pretty much a no-brainer.

5. It’s Free: All of the Tcho tours are completely free, how awesome is that?

6. Weird Connection: Our first neighbor while living in Palo Alto was an early investor in Tcho, so he would always give us beta chocolate that looked like this so that we could give him feedback. That was over 3 years ago, so it’s cool to see how far along the company has come since then.

Some of the highlights for me included learning all about how chocolate is made, where it comes from and what the real ingredients are. It was also interesting to hear about how other larger chocolate companies like Hershey’s make their chocolate and how Tcho differentiates themselves in the market. Being from the startup world, it was also really cool to see how innovative they are with how they run their factory and create their product. Getting to wear hairnets was fun, too and some of the guys there had to wear beard nets, which I had never seen before.

The ultimate highlight for both of us was the tasting at the end of the tour. This is where we had the chance to taste all the different types of chocolate that Tcho has to offer. There were six in total and they were all separated out individually so that we could taste them one at a time. We were guided by our awesomely excited tour guide Jose through each of them, starting with the darkest, hardest chocolate (which also has the strongest taste) and ending with their lightest, softest.

Just as if we were at a wine tasting in Nappa, Jose was sure to let us know how to properly taste the chocolate. First you warm it up in your hand, then you smell it, then you hold it up to your ear while you snap it in half so that you can hear it and then the best part — you put it in your mouth and let it melt so that that you can get the full flavor that Tcho has to offer. Never bite into the chocolate. Ever.

While we were tasting all of the different flavors Jose would sprinkle in some entertaining color commentary and wouldn’t hold back his contagious sense of passion and excitement for chocolate. So much so that I’m not sure which was more memorable, the chocolate or Jose.


photo by Lisa Goell Sinicki

If you’re wanting to check out the Tcho factory tour there are two daily times that you can sign up for — 10:30am and 2pm and you can schedule your time over here. I would highly recommend the tour to any couple for a fun daytime date or to a group of friends who are looking for something cool to do while in San Francisco. Both locals and tourists will have a good time learning about and tasting some tasty chocolate that’s unique to San Francisco. If you end up going be sure to get there at least 10 minutes early, bring some money to buy some of the chocolate (they give you a 10% off coupon to use that day) and don’t wear open-toed shoes.

Want more info on Tcho? Here you go. [view on YouTube]


 

Gettin’ It On At The San Francisco Writing Salon

I’ve thought about it for a long time, but I finally put my money (and time) where my mouth is and signed up for a writing class. The class is offered through The Writing Salon, which is a local Bay Area based group of writers and teachers who want to help others with their creative writing skills. They offer all types of classes that cover pretty much anything that an aspiring writer would need to add to their arsenal and the classes are given in a comfortable and intimate setting.

The goal of the class I’m taking is to write a personal essay about an important moment in my life, how it’s affected me and how it’s changed the way that I think about things now that it’s happened. The class is filled with all kinds of interesting people and I love when we go around the room to share the things that we’ve put down on paper.

The more I think about it the more I think the people in the class might be one of the main reasons why I like the class so much. There’s an opera singer, a world traveler and a county accountant and they all bring their own flair and interesting personalities to the table. I’m happy to be one of the more vocal members of the group, but I’m far from the most interesting.

I’m not quite sure what I’m going to write about yet, but I need to decide before our next class because our first rough draft is due when we get back. I’ve been toying around with the idea of writing about how Stephanie and I first met (which is a story we tell a lot), but there are other personal things that I’m thinking about getting out of my head as well.

If I have the balls to read what I end up writing to the class, then I might just do it. I honestly shouldn’t be that worried about it, telling your dirt to stangers is easy anyway.

No matter what I come up with I’m loving this class and it reminds me of college. It’s a good way to get my mind up and moving on Saturday morning and it’s helping me sharpen up my writing skills, which is never a bad thing. What will I end up writing about? Who knows, but I promise to post it here once I get something figured out.

 

#RyanParty T-Shirt + Sign Design

A couple of months ago I met a fellow tall Ryan at a little get together and he mentioned that some of his other friends named Ryan were going to put together a party that was just for all of the Ryans who live in the Bay Area. He said that they would, of course, allow people with other names to show up, but the night was going to be all about being a Ryan and nothing more. Oh, and maybe your name is Bryan or Brian, the close cousin of Ryan? Well, you can come too, but you have to wear a Ryan name tag for the entire night. You don’t have to like it, but you still have to wear it. It’s our night.

Admittedly me and the Ryan who I was talking to at the time had put away a few beers together at this point, so I wasn’t completely sold if this was ever really going to happen. I mean, I wished that it would and I wanted to believe that the Ryan Party was going to come true, but for some reason it just didn’t sound possible. It was like it was just too good to be true.

Man, was I wrong. The #RyanParty is on and it’s on big. I’m heading there tonight with a fellow Ryan and we’re going to be rocking the design you see below on t-shirts that we just had printed today. For all of you other Ryans out there (and fans of Ryans) I put it online so that you can download a PDF version of it.

See you at the party.

 

Consistency And Persistence

The guy you see in the photo is Robert. He’s retired and from noon-1pm every Thursday for the past 8 years he has stood in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Larkin Street in what he calls a Peace Vigil against the wars that United States are currently involved in. The Peace Vigil actually started right after the attacks on 9/11, so there were others who had been standing there every week even longer than he has. When I saw Robert standing on the corner holding his sign I felt like I had to go talk to him about what he was up to. He was a super nice guy and we ended up chatting for about ten minutes or so while he waved his sign around in the air at both locals and tourists who would roll by on double-decker sightseeing buses.

When I asked him whether or not he felt like his weekly protest was working or not, he said something that I thought was interesting. “You know, there is still a lot of war going on so I’m not sure how much of an effect we’ve had on all that, but personally it helps me feel better knowing that I’m actually out here doing something about it. No matter what, I know that I’m going to be out here every Thursday (he even puts it on his calendar) and making the effort to do something about an issue I care about is important to me. It’s important to me and all of these other people who are out here together.” At the time, there were probably another twenty-five to thirty other people who were also holding signs and letting San Francisco know how they feel about the wars that the United States in currently in.

Here’s how one of the protesters describes why all of the different types of people stand out there in front of the Federal Building on every Thursday:

As some of us have done every week since 2001, we stand here in witness to another way forward: a way of listening, mutual respect and understanding, of reflection, repentance and reconciliation. As people of many organized faiths and none, and as people of the United States, we take this time to focus on our own responsibility and on what we can do to address our complicity in the violent and soul-denying policies our government pursues at home and throughout the world. For some of us it is an opportunity to pray, to examine our lives for the seeds of war and to begin the work of removing them…

Just like Robert said, who knows how much of an impact they’ve had directly on the people who are making decisions in the Federal Building they stand in front of every week. What they’re doing is more of a statement to the people of San Francisco who have seen them every Thursday for the past 10 years over and over again. It shows people that they care about what they’re protesting enough to stick around and to continue to show up. They’re not doing a one-time flash mob and never doing anything about it again. These people care strongly about what they’re protesting and the persistence and consistency that they’ve displayed over the years proves it. I can definitely respect that.

Just being there, showing up, being consistent and persistent — it sounds simple, but it’s really hard to follow-through with. Robert had made it a priority and that’s the only reason it’s worked. I know I need to make a few things more of a priority in my life if I want them to be consistent, what about you?

 

Getting On A Training Schedule And Enjoying My Long Runs


Long runs in San Francisco are kinda like the bomb

As you’ve probably noticed, I have been running a lot lately. It’s been getting me up early in the morning and it’s something that I really look forward to. Since college I’ve always enjoyed runs but for some reason I’m now liking them more than ever and I think that’s pretty cool.

When I first started to get more serious about running (which wasn’t very long ago) one thing that I made sure to do was to get on a set training schedule so that I knew what I was supposed to run and when. Just like with anything else you’re going to participate in and manage over time getting yourself on a schedule and into some sort of routine is a big part of sticking with it and eventually seeing the results you’re expecting.

I say this because it’s nearly impossible to make any real progress and to feel like you have any control over what you’re trying to accomplish if you don’t set up some type of schedule. Without one you’re just making guesses and going by your own feelings and circumstance, which might seem like it works for a while, but in the long run is never a good way to achieve any type of goal.

I’ve mentioned this name before in other posts, but a great example of a training schedule to use when thinking about running a 5-K, 10-K, 15-K, half or full marathon or any other race you can think of is what you’ll find over at Hal Higdon’s website. He’s put together all kinds of training schedules that will get you ready for the race you’re wanting to run and he even goes as far to break up the training schedules into novice, intermediate and expert levels so that you can find the training level that’s right for your specific situation. If you ever plan to run a race and you don’t know where to start, Hal Higdon is always a great place to start.

No matter what you use, the one common thing among most training schedules for running is that during the week you will do shorter, but progressively longer runs as you get closer to the day of your race and on the weekend you’ll do a long run. For example, when I was using Hal Higdon’s training schedule for a half marathon (novice), the most that I would run during the week would be 5 miles, but I would get up to a 10 mile long run on the weekend.

These long runs can be pretty scary sometimes and even though the goal isn’t to push yourself to the max when you’re doing a long run, most of the time you’re running farther than you even have in your life. No matter what kind of shape you’re in, going on for a run that lasts longer than an hour (or more) can be intimidating at times, but once you knock one out you feel great about knocking it out. You’re usually exhausted, but you still fee great about knocking it out.

I bring all of this up because I’m now getting some training help from one of my best friends of all time, Jason Smith (who I’ll call ‘Smitty’ from here on out), who is what I like to call a freak of nature when it comes to running, biking and pretty much anything else that has to do with being in shape. He’s done so many races it would blow your mind and some of the stories he has about them are literally some of the most amazing things I’ve ever heard. He’s a freakin’ maniac and one of these days I’m going to write up a post about him so that you can better understand why.

As I have gotten more into running these past few months it only made sense for me to go to Smitty for some training advice. I figure that if I’m going to get more serious about it then I should probably talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about and since Smitty knows his stuff I asked him to write me up a little somethin’ somethin’ so that I can get on a set routine that will continually help me run better, faster and farther.

After I asked him to hook me up with a training schedule it literally took him about an hour to have something sent back to me that was amazing. It had a running schedule and a few paragraphs of notes that helped me better understand what he was thinking and how I should go about training at the stage that I’m in. Yeah, like I said, he’s a freak.

I’ve been following the workout now for over a week and it’s been great. I even cranked out my first long run on Saturday. I ended up running right around 9 miles and I did it in about an hour, which was actually faster than I thought I was going. When I first took off for the run I was a little intimidated by the fact that I was about to run, by myself, for an hour, but it ended up being one of the best long runs I’ve ever had. There were a few killer hills, some unexpected stairs and a lot of trails on the route that I ran, but it was so much fun I didn’t even care.

I think that I’m finally getting to that magical point when my body has finally gotten used to the wear and tear that comes along with getting into shape. It’s the point when your body goes from “What are you doing to me? STOP!” to “Bring it on — is that all you got?” and it’s a great milestone whenever you’re training. Now that I’m at this point in my training I can actually start to enjoy my long runs instead of just simply making it through them, which makes running a lot more fun. Without a training schedule I would have never made it to this point and now that I have I’m really excited to see where I can go from here.

If you want to check out the long run that I ran this past weekend, you can check it out over here on MapMyRun or you can watch the cool Google Earth 3-D fly-through below. Also, speaking of enjoying the run I even stopped a few times along the way and snapped some photos so that you can see some of what I saw along the way. As you can see, San Francisco is a great place for a long run.


a nice view from Lands End Trail


some of the super-expensive houses on Lake Street


running down a trail in the median of Park Presidio Blvd.


check out my last long run

If you or someone you know would like some advice on how to get a training schedule together, let me know and I’ll be sure to help you out. Leave me a comment below and we’ll connect up so that we can talk about it.