If you’re laying your day in the historically touristy hotbed of San Francisco’s waterfront, you’ll want to catch everything from Pier 39 to Pier 43 to even Pier 45. Somewhere in that mix is Fisherman’s Wharf, but it’s no matter because by this point you’re already hungry, and I’ve got just the place for you. It’s called Boudin Bakery (plus bistro, restaurant and museum) and it’s got an age-old history of fresh bread dating back a billion years.
If you’re on Pier 43, which is frankly right in the middle of the hotspot — it’s the very epicenter of spotty hotness as it were — you need only turn your back to the bay and look back to the land to see the unmistakable sight of the Boudin Bakery. We went there for the uncommonly unique Bread Museum, which is as singly unique as I made it out to be in the first half of this sentence.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t take in a museum on an empty stomach, no matter how pudgy it may be looking as of late. I’m not chubby, I’m sturdy; it’s my trademark. I’m still well within the averages for my age, though I am on the high side for height and weight. Pay careful attention to the “height” part of it, because it so totally justifies the weight part of it.
Left – Check it out, they deliver the fresh bread to the front counter using a sky-tram. If that’s how good they treat their loaves, think how you’ll feel for the visit.
We stopped downstairs in the bistro before heading into the museum, and oh man, I am so glad that we did. Even before the tourist season was in full swing (and before the height of the day) this place was busy as crazy, and the buzz around the place was awesome. Everybody knew where they were, knew how to say the name of the place, and were all nothing less than giddy to be dining in a place of historical prominence and fantasti-delicious foodiness.
We were as hungry as refugees, so maybe our assessment is biased by our own ravaging hunger, but we’ve had lousy food when hungry before and didn’t like it; this place had food like nothing we’ve ever had.
Above – Patrick spotted the bready-critter cooling chamber through the glass. It’s like a zoo of sourdough animals, really, except more like the grocery store aquarium because you can take these guys home to eat them, as we ultimately did.
We had an Italian sub sammich (on their own signature bread), sourdough pepperoni pizza (quite unique as well), a clam chowder (served in their own, fresh sourdough bread bowl), and our collective favorite by far, a crab cake sandwich made with fresh crab on a pair of slices of fresh Boudin sourdough bread. Oh man, I know we were hungry as heck, but this meal was fantastic… and it wasn’t even expensive! Not by touristy standards, and certainly not by crab cake sandwich standards.
The best part is that it sits right in the heart of the very tourist area you want to be in. You’re already sure to be standing in front of it, so if you want a ridiculously tasty meal, you need look no further than the bakery that stands behind you.
Above – I think if a vegeterian had just a taste of these artisan gators, crab, lobster, and turtles, they’d be convininced forever how great their white, breadlike interiors can be for health and total tummy delight.
We took it the extra step and bought a turtle-shaped loaf of sourdough for our next morning’s breakfast, and it only set us back to our day in the bistro with the warm scent of (admittedly microwaved) fresh bread.
The Boudin Bakery is located at 160 Jefferson Street in San Francisco, CA which is right behind Pier 43 on the San Francisco waterfront. They are open every day until 5:00 p.m., but check in with their website for seasonal adjustments.
Oh, and when you’re done, head upstairs and check out the bread museum and tasting room. It’s not just a haphazardly thrown together bit about how bread is made, but an inside look at the history of San Francisco like none other we found anywhere else in the city… but we’ll cover that some more in another article.