San Francisco
Arrived at Butter and Crumble right around 10:00am, where we found a massive line that totaled out to a 90 minute wait. As one of the newest and hottest bakeries in San Francisco, our first visit had one conclusion: they were worth the wait.
The regular croissant was very good but perhaps the least impressive, the brown butter toffee cornflake cookie was a skip. Everything else was worth ordering again. Of the sweet pastries, the peach cobbler swirl was closest to ordinary, basically a cinnamon roll. Pistachio cardamom sugar and twice baked blackberry oat were both superb, the double chocolate espresso chip was only a step behind. The savory ones were perhaps even better, with the Morty P (mortadella and gruyere) being outstanding. Heirloom BLT danish and elote corn croquiche were both damned good.
The line was hideous yet totally worth it; if going again I would remember to order in advance, and definitely have a group big enough to get a proper spread.
Pokemon Go Fest Max Finale was running at Pier 39, which was a quick walk from Butter and Crumble. Throw in some collectible pins (also a long line), some tourist trap seafood (more deep fried stuff, plus some ceviche and some poke), and a healthy dose of sunblock to survive the day.
Then it was off to the Nintendo Store, which (also) has a line to get in, although this one wasn't too bad. There's a massive screen to show off Mario Kart skills if you have them, as well as smaller screens for other games, in addition to all the merchandise on sale. Quick stop at Boba Guys nearby proved that Boba Guys is still solid, although the Union Square location is perhaps one of the least visually appealing Boba Guys locations.
Ended the night with dinner at The Claypot House, for traditional Taishan claypots. The ground pork and salted fish, the house special (yellow eel, mushroom, chicken?), and the pai gut (pork sparerib) clay pot rice were all good to excellent, with the first and last definitely hitting the spot. One of the "special" claypots, the pork belly and preserved vegetable, was more of a miss, with overly soft pork belly to go with the strong preserved vegetables, and the sauteed lettuce was very traditional. The pea dish was tremendously disappointing, basically edamame - that was super unexpected.
Overall verdict was an old school style Chinese restaurant that got some stuff very right and some others that we'd pass on.