Nopa and the Trendy Tendy

My boyfriend is a foodie. Like, a foodie foodie. He keeps a running list of restaurants he's dying to try and we average about one a week. Its literally the BEST. THING. EVER! My cousin Elise and her boyfriend, Andrew, came into the city right before I left for SoCal and what better excuse to knock one off the list? Enter, NOPA.

Outfit pic because I'm a blogger, baby!
Dress from a boutique in Balboa// Jacket from a boutique in Sausalito// Chanel bag// And that's glitter on my eyes!

Named for its location (North of the Panhandle), it's a great restaurant that specializes in organic, wood-fired cuisine. All locally sourced of course, this is San Francisco we're talking about... 

We arrived a little before our reservation, so we saddled up to the bar and got comfortable with some cocktails. A yummy Zinfandel for Elise and Andrew, an Old Fashioned for Ian, as per, and a I got a little sumthin' sumthin' called the Summit Cocktail: gin, grapefruit, lime and honey... YUM. 

Cheers!

Here's the well-behaved side of the table (bummed it's so dark!)...

And then us...

Clearly Elise and Andrew are great company! But we pulled it together... almost...

We had heard that the chicken dish was one of their best on the menu, so Elise and I got right to it!

Rotisserie herbed chicken, potatoes, watermelon radish, mandarin and arugula...

Misbehaving just a little...

The other dish to order was the burger, which Ian ordered.

Grass-fed hamburger, Gruyere cheese, picked onions and french fries...

Andrew got a yummy pasta dish and gave us all a lesson in the true pronunciation of 'escarole', which requires a lot of gusto! ES-carole!!  

Housemade pappardelle, spicy fennel sausage, beans, escarole and pecorino...

The dessert may not look like much, but you'd be wise to not let that fool you. Having both been to Mexico, Elise and I zeroed in on the sopaipillas while perusing the dessert menu and ordered them immediately and without question. These delicious little bad boys are listed on the menu as sopaipillas with cinnamon caramel... which is totally not good enough. So I promptly renamed them as little pillows of Heaven with the most amazing caramel sauce of your life...

We capped the night off with drinks in the Tenderloin at a speakeasy called Bourbon and Branch. You actually have to make a reservation and you get a password, which you give the doorgirl to get in. Super cool, right? That night, the password was "bent", which I thought was kind of lame. "Bent"? What about like "Roarin 20s" or "prohibition" or "flapper"?? Too obvious, I suppose. Gotta keep the hooligans out!

Except these ones, of course!

Inside, it was suuuuper dark and speakeasy-ish, which inspired a lot of this...

But I did manage to sneak a pic of the secret bookcase door! Never one to follow rules I don't agree with, I happily snapped away while Ian grew more and more nervous :) It's blurry, but hopefully you get the idea...

Such a fun night! I absolutely LOVE taking people out in this city, you can hardly go wrong :)

xo