We chomp! We stomp! All over San Francisco and then some.
Welcome to my blog... I know... another food blogger thinking he's a real foodie. My thoughts exactly. Unfortunately for you who are here staring at my page wondering what it is I have to offer, I'm much more of a foodie n host than a blogger. I've been hosting guests in this part of town for almost a decade now introducing our guests to the best bites, drinks, and parties around. You will have to excuse the simplicity of my blog until I can figure out how to use this thing and if I even have time to update the fancy stuff all the time. I prefer getting straight to the point if I were to post our little adventures on here regularly. Before I do all that, here's a little bio about me and why I have this blog set up.
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| Representing SF while visiting friends in Chicago. We're all about that black n orange. |
Food wasn't as fancy back then. If you ask foodies now about food, they'd tell you about the plating, the color, organics, texture, temperature, freshness, service, their pets, their bf/gf problems... you get the point. These days, there is an abundance of restaurants, lounges, bars, clubs, and activities throughout the city drawing many visitors throughout the world... and I was lucky enough to watch the city morph into a tasty little gem through the years. Now I am 31. I went through a few years of my life working with a network marketing company, then went onto the cell phone industry before "Cingular" turned into AT&T, was a waiter in between all this and sold stuff on Ebay, and finally my career stabilized in my mid 20's which opened up more opportunities for me to try different types of cuisines more frequently especially when I have no time to cook at home. I enjoy cooking at home when I get the chance though. I learned how to clean and cook rice in a pot (not rice cooker) at the age of 8, kraft mac n cheese (my fave by the way... flavors not so much but high nostalgic value... you know exactly what I am talking about) at the age of 9, scrambled eggs at the age of 10, and ramen noodles preferably with cheddar or mozzarella in it (haha yes... I loved cheese that much and still do so don't judge me). I started experimenting with spices and the different flavors of veggies and fruits learning how it might tie in with my meats and carbs, and would find guinea pigs to feed my new found recipes. Feedback was warmly welcomed. I'm much more fancy with my cooking now of course... no master chef but I'm pretty good. Too bad cooking for one at home most of the time isn't so fun, and cooking for friends is worse when it comes to cleaning. Cleaning isn't my forte. Making a mess however... sigh. That resulted in me being out all the time so it was only natural for me to have more food adventures while expanding my circle of friends to include some restauranteurs, bar/lounge owners, local fashion artists/owners, club promoters/VIP hosts, chefs, bartenders, other foodies, party people, and sorts. I've had the pleasure of enjoying the flavors of SF and the bay area through some really amazing friends. It's fairly safe to say that my palate's radar for the good stuff got the chance to refine itself all these years.
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| Sunday Funday serving up homemade snacks, cocktails, and wine. |
Why am I blogging?
The nature of my career requires me to spend time with my friends as well as clients away from the office. The more friends and clients I grow to have means more lunches, dinners, drinks, travel, parties, events, functions, birthdays, and the like. Hard to say no at times but never a regret since it always entails an amazing time with some awesome folks old and new. The reach of my network goes beyond SF and the bay area. I'm in Vegas and Los Angeles more than most and have friends in cities all around the world including Tokyo, Paris, London, Taiwan, Sydney, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Thailand, Mexico, Honolulu, Toronto and more. I'd love to visit them all if I could and eat through all these cities. Perhaps all in due time. When I do visit, my friends are always showing so much love and taking us around to all the local joints where we chomp, drink, play, and rarely sleep. The tourist deal is not my thing. I wouldn't even mind farming with a family in a village for a month or 2 on a visit and have whatever they have for breakfast lunch and dinner... being able to taste what their culture has to offer, away from the glitz n glam of of the commercial world, would be an honor.
The more I visited other cities, the more they visited me here in SF. It is always a pleasure having visitors in town especially when we all have a few things in common... taste buds for "real" n "honest" amazing food/craft beer/wine/mixology, an eye for great service, drink like fish, the love for a party that never seem to end, the spirit for adventure, and a heart of gold. So what do we do when they are in town? You already know... We chomp. We drink. We play. And on occasion... We sleep. Call me corny for that last line matching up the subject title of my post but I sure make it hard for them to forget SF.
Years later now, I get calls much more frequent from friends all over letting me know when they are coming to town. Many times they are friends of friends whom I have never met but they wanted someone to take them around to show them a great time... I guess I'm that guy. From breakfast, lunch, dinner, to day time activities and night clubs, we do it all. I post many of our outings on my Instagram account as well as Facebook. People always ask where I'm eating at, where the party is at, where am I catching some sun, etc so I felt the need to put up a blog just so I wouldn't have to respond to all the separate requests. Instead everyone can just hit the blog. Time consuming but more efficient in the long haul. In my blog and IG posts, you can expect to see everything us SF locals love to do here, sights we enjoy, people we love, and of course one of the best culinary experiences the world has to offer. You can also expect to see some posts of other places I travel to or have traveled to. Links to my friends' posts from other cities might even show up on here from time to time. I'll have to see how I can work that in for you guys. I'm super excited and I hope I can be an asset to the next adventurer who has the urge to stomp the grounds of SF.
Looking for a private host in SF when you visit?
Anytime I go to any other city I look forward to hanging out with the locals rather than going with tour groups or on my own. The tours and the lone wolf deal just never seems to give me that unique experience I'm looking for. I have a few friends who rather travel not knowing anyone.
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| Kaskade @ the Bill Graham Center |
Have you ever planned a vacation to San Francisco (or anywhere else for that matter), hopped on the internet, rented a car, molested yelp for all it's worth, spent hours reading random reviews from Trip Advisor and similar sites, got advice from your friends, booked reservations at all the restaurants yelp deemed to be 4 stars by actual users and fake users, put time aside for sightseeing, and just thought to yourself this is going to be an awesome trip? Of course! I know I have.
But when you get there you quickly come to the realization that you didn't account for the rush hours, you miss your reservations, the food wasn't up to par, the weather report wasn't even close because how in the world can SF be that cold in the mid of summer and I only brought summer clothes you're thinking, the hottest lounges/clubs your friends told you was a must go turned out to be a super long wait in the cold SF wind and maybe not even get in depending on crowd control, and at the end of the entire trip you remember visiting the Golden Gate Bridge like all other tourists, got the t-shirt shot glass and that flattened penny with the GGB imprinted onto it to remember your experience. Have you ever gone home and felt like something was missing from your trip? That extra little X factor that you can't quite explain? That sought after little mom and pops hole in the wall tucked away in an alley that no one told you about and because Yelp didn't have it listed as a 4 star experience? That warm welcoming VIP experience when heading into the nightlife? The daytime activities that makes us truly SF locals? The knowledge of the city and its surrounding areas so that you can maximize the number of places you can eat drink and play without the stress? That real SF experience as if you've been here your whole life, know people, and know exactly where to go for just about any kind of occasion?
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| Napa Valley: Frog's Leap Winery |
So I'm like Santa Claus when it comes to this kind of stuff... instead of giving my guests toys they get an experience they can never forget even if they wanted to. Unless they get black out drunk of course. No can do there but hey... it happens. There is so much the city has to offer with so much to eat and do including it's surrounding areas such as Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Sausalito, San Jose, Berkeley, and more. I've been hosting guests for years now so if you are here for a good time feel free to get my contact info from your friends who already know who I am and reach out to me for details. I'll be more than happy to plan out your stay here in the San Francisco area and personally take you around to the best SF has to offer.
I work with referral of friends and referral of referrals ONLY.
http://instagram.com/ichompsf
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