Lombard Street and Cheese Plus

My visitors must have left me with a case of the tourist bug, because walking past Lombard and Polk this weekend I was taken with the urge to hike up a 70 degree incline and find the famously crooked section of Lombard Street that is beloved of all San Francisco visitors.

I hadn't been up there in years! It really is a very cute street, well kept with front yards absolutely teeming with hydrangeas and other large colorful flowers. This photo doesn't do it justice. I actually feel a little sorry for the people who live on the street and have to deal with tourists. But what kind of exhibitionist chooses to live there anyway?

Like so many parts of SF, the top of Lombard Street has great views in several directions. This is looking towards Coit Tower. By turning slightly I could see Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge, or the eastern residential neighborhoods.

And, a super fun surprise on my walk back from Lombard Street: Cheese Plus, an amazing little gourmet store on Polk and Pacific, was celebrating its 4th Anniversary today. Just look at their blue cheese collection--intense, right?

For the event, they invited about a dozen vendors to offer free samples to the public. Among other things, I sampled several local sausages, salami, Ciao Bella ice cream and sorbet, Cabot cheese, Marin French Cheese Company's delicious brie, a REALLY amazing Italian cheese called La Tur, Prima Donna's namesake and Noord Hollanderd goat's milk cheeses, a LOT of chocolate from TCHO and Jade, Divina garlic/blue cheese/sundried tomatoes stuffed olives, Divina jarred peppadews peppers, McQuade's Chutneys, and some really delicious pineapple upside down cake that I forgot to ask the source for. I also purchased some Capricorn Italian Roast coffee to wash everything down, and so that I wouldn't be a total mooch.

It really was a quality affair--not a single mediocre product in the bunch! I know I'm being a total shill, but everyone who was at the event deserves the little publicity I can give them. Cheese Plus is really smart; now I know which of their products I love and will probably end up buying them all, eventually!