Cafes Chez Papa & Chez Maman, 18th Street, Portreo Hill (EOPB)

This was one of the most successful food-blog trips we've ever had!!  "Excellente cuisine et très bon service."
What a find!  "Chez Papa" for a lovely lunch and "Chez Maman" (several doors down) for a dessert of crepes and cappuccinos, while of course, perfecting our French.  (You speak in English, but the staff responds in French.....It works out quite well!!!)
Anyway........ it was a rainy Wednesday in San Francisco, so what could be better than a cozy little French Bistro, "fabdelish" french food and a lovely glass of Pinot Noir.

This Potrero neighborhood is a little hidden gem in our city.  There are tons of European & Urban restaurants, bistros, bakeries, and little flower shops lining 18th Street. Everyone we passed on the street had an umbrella, a smile and a greeting.  What a fab place to be on a rainy day!
"Maman & Papa" certainly created some great recipes with that true French "Bistrot" feel. 
As starters, the menu offers typical French small plates (petites assiettes), such as local grilled sardines, fresh chick pea salad and pistou coulis or roasted bone marrow, garlic confit, parsley, capers and cronichon salad.  If this is too French for you, (Rosalie & I are not that French either) there are many other selections that include lamb dishes, warm goat cheese salads, beef tartar (a Chez Papa specialty) and many, many more.

Our staff photographer ordered mussels, served with the highly recommended "frites, aioli".  (Check out those fries!)  I had the Salade Nicoise with rose pepper crusted ahi.  What can we say????
Pictures are worth a thousand words and I'm exhausted from all that French translation (Merci Microsoft!!!) , so..................... just look below.

Let's not forget Chez Maman!!  Next time Rosalie and I find ourselves near 18th Street, we'll definitely have lunch there.  We're dying to try their famous onion soup.  It looked delish!!!!!!  After our lunch at Chez Papa on this blog-day, we just had dessert and great cappuccinos! I had crepes with fresh berries and creme fraiche and Rosalie had the very French "crepes with nutella and bananas".  We're still stuffed!!!!!!!!!!! 

Well, we found a little bit of Paris on 18th and Vermont.  Where does it all end????? 
Our staff photographer and I will be back on the streets of your city next Wednesday, looking for  more "fabdelish" places.  If they're out there, we'll find them! (For those of you who don't know.....Rosalie and I did complete a Saturday, all-day course on "how to become a private investigator".  We knew that someday those skills would come in handy.)  This investigation turned up two "fabdelish" and unique spots.  Rosalie and I will definitely be dining again at both "Chez Papa" & "Chez Maman".  We hope we run into you!

"Bon Appetit!"