I love bread. I love any kind of bread, actually, but sourdough and French are my favorites. And fresh-baked bread … mmmmmm …

So of course when we were in San Francisco, we had to stop at the Boudin Sourdough Demonstration Bakery. I loved everything about it: There was a terrific store on the first floor that a foodie can fall into. It had amazing olive oils, dips, soups, herbs, cooking utensils, cute serving pieces, cheese platters, California wines, yummmm …. I’d love to go back there and spend more time. (I would have done all my Christmas shopping there if I thought I could’ve fit it all in my suitcase!) We did buy the kids some hot-chocolate mix, and bought my parents (and the kids) some sourdough loaves to eat while we told them about our trip when we came home.

Here’s me, very happy there:

After we shopped around, we got lunch at the bakery cafe, and then I was REALLY happy, because that was one delicious lunch. We ate outside, on the patio by Fisherman’s Wharf. We each got bread bowls — mine was a creamy-tomato-soup bowl filled with crunchy sourdough croutons, and Superman had a chili bowl with a beer. Here’s mine:

THEN — the part I wanted to tell you about — is that there is a cool little Boudin sourdough bread “museum” on the top floor of the factory. It’s a self-guided tour, $3 per person. It’s a beautifully put-together little walk-through that includes some basic information about San Francisco history (the Gold Rush, the 1906 earthquake, the fires, etc.) and how it translated to the Boudin family making their home in San Francisco. Then it goes into the history of the family and how they brought their famous sourdough recipe (and “mother starter” to make all subsequent loaves just perfect). It also had some cute interactive displays (great for kids) about why San Francisco’s climate provides the just-right environment for making sourdough bread. It was a very cool little museum! (Incidentally, if you can’t make it to San Francisco, but you happen to be in Anaheim, Disneyland’s “California Adventure” provides a pretty good overview of the same process and interesting facts about Boudin.)

Here is Superman in front of another neat display we liked, about the foods that supposedly originated in San Francisco (including the Popcicle, the martini, chop suey, Irish coffee, and the fortune cookie):

We really liked this little museum (and the whole Boudin experience), so if you find yourself in San Francisco, near Fisherman’s Wharf, be sure to swing by! There is a lovely, dark-paneled Bistro Boudin upstairs (sit-down dining), along with a bistro bar that includes some famous California wines.