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There is a war happening in this town. An ice cream war.

San Francisco residents have been debating their favorite local creamery for years, and for those who are looking for a bit of excitement, Humphry Slocombe tends to top their list. Sitting deep in the mission, this tiny ice cream shop can draw a pretty substantial crowd when the weather is nice, so be prepared to wait.

Humphry Slocombe San Francisco Secret Breakfast

Left: Secret Breakfast, Right: Store window

With flavors like Salt and Pepper and Jesus Juice (red wine and coca cola), Humphry Slocombe continues to experiment with strange ingredients to surprise and excite customers. My personal favorite is Secret Breakfast, which is a bourbon flavored ice cream with corn flake pieces in it. The flavor is amazingly deep for ice cream and has a nice texture with the added corn flakes. In addition to their many unique flavors, Humphry Slocombe is also well known for the richness and decadence of the ice cream itself. They use a luscious mix of local heavy cream and eggs which gives the ice cream the same dense quality of premium gelato.

I tend to be more of an ice cream traditionalist, but I do frequent Humphry Slocombe out of sheer curiosity for the flavors they will be offering that day. They do some pretty daring things as far as ice cream goes, and I’d never turn down a chance to sample a sweet frozen dessert with ingredients like foie gras or candied jalapeno.

Brunch is such a glorious thing and San Francisco doesn’t mess around. The weekend morning wait can seem endless, but don’t lose hope– especially if you’re name is on the list at Mission Beach Cafe

Luckily for us, we arrived with the late brunch crowd and only waited about 5 minutes for a table. I had never eaten here before but had heard rave reviews from both Alex and my friends (really, I only heard “caramelized bacon” and I was in).

Despite my high expectations, this place totally delivered. Refined dark wooden tables, charming nettle arrangements, plus the lively and bright atmosphere were only the start of this great weekend meal.

Then came the menu. I tend to lean towards the saltier selections and almost squealed with joy to find Fried Green Tomato Benedict with Tomato Hollandaise on the menu. Green tomatoes are almost out of season and I have to get my fill before it ends. The kitchen here was super speedy and in about 10 minutes, this plate of joy was served up before me.

Mission Beach Cafe Benedict

Fried Green Tomato Benedict with Tomato Hollandaise and Carmelized Pepper Bacon

Ladies and Gentleman: my brunch. To go into a bit more detail, this delectable benedict is sitting atop sweet carmelized onions, smokey pancetta, and tangy herb goat cheese. I think I heard birds start to sing when this came to the table–it was one of those experiences. Those poached eggs were perfection and the tomato was fried up expertly. This is definitely one of my favorite benedict dishes to date. On top of that, we shared MBC’s famous “Caramelized Bacon”: sweet syrup-infused bacon strips with a savory pepper finish. Extra sinful.

My only regret? I didn’t order a mimosa. We’ll fix that next time.