Bay vista cafe

In fact, I was prepared to hate it. I went because I was intrigued. Do people really like this sort of Big Box dessert cafe? It turns out that: a yes they do; and b I am one of those people.

Bay Vista, which is a spinoff of the original cafe, in Brighton-Le-Sands, is never going to take home a chef's hat. But that's not what it's about. It's not about fine dining or breaking the mold or doing anything but making its customers happy.

And it does. Because the thing about basically only serving dessert is that people bloody love it. While we are feasting, we see families and young couples tucking into their desserts with glee. There are high school kids stopping by for a soft serve after school, young mums meeting for coffee and a slice of cake. Everyone looks happy, if a little sugar-buzzed. As we finish our "first course" of pies and cakes, a waitress appears, asking if we'd like to try some ice cream.

Ordinarily, of course not. We've already had our dessert, after all. But she insists. All the ice cream is handmade on the premises. Then there is mention of soft serve, for which I am a complete sucker. We order the Inca ice cream bowl and are entirely unprepared for the dish we get. A bowl you could house a fish in is filled with ice cream — chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch — and then topped with nuts, whipped cream, caramel sauce and banana.

It's not dainty. It's not delicate. It's big and it's loud, and … you know what? It was pretty damn good. While there's certainly room to improve here — I'd love to see more of the cakes and pies actually made on the premises, for example — Bay Vista is good, clean fun.

And in an age when turning on the news makes you itch with anxiety, don't we deserve that? The antithesis of Bay Vista, Skinny's is for those who worship at the temple of low-carb, high-protein diets. There are low-carb versions of burgers, pizzas and brownies — even a low-carb schnitty.

If that's your thing, this is your place. Stir in the whiskey. Finally, gently pour a spoon-sized dollop of thick cream on top. The Buena Vista ages its cream for 48 hours, making it hardy enough to float atop the hot coffee until all the obligatory photos have been snapped. Fisherman's Wharf , thebuenavista. Trevor Felch. As with many great classic cocktails, the debate is spirited as to how the Irish coffee came to be such a phenomenon in San Francisco—but locals serious about their history may know the gist of the tale.

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