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Comment by ringaroundthetx | Hacker News Reader

San Francisco: "If there's no line outside then don't go there"

I really don't get the whole wait outside for 35 minutes to get marginally better ice cream thing. I feel like people want the tweetbrags about visiting the trendy ice cream shop more than they want the ice cream.

If you are talking about Bi-Rite creamery near Dolores Park, I feel you, but hear me out.

Three things:

1. I fucking despise lines. I will pay money, I will forgo comfort, I will give up on a thing I want, if a Line is an obstacle. I'm the jabroni paying VIP entrance to clubs not because I want to be cool, but because I can't be fucked to stand in a line. I won't do it. I'll go hungry before I stand in a line. I bought a motorcycle so I could skip car lines.

2. I'm a food snob.

3. I've traveled a lot. Combined with (2) this means I eat as much as I can all over the world because I have a passion for food and I want to eat the best before I die.

Bearing those things in mind, know this: Bi-Rite creamery is the best ice cream I have ever had in my life, and I will stand in line for an hour for it. It is worth the line and my god there are few things in life I will say that about.

EDIT: By the way protip, you can skip the line if you get a pint. So... I kind of cheat now, when I go I just buy like 5 pints of different flavors :P

I'm with you on lines. Fuck that, there's always better things to be doing. But you can skip the bi-rite lines if you just go at a non-weekend day. Tuesday mid-day? No lines!

Also Ice Cream Bar has better stuff. Fight me! :P

I will actually fight you over this

But yup, my GF and I actually took a day off work on a Tuesday specifically for bi-rite. Made the trip up all the way from South Bay. Worth.

Isn't it too melty for you? I think the taste is okay but I'd take Mitchell's or Smitten over Bi-Rite any day.

see, I think Bi-rite is mediocre at best. I prefer Humphrey Slocombe. also available in some flavours at he Exploratorium. But lines, or queues, are annoying. But I'll use them to learn some Zen.

Have you guys tried Mr and Mrs Misscellenaous ?

This thread has become comically meta

Bi-Rite is convenient to Dolores Park, but the product is very unexceptional in SF in 2017. Like almost all the other boutique shops, they're not a state-certified pasteurizer, so they're legally required to buy "ice cream base" from one; they use Straus, like most high-end shops in the Bay:

https://missionlocal.org/2015/06/san-francisco-ice-cream-is-...

http://strausfamilycreamery.com/products/item/organic-wholes...

Because of the pasteurization requirement, you can't legally buy the best ice cream in the world in California -- compare the taste of Straus milk to milk straight out of a cow.

Other SF shops have much more creative flavors these days, if that's more your thing.

OK, this comment deserves a Black Mirror episode all its own, or at least a skit in Portlandia, and I don't mind taking the karma nosedive that will result from pointing that out.

I remember back in the day when Mitchell's on 29th was the place to go for ice cream. It was not trendy, but it was popular. And depending on the weather, you'd have to wait in a line out and around the corner.

They're not "special" but they do have some interesting flavors which are regular flavors in other parts of the world (mung bean or mango, etc) rather than going for "unique/experimental" flavors.

Mostly it was regular blue collar SF. Not trendseeking foodsnobs.

I miss the days when food was food and people didn't compete over being trendier than thou.

There are a few ways to look at it -- one way is hipster trendseeking, another way is nerding out about food. If that's not your thing, fine, but it's fair to expect some nerding on HN. :-)

Make sure you check out Salt and Straw - new in town from Portland, the best ice cream I've had and unique flavors that change monthly.

Following the theme of the article, how much did Bi-Rite pay you to post this?

If I had the option of being paid by Bi-Rite I would take the payment in the form of ice cream, and thus wouldn't have any stories to relate of standing in line with the plebes ;)

+1 - San Franciscans love to wait in line. EDIT: getting downvotes, not saying all of SF, but its definitely a "thing" - if you live here you've seen it

I've come to believe that San Franciscans love pain and inconvenience.

Explaining why they moved to San Francisco in the first place?

I recently moved here, I am not experiencing pain. Inconvenience is strictly in the eye of the beholder.

I moved to SF to continue a relationship with a woman who was in residency for pyschiatry at Standford.

I didn't know it at the time but this was the exact reason I moved to SF.

It's the only explanation.

Really? I occasionally see lines for lunch, but that's more of a rush thing. Where do you see this?

Bi-Rite, Tartine, Mama's, Bob's, San Tung, Tpumps, Mensho Ramen. It is a weird manifestation of SF group; many of those places aren't even that good. Peninsula and South Bay aren't much better, mediocre ramen places in particular draw huge lines (Santa Ramen, Santa Ramen, and especially average: Orenchi).

http://sanfranciscowaits.tumblr.com/

Having lived in both places, I honestly think NYC is worse. New Yorkers love waiting on lines, and every single week feels like a new stupid craze that people are standing on line for. I always like to just wait three months and then check it out. The hordes have moved on and the kinks have been worked out.

San Francisco: "If it's not sold out, why even buy a ticket"

To be fair, I have yet to have good brunch at a restaurant where there was no wait on a Saturday or Sunday morning. When there are more people who want brunch than there are places offering brunch, you'd posit that places without a wait don't have good brunch.

There's like a million places for good brunch though. And if you're willing to extend your reach into the Bay Area in general, those options increase exponentially :)

There's a lot more fun and adventure in trying to find that place that will have a line next week or month :)

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