Saturday Morning at The Fillmore Street Jazz Festival

After a brief swing through Noe Valley on a very foggy Saturday morning where we met briefly with some of T's friends, we made our way to the Richmond District for dimsum at Ton Kiang with Wagamama Boy. We were so early in fact, they seated us immediately at the center table on the main floor. That never happens. As usual, the plates flew off the trays. Five types of steamed shrimp dumplings, fried crab dumplings, steamed greens, and flat rice noodles. I topped it off with a plate of small, extremely moist "Asian" donuts. After dimsum, we took our typical coffee stroll through the Marina and eventually made our way to upper Fillmore in Pacific Heights. Lucky for us, the annual Fillmore Street Jazz Festival, apparently the largest street fair in the City, was taking place on that very same day. Who knew? The entire mile stretch of Fillmore from the summit of Pacific Heights down to the bustle of Japantown had been closed off to traffic and was now clogged with thousands of pedestrians, musicians, artists, and food vendors. Countless sights, sounds, scents, and tastes. There were a dozen music stages, one at each intersection, where soloists would croon or ensembles would riff. Many of the food vendors were grilling their food in the open where the smell of Italian sausages and sweet onions wafted in the breeze, mixing with the aroma of garlic fries and padthai noodles. Definite sensory overload. We walked the entire length of the festival, stopping to view, listen, savor, and sample. It took us a solid two hours to make our way down to Japantown. Great morning all around, pleasantly mild summer weather, an entertaining street fair, and no wait at dimsum to boot.