A Restaurant Pen Tour of San Francisco

Just for fun, I'd like to give you a little restaurant tour of San Francisco from the viewpoint of the pens they offer for signing receipts. Spoiler: most of these restaurants use ballpoint pens, and they get the job done.

I’ve been taking pictures of restaurant pens for years now (totally normal for a stationery-lover to do, right?), but not consistently. So there may be awesome restaurants that I’ve been to but not mentioned here because I forgot to take a picture. For the older photos, some of the restaurants are no longer in business, and of course the pen choices for the ones that are still operating may have changed since I visited. Just a disclaimer in case you’re deciding where to dine based solely on the pen. 😆

 

Pizzeria Delfina

(pictured at the top)
Retractable ballpoint pen

There are a lot of popular pizza places in SF, but this is my favorite. Mr. Three Staples and I always get the Insalata Tricolore and whatever the special pizza of the day is. Their “Cherry Pie” (a pizza topped with cherry tomatoes) is highly recommended in the summer when tomatoes are in season.
 

Yuzuki

BIC Round Stic ballpoint pen, medium point

A great Japanese restaurant at an unassuming, former diner space. Not your typical Americanized Japanese menu. Friendly owner. Too bad they don’t do lunch anymore.
 

Padrecito

BIC Round Stic ballpoint pen, medium point

A decent, casual place to hang out with friends. I think the food was pretty good. It’s been awhile.
 

Tacolicious

BIC Round Stic ballpoint pen, medium point

Sort of an upscale taco place with decent food. I’m not a connoisseur of Mexican food, so I wouldn’t know how to judge, but I like their fish taco. A dependable, neighborhood spot. And I don’t know if it was intentional, but I like how they put a piece of paper between the clipboard and the receipt, making the writing surface not too slick.
 

Al’s Place

BIC BU3 Retractable Ball Pen, 1.0 mm

One of our favorite among the newer restaurants. We like that they seem to put more focus on seafood and vegetables than on meat dishes.

Hinodeya

Retractable gel pen, 0.5 mm

Oh, a rare gel pen sighting! 😄 There are a lot of ramen restaurants in SF that people line up for, but my favorite so far is Hinodeya. A lot of places do heavy tonkotsu soup, but this place focuses on lighter fish-based soup (hence “I ❤️ dashi”). Love their noodles, too. Their Zen Ramen is clearly not an afterthought, either, with an amazing, complex vegetarian broth.

Ichi Kakiya (closed)

BIC Soft Feel Retractable Medium Point Pen

It’s been a long time, but I remember it was kinda loud. Food was just okay.
 

Lord Stanley

Zebra Z-Grip Retractable Ballpoint Pen

Another place I went to a long time ago, but I think it was good. I had an entrée that had the most phenomenally cooked potatoes in it. That’s the only detail I remember.
 

M.Y. China

Retractable ballpoint pen

A decent place to dine at a popular shopping mall. Great decor and ambiance. But what a random pen. Points off!
 

Oro (closed)

Branded retractable pen

A short-lived restaurant. Very posh space but forgettable food. But no one would accuse them of not trying. I mean, look at that fancy pen!

Prubechu

Branded BIC retractable ballpoint pen

I don’t think I’ve ever had Guamanian food before. Loved it! Portions were big, and I especially enjoyed the Caramelized Potato Soup. Next time, I’d want to go with a bigger group so I can try more dishes. The ventilation in their kitchen could use some upgrade though; our clothes smelled strongly of cooking oil by the end of the night. But their Bank of Guam pen more than made up for it. 😂
 

Frances

Branded BIC Clic ballpoint pen

Saved the best for last! An awesome, awesome restaurant that has become our go-to place for special dates. Every dish, every meal has been satisfying to both of us, and that is no small feat. Start with a Market Shot to drink and finish with the Lumberjack Cake for dessert. Do not skip the Applewood Smoked Bacon Beignets. Also, I wouldn’t want to keep any of these restaurant pens mentioned here, but with this one, I went “Ooh~!” What a handsome pen.

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I hope you enjoyed this tour. Looks like Bic ballpoint pens are a clear winner among restaurants! Only one gel pen! If you owned a restaurant, what pens would you have your customers use for check signing?

Stationery Shopping in Vancouver, BC: The Regional Assembly of Text

Another stationery shop in Vancouver, BC that Mr. Three Staples and I were lucky enough to visit was The Regional Assembly of Text. What a wonderful store! If we hadn’t been on such a tight schedule, we definitely would have spent more than just half an hour here.

The store was easy to shop, with neatly laid out tabletops and displays. I particularly liked seeing typewriters, peg boards, and old-school chairs as part of their decor. In terms of merchandise, they had lots of journals, notebooks, desk accessories, and gifts, many of them designed and made in-house. Overall, it reminded me a bit of The Curiosity Shoppe and Little Otsu when they were still here in San Francisco.

I loved seeing pens and pencils in glass jars throughout the store. Pilot Hi-Tec-Cs spotted!

Fun buttons and patches! I hear they also run a Letter Writing Club every month. If I lived in Vancouver, I’d totally participate. And I’d hang out in their Lowercase Reading Room, where you can find lots of zines and self-published books.

I was happy to come across some familiar but hard to find brands here, like Paperways, Tools to Liveby, and mt.

I had a lot of fun browsing their house-made notepads, journals, rulers, greeting cards, etc.. So many! I had to walk away, but their postcards I couldn’t resist (see next photo).

Sticky notes and peach notebook by Paperways, mini letterpressed note pad by Bison Bookbinding & Letterpress, various postcards by The Regional Assembly of Text, and graph grid notebook with color pencils on the cover by Cavallini Papers & Co.

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Where else did we go for stationery? This was it! And Paper-Ya, which I wrote about in my previous post and also highly recommend. I want to make of special mention of the Capilano Suspension Bridge: they had stamping stations throughout the park, and we used them to blind-emboss the Field Notes travel journal that we carried throughout our trip. Oh, and I had poutine for the first time. 😅

Hopefully, this won’t be the last time we visit Vancouver. The Regional Assembly of Text was too cute not to go back. Thanks to Rob for the recommendation!