1. It’s It – often referred to as “ The official food of San Francisco” was created by George Whitney in 1928. He placed a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two large old-fashioned oatmeal cookies and then dipped the sandwich into dark chocolate.
2. Green Goddess Dressing was invented at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel in the 1920’s by chef Philip Roemer in honor of William Archer’s hit play of the same name. This salad dressing, contained mayonnaise, sour cream, chervil, chives, anchovy, tarragon, lemon juice, and pepper and became as big a hit as the play.
3. Chop Suey – No one knows for certain but it is rumored that chop suey was invented in the USA. Legend has it that chop suey was born when the Forty-Niners demanded food from a San Francisco Chinese restaurant.
4. The Fortune Cookie was not invented in China but Chinatown in San Francisco. It was invented by the Hagiwara family, of Japanese origin, to serve at the Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. Today, thousands are mass produced at the Ross Alley factory in Chinatown.
5. The Popsicle were invented by a eleven year old boy , Frank Epperson in 1905 in Oakland. He initially called it an Epsicle.
6. Mimosas – It is believed that Alfred Hitchcock and a friend supposedly invented the mimosa ( champagne and orange juice) at Jaunty Jackinapes Jack’s, San Francisco, where Robert Kennedy had one of his last meals.
7. Martinis – American journalist H. L. Mencken called the Martini “the only American invention as perfect as thesonnet”. It is believed thatSan Francisco is the birthplace of themartini though some say that the drink was named after Martinez, California, a city in the upper East Bay where the drink may have originated. Legend has it that Professor Jerry Thomas, a San Francisco barman, is credited with inventing the sophisticated cocktail sometime in the early 1860s.
8. Irish Coffee is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, sugar and thick cream. Some say that Irish coffee was created at the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco. Though others claim it was first served at the Shannon Airport in Ireland.
