Welcome to The Receipt, a series documenting how Bon Appétit readers eat and what they spend doing it. Each food diary follows one anonymous reader’s week of expenses related to groceries, restaurant meals, coffee runs, and every bite in between. In this time of rising food costs, The Receipt reveals how folks—from different cities, with different incomes, on different schedules—are figuring out their food budgets.
In today’s Receipt, a 45-year-old orchestra conductor makes $950,000 in San Francisco. Keep reading for his receipts.
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The finances
What are your pronouns? He/him
What is your occupation? Orchestra conductor
How old are you? 45
What city and state do you live in? San Francisco, CA
What is your annual salary, if you have one? This year my gross income is approximately $950,000. Last year it was $800,000 or so. It varies greatly each year and depends on the number of performances. This season I have 94 performances, which is a bit ridiculous—I have to have a better work-life balance in the future. The pandemic was very difficult for musicians, as we don’t get paid if we don’t perform. So it’s nice to return to performing and making music.
How much is one paycheck, after taxes? No regular paycheck—a musician’s life can be very sporadic and unpredictable!
How often are you paid? (e.g., weekly) Some organizations pay monthly, some organizations pay at the gig.
How much money do you have in savings? Approximately $2,000,000 in savings and investments.
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (e.g., rent, subscriptions, bills)
- Mortgage #1 plus utilities: $7,000
- Mortgage #2 plus utilities: $4,500
- Mortgage #3 plus utilities: $5,500
- Child support: $5,000
- Personal assistant(s): $5,000
- Monthly total: $27,000
The diet
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions? No.
What are the grocery staples you always buy, if any? Tortillas, eggs, bread, blueberries, oatmeal, some sort of lean protein, butter, spinach. Because I travel so often, I tend to buy only for a few days at a time or even just a single meal.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home? A perk of a career that necessitates a lot of travel is experiencing different cultures and exploring each city’s food scene. If I’m out of town for a concert set in a different state or country, then I’m generally eating out every meal. When I’m working close to home, I’ll cook a few times a week. I have a garden with tomatoes, lettuces, peppers, etc. that I love making salads from. I also like to check out new restaurants and favorite mainstays based on a mix of recommendations from Michelin, Eater, Bon Appétit, and random food bloggers I follow. The Bay Area food scene has much to explore!
How often in a week did you dine out while growing up? Maybe once a week? I wouldn’t call it a special occasion, but I do have great memories of going to certain restaurants such as the local Italian or Chinese restaurant.
How often in a week did your parents or guardians cook at home? Most every night—my parents love to cook. They always cooked for the holidays and have certain favorite dishes that my siblings and I always loved. One favorite dish was ti pang, a Chinese braised pork shank. When asking my parents how to cook it, they’d just say, well, it depends on the meat, the size of the container—it changes each time. It took me years before I figured out how to make this dish reliably.
The expenses
- Week’s total: $3,506.41
- Restaurants and cafés total: $3,506.41
- Groceries total: $0
- Most-expensive meal: Tasting menu with sake pairings at Nisei, $1,216.39
- Least-expensive meal: Tea at Rad Radish, $3.70
- Number of restaurant and café meals: 21
- Number of grocery trips: 0
The diary
11 a.m. I’m starting off the week in Palo Alto for a few work meetings. I typically don’t eat breakfast but I’m looking for a café in which to work after my meetings, so I park myself at a Joe & the Juice and have a black tea and a cucumber and pineapple juice. ($17.53 total) I don’t want to fill up on anything more substantial since I’m just about to get lunch. This is just something to order so I don’t feel guilty about staying in the shop for an hour ripping through emails.
12 p.m. Colleagues from SFJazz clued me into Meyhouse, a new Turkish restaurant, since they advised the restaurant on a potential performing space on site. I end up with some juicy, herbaceous, and spicy mantisi, or Turkish dumplings, ($18) and a succulent Galician octopus over a rather boring fava bean mash ($22). And I can’t help but order the old fashioned made with Turkish sage tea; I especially love the recent trend of tea-based simple syrups for old fashioneds. ($32) Fantastically bold flavors all around, there were just too many things to try. I’ll have to convince my colleagues to come out to explore more. ($102.12 total)
6 p.m. A dear colleague and fantastic pianist happens to be in town. He and I consistently share restaurant recommendations from various cities as we travel, so it’s always a good time when we’re in the same city. We decide to check out 7 Adams, a new restaurant by the former chefs of the now-closed Michelin-starred Marlena. The restaurant features an exceptional five-course prix fixe menu that I think is sure to gain a star. The pasta course is a decadent and luxurious lamb cappellacci covered with shaved black truffles. I tend to find truffles gimmicky, but the way they melt into the ridiculously viscous veal jus causes both of us to just stop and contemplate life after each bite. I’m also incredibly annoyed at how tender and luscious the pork shoulder was, since I consider myself a particular expert on cooking pork shoulder. And we have a fantastic time with the waitstaff as we blind-taste various wines on the wine list (and get them all wrong). An entirely enjoyable evening, food and company both. ($485.88 total)
9 a.m. I was never a coffee drinker. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that I’d just never had decent coffee before; I just assumed I didn’t like coffee and ended up addicted to tea. I spend the morning working at Dek Doi, a new Thai coffee shop in Piedmont, Oakland, having a lovely Assam black tea. ($6.26) I’ve always loved working in restaurants and cafes—something about the lively conversation and energy of the restaurant helps focus me on the work I have to do.
1 p.m. Since California winters are so mild, my garden still produces. For lunch, I have carnitas tacos with greens from the garden and homemade pickled onions and jalapeños. I made a large batch of carnitas a while ago that I portioned and froze for meals such as this. I absolutely love cooking and attempting various recipes from chefs I admire. This carnitas recipe, though, is an attempt at an ex-girlfriend’s unbelievably delicious family carnitas recipe that includes lard, milk, and oranges—the best carnitas I’ve ever had. I haven’t had the nerve to ask her for her mother’s recipe so I keep trying to recreate it myself. Still delicious, though it’s clearly still missing something…at least I’m getting better at toasting the tortillas on the open stove and fire. I have a chocolate chip cookie as well that was leftover from Christmas and shoved into the freezer.
5 p.m. I’m attending a colleague’s concert tonight and end up in Chinatown visiting Mister Jiu’s for a bite before the performance. A long time ago I was on a quest to visit every single Michelin-starred restaurant in Northern California, and I was able to complete it before the pandemic. Now I just visit the new restaurants on the list—but since I haven’t been to Mister Jiu’s in years, it seems like a good time to revisit.
Growing up, one of my favorite dishes was my parents’ mapo tofu, a spicy, comforting mix of minced pork and silken tofu. Nothing can beat the comfort of a bowl of hot, steaming rice topped with mapo tofu. Mister Jiu’s mapo tofu has such depth of flavor, probably due to the fermented black beans. (But like most childhood comfort foods, it just can’t compare to my parents’ version.) The pu-erh simple syrup old fashioned (another tea-inspired old fashioned!) is absolutely delicious, but the mix of high alcohol and spicy food is a poor choice of mine. I get some necessary cooling ice milk (basically an ice cream) sprinkled with torn mint leaves to calm the heat of the Sichuan peppercorns in the tofu. ($67.87 total)
9:40 a.m. I’m heading into East Bay to do some advance planning with some colleagues and end up at Artís Coffee in Berkeley before my meeting. Oddly this coffee shop has piroshkis alongside the typical assortment of croissants and morning buns. I try a rather dry chicken variety, but feel the same obligation that one feels when eating at a friend’s house—clearly homemade and made with care, it feels like I have to finish it all. ($6.50) I also get an Earl Grey. ($5) ($13.80 total)
12:30 p.m. After what seem to be interminable discussions and meetings, my colleagues and I go out to lunch, this time to Berkeley Social Club. Despite the bland name, Berkeley Social Club is a beloved Korean American restaurant by the same owner of one of my favorite breakfast nooks, Kitchen Story. It’s been quite cold recently so I immediately gravitate to black tea ($5) and jook ($19) to warm myself. Actually, the dish’s name on the menu is “Supreme Jook,” as it’s dressed up with bacon, shrimp, eggs, and a whole assortment of veggies. I usually consider jook to be like fried rice, more of a vehicle to clean one’s fridge of leftovers. As gussied up as this one is, it certainly hits the spot, especially since all of us keep getting hit by waves of cold air each time the restaurant door opens. ($24 total, paid by work)
8:30 p.m. I’m on a date at Dalida, which just opened this past summer. Its decadent Mediterranean menu paired with a celebratory atmosphere makes it a place to visit often, even if the dishes are a bit hit or miss. The Dungeness-stuffed squid immediately piques our interest since Dungeness crab season has just begun in the area. ($38) But the sweetness of the crab just doesn’t mesh with the rich seafood broth it swims in, and the accompanying sesame-encrusted woven bread circle seems equally out of place—if a bread can’t mop up and drench itself in a broth, what’s it there for?
Any disappointment with the crab (mental reminder for myself to just go to the boats and buy some live crab) is washed away by the unique and excellent brandy selections. I seek out the elegant sweetness of a 1983 Lemorton Calvados ($90) and experiment with a bold and heavy-handed Armenia Ararat ($16). Both are formidable pairings for the baklava ($14), which seems to be so reimagined that it just ends up being a mille-feuille with pistachio dust (and no honey). I’m always a sucker for mille-feuilles though, so whatever the restaurant calls it, it’s a lovely way to end the evening. We also order the caviar ($70), Duroc pork souvlaki ($19), and little gems ($13), plus Bruichladdich Bere barley ($40) and a Lambrusco ($18) to drink. ($431.33 total)
9 a.m. A slew of meetings in the city today, why not have them at delicious places? I get a morning tea at Rad Radish, a popular vegan restaurant in Hayes Valley, close to where the concert halls are. I typically get an Impossible sausage breakfast sandwich at Rad Radish, but I want to save space for lunch and meetings. ($3.70 total)
11 a.m. Lunch is at the very traditional French patisserie Maison Nico. A pastry shop, it also specializes in aspics and rarer French pastries like pithiviers. The pithivier is duck this time ($28), a very decorative, elegant, and light lunch including tea ($4). I also have to indulge in some of the sweets, including a delicate financier ($3) and the choux de saison, which is pistachio ($4). ($54.74 total)
12:30 p.m. I’ve stayed at Maison Nico for a business meeting and end up getting another treat, a pain au chocolat ($5.25), plus an Earl Grey for a friend ($4). Arsicault has my favorite croissant in the city, but Maison Nico’s pastries are really worth dealing with the terrible parking. ($25.92 total)
2 p.m. Returning to Rad Radish for the third tea of the day ($3.70) for yet another business meeting.
5 p.m. I’m attending the symphony this evening, so I head for an early dinner at Yokai, a hip Japanese restaurant with amazing skewers. The salmon skewer is my favorite—a fatty unctuous belly with a slight crisp char before it melts away in your mouth. It’s somehow richer (and more tender) than the wagyu skewer. Since Yokai is by the same team behind Gozu, a restaurant that pays homage to wagyu beef, I also have to try the burger. It does not disappoint. The beef is the star, not the cheese, not the toasted bun, nor the accompaniments; it’s a juicy, meaty, and satisfying pure beef burger. ($343.46 total)
9 p.m. After the concert, a couple of the musicians and I head out to True Laurel, a cocktail bar by the team from Lazy Bear, one of my favorite two-starred Michelin restaurants in San Francisco. A couple of bitter, medicinal Sazeracs ($34 total) and a chicken liver mousse ($14) end a very long day. ($62.57 total)
11 a.m. Clearly I didn’t learn so I inexplicably order another dry and tough chicken piroshki ($6.50) at Artís Coffee along with an Earl Grey ($5). There are other varieties; even if I already know the dough would be tough and chalky, perhaps a different filling would have been a saving grace. But no, I order the chicken again. This time I don’t have the same qualms and guilt as before and throw out the rest. ($13.22 total)
1 p.m. My East Bay colleagues visit Platano in Berkeley for a work lunch and I end up with an overly generous plate of stuffed Salvadorian pupusas, addicting casamiento (beans and rice), and a seemingly neverending chicken tamale (perhaps to atone for the morning’s dry chicken piroshki). I can’t help but empty half of the bottle of housemade hot sauce over it all. Everything at Platano seems housemade: the unlabeled hot sauce, the crunchy, acidic cabbage slaw…even the restaurant sign outside seems homemade. I take what seems like three full portions home. ($66.94 total, paid by work)
7 p.m. I have a complete dinner thanks to the leftover pupusas, casamiento, and chicken tamale.
8:30 a.m. I have my two boys (10 and 8) over for the weekend—their mother and I are divorced and I typically have them when I’m in town or on weekends. It’s true that fathers are just vacuum cleaners for whatever the kids don’t eat. They requested chicken nuggets, proceeded to eat two, and went off to play. So I end up having a breakfast of chicken nuggets. I’m still a sucker for them…sorry, Jamie Oliver…
11 a.m. I take the boys to the California Academy of Sciences and am frankly surprised that a major institution in San Francisco doesn’t have better food. The boys get chicken tenders (didn’t they just shun chicken nuggets in the morning?) and a hot dog. I ended up with a tragic chipotle chicken sandwich on an inedible focaccia. While people don’t go to the Academy of Science for food, I’d hoped they’d try a little harder to provide healthier options. Or perhaps just something edible? ($45.26 total)
2 p.m. As a consolation, we all go to Yogurtland to get something sweet. I tend to get 50 cents’ worth of frozen yogurt, this time toffee, with a few sprinkles of nuts. My two sons get some sort of blue nuclear-looking frozen yogurt with gummy bears and sour worms. ($15.30 total)
5 p.m. The boys have a sleepover, so I take my current partner out to check out the new rooftop bar Starlite. Considering how many rooftop bars put more into ambiance than quality dishes, the food is surprisingly on point. Too bad it’s overcast and rather wet—the views are rather lackluster, although the art deco interiors provide enough atmosphere. The fried chicken bao is unexpectedly good ($18), especially since it seems like a “trendy” addition to the menu. We also get crudité with green goddess dressing ($18), tuna crudo ($20), and some drinks. What’s with the recent push to serve caviar with potato chips ($120)? I’ve never understood serving salty potato chips with salty caviar. It’s had its 30 seconds of fame. Can we go back to banana pancakes slathered with caviar? ($341.42 total)
7 p.m. Since we’re in the area, we go to Mourad for dessert. It’s a sleek, modern Moroccan place, and we almost ignore our cumin sticky cake and spiced pecans for a transcendent Moroccan mint tea. The cocktails are also delicious, but it’s the tea we keep talking about and asking for refills on. ($165 total)
11 a.m. The boys are entranced with a bunny that has somehow invaded the garden. It’s a huge spotted rabbit that clearly is a pet, and while the boys are trying to feed it chard and bok choy from the garden, I’m frantically texting neighbors to see if they know whose rabbit it is. It runs off before somebody can collect it, but the boys and I harvest some more veggies for a lunch of tacos with homemade carnitas and chard, green onion, peppers, and lettuce. They love tacos and it helps for them to have picked veggies to actually eat them.
6 p.m. The boys have gone back to their mother, and my partner and I have an evening to ourselves. We had a reservation at Birch & Rye but the restaurant canceled, presumably due to the storm coming through San Francisco. Made a last-minute reservation to Nisei, which I haven’t been to since its opening. It’s an absolutely stunning array of elegant and succulent Japanese dishes. I’m always a sucker for a good scallop, and the barely seared scallop with misozuke kuri squash and gooseberry is transcendent. A smoked squab is wonderful but desperately needs more of the Lucy Rose apple and tarragon to balance out a very concentrated dark jus.
The stars of the evening are actually the sakes. Their unbelievable pairings show an impressive range of what sake can be. We’re fascinated by the Nishide Shuzo “100 Year” sake, which uses 100-year-old yeast that only grows at the brewery. Rich but dry, the sake comes in a gorgeously decorated kutani-yaki porcelain bottle. The bottle for the Imayo Tsukasa “KOI” Junmai Ginjo is equally beautiful, all white with red splotches mimicking the coloration of a koi. Savory with earthy notes and a rich mouthfeel, this sake feels like it’ll last for days on the tongue. We discuss how utterly little we know of sakes and make a note to try to reserve tickets to Sake Day in the city to learn more. ($1,216.39 total)