dunstable's Profile
Friday night and all day Saturday.
The few times in my life I have received guidance from a concierge, I was led badly astray. My theory is that they pick the safest possible restaurants, since not everyone who asks a concierge about restaurants is a foodie. You should probably have the hounds here vet the itinerary for you.
Off the Grid is Off the HOOK!
You know what I wish we had here, it's Portland's food truck pods. Portland appears to have ten times as many food trucks as San Francisco. It seems like anywhere there is a parking lot, there is at least one food truck parked there. There was one pod that had perhaps twenty or thirty trucks, all of them cuisines of different countries, and one of them sold only reindeer sausages, which I didn't get to try, alas. I much envy Portland their food trucks.
Friday night and all day Saturday.
Is that what she meant by "played with"? I thought she meant like chemicals and things. Um, well it does tend to be creative in construction, so no, sounds like you were correctly advised.
Friday night and all day Saturday.
There are fun little stores scattered all over the city, but there are few if any shopping districts in SF that are not essentially outdoor malls (here I include high-end brand outlets; if you want that, Union Square has them). The closest we have to a boutique district is Hayes Valley, which has fun little shoe shops and some clothing stores, but only perhaps ten or twelve of them. Fillmore St. north of Sutter also has a fair number of fun shops, as well as a lot of food choices. After that, you could try Union St between Fillmore and Laguna or so... and after that, ask someone holding a lot of shopping bags.
If cost is no object (and Gary Danko is not for the thrifty), then Coi is amazing. Best meal I've ever had in SF.
If you're taking a cable car for its own sake, don't get on at Powell and Market. There is nearly always a long line at that station. Take it at an end point (Google a cable car map), and you won't have to wait in the line.
meetinghouse biscuits
Last time I was at Elite Cafe, she still had them on the menu. Super buttery.
SF in July with 3 picky eaters - any thoughts?
Most San Francisco restaurants are pretty "safe" in that respect; the vast majority of them serve dishes that won't put off the faint of heart. Perhaps stay away from the French places and maybe any ethnic cuisines they're not familiar with, but otherwise you can go nearly anywhere. Plenty of good restaurants here also serve burgers that are genuinely worth ordering, although perhaps not if you're a tourist, I dunno.
Gialina is very kid-friendly, if your kids are particularly young, and the food is good enough that it won't feel like a waste of a meal.
First time in San Fran
Still, I would avoid Fisherman's Wharf for fish (and like the similarly named South Street Seaport in NY or Navy Pier in Chicago, Fisherman's Wharf is the sort of tourist trap that is halfway to being a cheap carnival.). My personal fave seafood place is Waterbar; it's a little expensive, but worth it. Much cheaper is Woodhouse Fish Company, which I think is a good bargain. There are also many, many places with good sushi (a thread in itself, just search). Also I would check out one of our Peruvian restaurants -- a lot of kickass ceviche can be had in San Francisco.
For live music, just pick up an SF Weekly (available in a red dispenser around the city or online) and leaf through the music section. It will have fairly comprehensive city listings. For venues, my faves are the Independent and Cafe du Nord, but there are plenty of great places to catch music here.
First time in San Fran
You can dine quite happily at Fisherman's Wharf...
...so long as you've selected Gary Danko or Albona. Otherwise, what everyone else said.
Fior d'Italia closing
I had a Tournedos Rossini at Bistro Central Parc like two months ago. It was pretty kickass.
Please help us get excited about SF again! (a little long)
I'm not singling it out, exactly. It just happens that I have eaten at Bowl'd, and that is my assessment. It's just one opinion, just like yours; the OP can make of that what s/he will.
It is true; if you made every bit of banchan that places typically offer, then you would be busy for a while, and in fact I used to spend Sunday evenings making it, so that I could eat it throughout the week. (Now I'll just eat out, heh.) But if it's just for me, I cheat a little bit with the banchan, and buy the stuff that's sitting in the little salad bar thing of the Korean supermarket.
Please help us get excited about SF again! (a little long)
Nowhere, although I have not eaten at every single Korean restaurant in the East Bay, so don't take that as a personal dismissal of every Korean restaurant (although my overall opinion is indeed sorta low). Sometimes I will be out with my Asian friends and we will end up somewhere like Playground or the Porno Bar, and there will be Korean bar food there; otherwise I almost never eat Korean food out.
The vast majority of Korean food is super easy to make at home. With the banchan, you marinate it and perhaps blanch it or something, the end. With the meats, you marinate it and fire, the end. I can't bring myself to eat it out (and pay money for it) unless it's REALLY kickass.
Please help us get excited about SF again! (a little long)
I'm not so sure we have more diversity than New York in Asian food, or perhaps only slightly. For instance, I would say that the Vietnamese food scene is bigger here, but there did exist Vietnamese restaurants in New York. Vice versa for Korean food. And New York also had dedicated yakitori places (that were open late, mind), dedicated yakiniku places, robata, and so on, but here, anything Japanese food that is not sushi or udon gets lumped into this vague, faux-izakaya category.
I'd call it a toss-up.
Please help us get excited about SF again! (a little long)
Not been to Delarosa, but Beretta and Starbelly are different enough that some will like one and not the other. Starbelly doesn't have as much of an Italian slant, if at all. It's more of a traditional California place.
Please help us get excited about SF again! (a little long)
I have to give a strike against Bowl'd, especially since they seem to have high standards for ethnic food (Full disclosure: I am also Korean, so my standards are probably not the same either). There's nothing wrong with it... so long as you only ever want bibimbap. It's a bit expensive for what it is, too.
Vet my vegan List for SF?
I know everyone loves Greens, but I went once a long time ago with some vegans and we had literally every dish on the menu, and NONE of it was good. It was exactly the sort of vegan meal that closed-minded omnivores ridicule: a bowl of beans, a bland soup, a plate of vegetables, and so on. It was outrageously expensive too.
I mean it's been quite some years since I've been there, so I don't want to put too much weight on my experience, but I should at least mention it, since the place is so expensive.
The Richmond Review [San Francisco]
Good to know, thanks. I've walked past it a few times and it looked interesting. Will try it soon myself...
Heading to town on the Tuesday after Memorial Day...(Did Research)
Music? For me it really depends on what sort of scene you're interested in, as opposed to the music itself. (That comment assumes that you are willing to listen to anything, from a church choir to Gwar.) I like Cafe du Nord -- it often has great music, and it's more laid back than some other places in the City. They also serve food (there, a mention of food!). The Independent also has well-chosen acts; typically indie bands on their way up -- which means you will have to put up with all the hipsters as well. (Nothing against hipsters; I'm just too old for that crowd.) Both those places tend to be relatively cheap, maybe $15-25; it will only be more than that if it is a particularly well-known act, and if that's the case it's probably sold out. For free music... there was this one bar in North Beach that had great bands, but I've forgotten the name, sorry. That area tends to have a lot of bars with random local bands doing their thing, though.
I had a nice pozole rojo at Nopalito once.
Where to eat near San Francisco State
Not much that is any good, though. Believe me; in the time I was a student there, we must have tried every restaurant within a mile at least three times. I can't wholeheartedly recommend any of them except maybe Bursa, which I haven't visited in years. And Old Mandarin, which isn't exactly in the area.
Where to eat near San Francisco State
Yeah, there's not much over there. I remember when I was going there, we often ended up at Chevy's in the mall. I'm not a big Fresca fan, but it's probably one of the best eateries in the area (alas). There's also a Mediterranean type place called Bursa that I thought was okay, but I haven't eaten there in years.
Nearby is a great little Chinese place called Old Mandarin Islamic, where there is plenty to eat for conservative palates, but also things like "lamb eggs" for the adventurous. It's a tasty restaurant, very casual. (I personally wouldn't bother with the lamb eggs though; they don't taste like much.)
Casual dinner Hayward
Yah, the pickins are slim. Not that I've done much exploring, but I go to school in Hayward, and we sometimes roam around for a pre-class dinner. The only palatable things so far are Oasis Grill and Kenkoy's, but we are talking VERY casual here, like it's essentially fast food.
There is an area that can be called "Downtown Hayward," which is near the BART station, though I odn't know much about it. You might want to explore that if you're looking to have a beer and such.
San Francisco Hound Coming to Portland...Please Critique My List For Your Wonderful Food City!!!
Hey there, SF hound currently visiting Portland. I'm guessing you've already finished your trip, but, for what it's worth, my thoughts:
You can skip Kenny and Zuke's for your bagel. I just had one; it's the same sort of non-bagel you can get in San Francisco, and which New Yorkers always whine about. I mean it's not unpleasant, but you definitely should not make some detour to get one.
I have to say, I thought St. Jack's was a nice meal, but not somewhere a San Franciscan needs to visit. If I lived nearby, I would happily eat there regularly, but as a tourist... there are many similar such places in San Francisco, some of which, dare I say, are superior.
I liked that they had epoisse, though. That made me happy.
Just moved to Mountain View from New York. Help an east coast hound find his new favorite haunts!
As far as New York food... I'm going to generalize based on San Francisco, and I don't know if the San Jose food scene is completely different, but...
1. Pizza - If you were one of those people who had strong opinions about "best slice in NYC," you're going to be pretty disappointed. There are places with okay slices in SF that approximate the sort of paper-thin crust you're used to (Arinell's and Victor's are okay), but there are other styles of pizza here that are quite tasty. And if you were a regular at Una Pizza Napoletana, he's got a spot in SF now, huzzah.
2. Bagels: If you were one of those people who had strong opinions about "best bagel in NYC," you're going to be REALLY disappointed. Nothing even comes close. In the typical SF bagel shop, they will automatically toast your bagel without asking you first, because that is the only way to make those things palatable. Once in a blue moon someone opens a bagel shop that purports to sell the real thing, and people get excited about it (lately it's Schmendrick's, which doesn't have its own space yet), but if you were in the habit of eating a bagel every day, you're going to have to make a lifestyle change. Sorry...
3. Pickles -- I'm not a pickle guy, sorry. I did notice that the pickles you get with your sandwich here are always half-sour, instead of full-sour. Dunno why.
4. Pastrami -- Um, well there is pastrami here that I think is decent. It's been too long since I've regularly tasted Carnegie or Katz to make comparisons with strong convictions, but I think places like Moishe's Pippic do an okay job. There's apparently a single distributor from whom all the good pastrami places get it from; there's a thread about it here somewhere.
Suggestions for lunch only M-F restaurants
I still like Moishe's Pippic; when I have a day off I sometimes stop by there, just because I can.
San Francisco fails to make Travel and Leisure's top 20 burger cities list.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/05/cinco-de-mayo-best-mexican-food-city-in-the-us.html
Let the ranting begin!
Here's another one with actual voting results, although who knows how many places these people have been:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/1298377-us-city-best-mexican-food-71.html
I wonder how many Chicago voters would point to Rick Bayless.
Central Kitchen, is it worth it? [San Francisco]
That sounds a little on the cheap side, yeah. I'm not saying it's not still expensive, but it's typical.
Here is the menu for oft-mentioned Nopa, which I think people here would consider medium-level with respect to cost:
http://nopasf.com/menu/dinner/
San Francisco fails to make Travel and Leisure's top 20 burger cities list.
Found it! And it WAS Travel and Leisure, although it wasn't 20 burgers. Here you go, this probably tells you all you need to know about such lists.
http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/americas-best-burgers/1
San Francisco fails to make Travel and Leisure's top 20 burger cities list.
A friend of mine who once did occasional writing for travel magazines admitted what I'd sort of suspected: almost no research goes into these "Best ____ of America" type lists. In many cases, it will be one person who creates the list entirely based on what he can find on Google. It is almost never the work of some well-traveled committee, and they certainly did not send staffers across the country with the purpose of eating a ton of burgers.
Yeah, not long ago he showed me a list of "Best 20 Burgers in America" from some travel magazine, possibly this same magazine, which ranked specific establishments across the country. The highest ranked San Francisco burger? Burger Joint! I'm not even sure it's in the top 20 of SAN FRANCISCO burgers, never mind top 20 in all of America. But, there we are.
looking for the perfect representation of California cuisine for one night in SF
I've not had Smashburger, alas. But I have a low opinion of Shake Shack, which is supposed to be similar.
Restaurant ideas in Hayes Valley
I stopped by Dobbs Ferry tonight as well, as I happened to be in the area. I thought it was okay -- perhaps nothing special, but not bad, either. I had the sweetbreads, then the zuppa di pesce. Nothing earth-shaking, but pleasant and tasty. I was satisfied. If I have any complaint, it's that I thought everything was a wee bit salty, but I have a very low tolerance for salt -- I don't even put it on my eggs.
I wouldn't recommend it as destination dining, certainly not if you're specifically looking for Italian food (I've never been to Il Borgo, so I cannot compare), but I could see myself going there from time to time if I lived in Hayes Valley.
looking for the perfect representation of California cuisine for one night in SF
actually that's not a bad choice at all, except for the fact that it's in Berkeley...
+1 if you're willing to go to Berkeley.
