San Fransisco

[Choid]

Ha! Those bars are still there.

I try to keep a live and let live attitude so the folks flying their freak flag - whatever it is - generally dosent bother me much. Honestly I go to Bi-Rite more for the ice cream and the croisants at Tartine are mostly worth the BS to get them - walked away more than a few times though...

Oh, I am with you on live and let live. I was born and raised in SF, so very little phases me. It is the conspicuous lining up for food and instagramming about it that drives me nuts. Wear a huge dildo on your head, fine with me. Start talking about the amazing lines, and pretending like San Francisco began the day you came in to ruin it with your silliness, and you are on my shit list!

 

[Nik H]

The city is actually a lot nicer than what I imagined. People are pretty helpful

 

[christopher.dow]

Just accepted a new job and I start this week. I only have to be in SF once a month for a week. I can’t say I know the city all too well.

Any food / bar recommendations from people that live there or have lived there

Hey Nick,

Hit me up. There are lots of amazing places to eat and drink, and really, the best are not well-known.
Best French (according to my French wife): Mathilde on 5th
Best baguette (again according to my French wife): Jane the Bakery on Geary
Best patisserie (according to guess who): Patisserie B on California
Best normal food for a dude from flyover land (me): Bix on Gold St
Best Vietnamese Fusion: Out the Door on Bush (avoid the Slanted Door--it's a tourist trap)
Best fussy cocktails: Bourbon & Branch or Wilson & Wilson Private Detective Agency (Both at O'Farrell & Jones)
Best plain-old cocktails: any dive bar in SoMa. Don't pick a fight with the queers in the bars on Folsom-that's foreplay for those dudes; think basement scene from Pulp Fiction
Best Mexican: any truck near the jail on Bryant
Best pizza: Delfina on California
Best Italian: Sociale on Sacramento
Best fancy Burger: Marlowe on 4th
Best fancy Chinese: Fang on Howard
Best dive Chinese: any dive not in China Town
Best raunchy strip joint: Mitchell Brothers on O'Farrell
Best classy strip joint: Gold Club on Howard (next door to Fang)
Best liquor store: Cask on 3rd
Best gym for old dudes like me: Equinox on Market
Best gym to scope out hot trixies: Equinox on Union
Best green eggs and ham: Rose's cafe on Union
Best carnivore cuisine: Cockscomb on 4th

Carry pepper spray if you walk through the Tenderloin at any time of day (there are exactly TWO CCWs in SF). I know from personal experience that SFPD approves of its use on tweakers--long story. Anywhere near downtown, look where you walk: you'll usually win dog-or-human by betting on the two-legged critter.

Come shoot with us at Avenal! SFO is by a mile the easiest airport to retrieve and check a firearm that I've experienced. Actually irresponsible on retrieval--they don't even check ID. Weird.

 

[christopher.dow]

Like this weekend?

I was at Avenal when you posted this

 

[Choid]

Glad to hear Mitchell Brothers is still a thing.

 

[christopher.dow]

Enjoy the city while you are there. Its getting a lot of negative press (for some good reasons) lately but mostly its still very enjoyable and one of the best cities for great food. I worked there years ago and my wife did post grad studies at UCSF (years ago) and later spent time there with a consulting client. We get there even less now since moving from California to Utah but still visit friends, etc. in the city regularly. We were there last weekend and didn't see a single pile of poop - its mosly in a couple of areas of the city only.

Go ahead and hit the wharf if you're not familiar - largely a tourist trap with marginal eats but once you've been there a couple times you'll likely never go back. But do check it out.

New and excellent places are opening constantly. A few favorites off the top of my head:

Breakfast:
Brenda's French Soul Food - Crawfish Beignets!
Dotties True Blue Cafe
Wooden Spoon (at the Swedish American hall)
Plow
Tartine Bakery on weekends
Also - hit the Ferry Building Farmers Market on Saturdays - a lot of cool pop-ups

Favorites for a good dinner:
Nopa (has a communal table - great if you're flying solo)
Yank Sing for Dim Sum
Spruce (in Presidio Hights)
State Bird (on Fillmore)
Boulevard
The steak place at the St Francis (forgot the name)
The Alembic
Farralon - old school but still great
Atelier Crenn
Foreign Cinema

Casual:
21st Amendment for pizza and beer
Magnolia (Haight & Masonic)
Bi-Rite Market - great sandwiches
Toronado in lower Haight - great beers and the staff is a little surly
Monk's Kettle
Pier 23 - a bit touristy but cool
Social Kitchen / Brewery
Trick Dog for a proper mixed drink

Seriously though - there is so much more great food than this. Hit one of the brewkfast joints above and ask the staff what they like. They usually have good recommendations.

Cheers!

Herb

Herb knows what he's talking about

 

[ROCKKREEK]

+1 on Yank Sing for dim sum

 

[Choid]

Yank Sing is fine. There have always been better Dim Sum places, but Yank Sing is a lot cleaner than the others. For a long time, I thought Tong Kiang was best, but then I started to think that Koi Palace was better, and a great place to go if you were heading down to SFO. If you have never had dim sum, then Yank Sing is the best choice. It is less weird than some other options.

 

[jff_stvns]

If you like seafood, Scomas ! It is bar none the last of the great seafood places around.

 

[Nik H]

Hey Nick,

Hit me up. There are lots of amazing places to eat and drink, and really, the best are not well-known.
Best French (according to my French wife): Mathilde on 5th
Best baguette (again according to my French wife): Jane the Bakery on Geary
Best patisserie (according to guess who): Patisserie B on California
Best normal food for a dude from flyover land (me): Bix on Gold St
Best Vietnamese Fusion: Out the Door on Bush (avoid the Slanted Door--it's a tourist trap)
Best fussy cocktails: Bourbon & Branch or Wilson & Wilson Private Detective Agency (Both at O'Farrell & Jones)
Best plain-old cocktails: any dive bar in SoMa. Don't pick a fight with the queers in the bars on Folsom-that's foreplay for those dudes; think basement scene from Pulp Fiction
Best Mexican: any truck near the jail on Bryant
Best pizza: Delfina on California
Best Italian: Sociale on Sacramento
Best fancy Burger: Marlowe on 4th
Best fancy Chinese: Fang on Howard
Best dive Chinese: any dive not in China Town
Best raunchy strip joint: Mitchell Brothers on O'Farrell
Best classy strip joint: Gold Club on Howard (next door to Fang)
Best liquor store: Cask on 3rd
Best gym for old dudes like me: Equinox on Market
Best gym to scope out hot trixies: Equinox on Union
Best green eggs and ham: Rose's cafe on Union
Best carnivore cuisine: Cockscomb on 4th

Carry pepper spray if you walk through the Tenderloin at any time of day (there are exactly TWO CCWs in SF). I know from personal experience that SFPD approves of its use on tweakers--long story. Anywhere near downtown, look where you walk: you'll usually win dog-or-human by betting on the two-legged critter.

Come shoot with us at Avenal! SFO is by a mile the easiest airport to retrieve and check a firearm that I've experienced. Actually irresponsible on retrieval--they don't even check ID. Weird.

I can’t thank you enough for this post. I am hanging out in Union Square. It is close to my hotel and I found a decent tavern and dive bars. It certainly is an expensive place.
Haven’t seen a lot of bad in this part of town. Seems as clean as other cities I have been to. It is certainly hard to get around though. So many cars! I have been walking a lot. It is good exercise for me.

 

[Gregor.Samsa]

Fuck San Francisco. I was born there, lived there for 40 years. At some point I might have recovered from it to give some restaurant suggestions.

Honestly, the only place I really miss is R&G lounge, probably the most consistent and best Chinese in the city. Get the salt and pepper crab. Can't be beat. Most of the other good old places have gone away, leaving nothing but lines of sallow, skinny hipsters. God how I hate that place. There are other good Chinese places. The German is correct about the Chinese bakery, but how many egg custards can you eat? Z&Y Bistro is also very good Chinese. I am not Chinese, fwiw, but wtf, at least you find better food and fewer twats.

In all honesty, Tony's IS very good. It used to be the second best in town, but the better one moved back to NY. Otherwise, SF Italian food is pretty weak. I wouldn't touch the wharf with a ten foot dick. Sorry.

The food was honestly at its best in the late 90s, as was the rest of the city. It has become hollowed out in the same way without the residents noticing.

I dig La Taqueria in the Mission for tacos. Very good. My wife says that Californios, an upscale Mexican restaurant is really good, but I haven't been. All of the other high end places kind of blur into one. I can't say that any is better than the rest, just more pretentious and weirder. I guess if I wanted a really good meal in a nicer environment, I would suggest Delfina, but it is really hard to be around the people on that block, and I don't even think they shit the street.

Ranting aside, Cotogna is very good, as is Quince if you are looking to spend several hundred dollars a head. Kokkari has always been consistently good, especially the octopus appetizer and greek lamb. Can't go wrong with those.

This!! Also Yank sing for dim sum

 

[Choid]

You all should hang out with my mother at Yank Sing and have not the best dim sum in town. She is wrong, just like the lot of you!

It is damn good, though. Chinese food is easily the only thing I miss from home.

 

[christopher.dow]

I can’t thank you enough for this post. I am hanging out in Union Square. It is close to my hotel and I found a decent tavern and dive bars. It certainly is an expensive place.
Haven’t seen a lot of bad in this part of town. Seems as clean as other cities I have been to. It is certainly hard to get around though. So many cars! I have been walking a lot. It is good exercise for me.

I usually walk home from work. Three miles over two hills. Helps keep me fit for the matches at Avenal.

 

[QuickNDirty]

Just accepted a new job and I start this week. I only have to be in SF once a month for a week. I can’t say I know the city all too well.

Any food / bar recommendations from people that live there or have lived there

I would never live in that shithole, but the crab sandwiches down on Fisherman's Wharf are really good.

There there's the Hogwash bar that's got decent pork and beer selections.

Pretty much all the Oysters are good.

Take a trip down Market Street when you get a chance, especially around Powell Street Station. That's where the aroma of weed, shit, and piss really blends with the sound of improvised music and people begging for money to create an authentic SF experience.

 

[MtnCreek]

Sum ting wong. Dim sum hairy wimmon.

 

[_Windrider_]

Just accepted a new job and I start this week. I only have to be in SF once a month for a week. I can’t say I know the city all too well.

Any food / bar recommendations from people that live there or have lived there

Download the poop app so you know where the homeless are shitting

 

[bitbckt]

Enjoy the city while you are there. Its getting a lot of negative press (for some good reasons) lately but mostly its still very enjoyable and one of the best cities for great food. I worked there years ago and my wife did post grad studies at UCSF (years ago) and later spent time there with a consulting client. We get there even less now since moving from California to Utah but still visit friends, etc. in the city regularly. We were there last weekend and didn't see a single pile of poop - its mosly in a couple of areas of the city only.

Go ahead and hit the wharf if you're not familiar - largely a tourist trap with marginal eats but once you've been there a couple times you'll likely never go back. But do check it out.

New and excellent places are opening constantly. A few favorites off the top of my head:

Breakfast:
Brenda's French Soul Food - Crawfish Beignets!
Dotties True Blue Cafe
Wooden Spoon (at the Swedish American hall)
Plow
Tartine Bakery on weekends
Also - hit the Ferry Building Farmers Market on Saturdays - a lot of cool pop-ups

Favorites for a good dinner:
Nopa (has a communal table - great if you're flying solo)
Yank Sing for Dim Sum
Spruce (in Presidio Hights)
State Bird (on Fillmore)
Boulevard
The steak place at the St Francis (forgot the name)
The Alembic
Farralon - old school but still great
Atelier Crenn
Foreign Cinema

Casual:
21st Amendment for pizza and beer
Magnolia (Haight & Masonic)
Bi-Rite Market - great sandwiches
Toronado in lower Haight - great beers and the staff is a little surly
Monk's Kettle
Pier 23 - a bit touristy but cool
Social Kitchen / Brewery
Trick Dog for a proper mixed drink

Seriously though - there is so much more great food than this. Hit one of the brewkfast joints above and ask the staff what they like. They usually have good recommendations.

Cheers!

Herb

I live in SF most of the year. Listen to this guy. The rest are pointing you at tourist traps. There are two cities: one we live in, and one people visit:

Eating is one thing this city gets right.

I'll add:

Mama Ji's
Izakaya Sokai
Nihon Whisky Lounge
Kokkari
Bar Tartine
Farolito
El Castellito
Poc Chuc
Nopalito

 

[_Windrider_]

I usually walk home from work. Three miles over two hills. Helps keep me fit for the matches at Avenal.

Hey Chris, I’ll be in SFO in the 1st. It’s a Saturday, maybe grab lunch if you aren’t at the range

 

[Nik H]

I have been going to Sam’s Tavern. Old school and really great food and drink

 

[Choid]

I don't think I've ever had anything less than an excellent meal at Perbacco.

 

[bitbckt]

I have been going to Sam’s Tavern. Old school and really great food and drink

I have lunch there more than I probably should. Great people too.

 

[Nik H]

I have lunch there more than I probably should. Great people too.

Phenomenal people that made me feel welcome. Being a creature of habit, I will be coming here a bunch

 

[christopher.dow]

Hey Chris, I’ll be in SFO in the 1st. It’s a Saturday, maybe grab lunch if you aren’t at the range

Bummer. I'll wake up in Austin and fly to Stockholm. Hit me up next time!