San Francisco and what to do in it

it's fairly standard for sushi restaurants. i'll submit to a tasting menu without much indication what's on it if i know it's my kind of place.

"i'll submit to a tasting menu without much indication what's on it if i know it's my kind of place"

I'm sure Ron Siegel is crying over the lost business right now.

Speaking of sushi, have you guys tried Koo in the Inner Sunset? Yummy.

I have been (a certain famous wakeboarding ILXor took my wife and I there.) It was great.

I'm sure Ron Siegel is crying over the lost business right now

i dunno, lotsa lobbying on this thread

schwantzy, i gots the hookup.

gabbneb, have you ever had a chef's tasting menu before?

...

"i dunno, lotsa lobbying on this thread"

I think folks are trying to do you the favor, not him. I've never eaten at any of his restaurants myself.

SFAWTDII Board Challenge!

Help a brother out and tell me neighborhoods:

Aziza
Slanted Door
Uva
Swan's Oyster Depot
La Mar
Chez Sence
Delfina
Da Flora (oh OK North Beach got it)
House of Prime Rib
Canteen
Bar Tartine
Zuni
Burma Superstar
Bar Crudo
Dottie's
Yank Sing
Cebicheria (did I make this up? Can't read my notes)
DR@RC

Aziza (Outer Richmond)
Slanted Door (Ferry Building/Pier)
Uva (Lower Haight)
Swan's Oyster Depot (Polk St/Tendernob)
La Mar (no idea)
Chez Sence (SOMA)
Delfina (Mission)
Da Flora (oh OK North Beach got it)
House of Prime Rib (Van Ness corridor/Tendernob0
Canteen (Financial District/Nob Hill, I think)
Bar Tartine (Mission)
Zuni (Market/Civic Center)
Burma Superstar (Inner Richmond)
Dottie's (Tenderloin)
Yank Sing (near the Ferry Building/Embarcadero)

No idea:
Bar Crudo
Cebicheria (did I make this up? Can't read my notes)
DR@RC

Thx Alex! Much more efficient than a google.

My little bro keeps telling me about this place; anyone been? (ps I'm watching this space 'cause I'm coming to SF for MLA this xmas)

Modern Language Association?

yep. annual conference.

Hah I had no idea. Never been to that Mission Street Foods thing.

Bar Crudo - Bush & Stcokton
DR@RC - Stockton & Cal

Which is to say right at border between Nob Hill/Chinatown/Union Square

Wonderful, thanks. We're actually staying on Union Square (hotel block booked for wedding ppl).

La Mar Cebicheria Peruano = Pier 1 1/2 (next to Embarcadero Ferry Bldg)

Oh I see what I did there. Thanks.

Now if anyone wants to pick top seven or so from that list. . .

Swan Oyster Depot is on the Russian Hill side of Nob Hill, and House of Prime Rib (you don't have enough steakhouses in DC?) is between them and Pacific Heights down on Van Ness

Canteen is a few blocks West of Union Square

Quincie I doubt if anyone here can agree on seven. . . but I can give you a couple of tips.

I would say unless there is some reason for you to be in the Outer Richmond, Aziza is probably skippable. OTOH Burma Superstar (get the Samusa Soup and Tea Leaf Salad) is pretty close to both Golden Gate Park Museums (De Young and the new Academy Sciences) so if you are out that way I would recommend (although it can get crazy busy.) There is also a Burma Superstar Jr (called B Star Bar) down the street. I would skip House of Prime Rib (really it's just a steakhouse) and be prepared to wait forever for Dotties (or Mamas, the North Beach equivalent).

Chez Panisse/Cafe (or Aziza?)
Dining Room ($$$$) or Gary Danko ($$$$) or Ame ($$$-$$$$)
Zuni (lunch?)
Yank Sing or Ton Kiang (or Burma Superstar?)
Bar Tartine or Delfina (or Range?)
La Mar or Bar Crudo
SPQR or A16
Greens (lunch?)
Canteen

highly recommend lunch outside at Hog Island if it's warm enough

If you are going to Chez Panisse go to the Cafe
Zuni is a restaurant that has grown on me, but again I would give yourself a couple of hours for dinner and get the chicken/bread salad dish
Yank Sing is more convenient than Ton Kiang (esp. without a car) and nothing like Burma Superstar
I like Range a little better than Bar Tartine (and a lot better than Delfina)
I would pick Uva over SPQR or A16 myself
Greens is good for a brunch (esp. if you can get a table on the water on a nice day.

Yank Sing is more convenient than Ton Kiang (esp. without a car) and nothing like Burma Superstar

yeah, i didn't think so, but it's all Asian to me, lol

I would pick Uva over SPQR or A16 myself

i know nothing about it - maybe i blocked it out given the Bib G place of the same name in my nabe in NY - only that SPQR and A16 get a lot more press

A16 gets a lot of press, but it's in the Marina (ick) and the one time I was there the pizza was soggy (blech.) SPQR is quite good and a lot more varied than Uva (don't go to Uva if you don't like salami and cheese), but Uva has a happy hour and 2oz/8oz wine servings so I currently in love with it.

we are big salami/cheese people

o man uva looks good. thanks to all for yr suggestionss

It so happens I'm going to Uva tonight.

Re: Uva/SPQR/A-16

Alex's bad experience (I've never had food issues there) and neighborhood snobbery (I used tio have to live in the neighborhhod and my putative mol still does, so I'm a tad more tolerant) aside, A-16 is a Campagnese/Napolitano restaurant that has an interesting menu and a good Italian wine list. The same company owns SPQR which of course serves Roman cuisine. Both are good though slightly pricy. If you're downtown, there's not much reason to go to either, per se. I don't share the disdain for Delfina (the last time I was there I had a magnificently exquisite fiddlehead soup) and I certainly don't view Italian as monolithic enough to think these are interchangeable at all. SPQR has a far better menu for a hibernal meal, for example. Fwiw, down near Delfina is the excellent Farina, an excellent pasta place - really. As mentioned upthread, there's the Sardinian La Ciccia at the ass-end of Church. Not far from there is Incanto, an excellent restaurant but again, far off. Antica-Trattoria at Polk and Union (mostly Lombard food) has a few perfect dishes that make me keep going back.

Uva purports to be an enoteca, a wine bar, so it has a small but very tasty menu of mostly salumeria and cheeses, pizzette, salads, sides and one, maybe two mains. It's a snack menu (which I love) but not a proper 'dining' menu. The boar ragu over orecchiete (a main) was lovely last time I had it. I don't recall ever getting any of their panini (I always think of panini as take-away in Italy and they're harder to share) so I don't know about them but they always look good to me. Thankfully in a place with so much meat & cheese, the verdure sides are great; I especially like the carrots and apples.

Yeah the Marina is not my cup of tea and I never go down there if I can avoid it (and I'm not sure why most tourists would, except I guess there are a bunch of hotels on Lombard.) A16 has a good reputation (and I really liked SPQR last time I went there) so I am willing to allow that my experience was the exception rather than the rule. But it is expensive (SPQR is actually pretty reasonable IMO) and in a part of town I don't make it to so I am unlikely to have my opinion shaken any time soon.

And frankly (I end up HAVING to go to the Marina) there's really little reason why Alex should. At least SPQR is nominally walkable.

REX IN EFFEX

#1 Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton (splurge, tasting menus and maybe bring a decent bottle of pinot noir to save w/r/t corkage vs. wine list)?
#2 Swan's Oyster Depot (kumamotos and hamahamas, dungeness crab, lobster tail)
#3 Chez Spencer (flat iron steak w/ truffle butter)
#4 La Mar (cebiche crudo and anticuchos)
#5 La Taqueria (crispy tacos)
#6 Zuni (caesar salad and roast chicken for 2)
#7 Scoma's (cioppino and sand dabs)
#8 Yank Sing (xiu lung bao)
#9 Citizen Cake (dessert)

if you want Salumi:

Spruce in uh... Presidio Heights/Laurel Village? This is the best I've had in SF.
Cav on Market (right next to Zuni and Hotel Biron)

OH SHIT, If you want pasta! Try to get a reservation at Quince. The pasta chef used to work w/ my bro at The French Laundry and Mario Batalli said he makes the best pasta in the USA. The other dishes are hit/miss but stick to the pasta and you will be stoked for realsies.

I've had dinner at Quince thrice, once down at the private table in the kitchen and it's definitely one of the top five restaurants in the city imo.

Third the pasta at Quince (and second other stuff there being hit or miss).

I think the one thing we can all agree on is how awesome the roast chicken at Zuni is.

Spruce is right near Sociale, no? I've never been to the former, but the latter is quite nice (great set back location.)

The salumi at Incanto are made by their side operation Boccalone here in the Bay Area.

Fourth the pasta at Quince. Make a tasting menu out of all the pastas, and skip the rest of the menu.

^^^TRUTH BOMB^^^^

following up on Gary Danko, for the benefit of those who have not been: i had a memorable dinner there over five courses (3 savories, cheese and dessert, also amuse and petit-fours) at the bar. it was nearly $200 with wine (not the recommended pairings), but apparently they adjust portion size depending on how many courses (much $) you order. it's not among the most adventurous restaurants in town, nor a place for the freshest, most seasonal cooking, but it offers high-level-of-execution contemporary california cuisine that i found intensely pleasurable. while one of my courses - one of his classics - disappointed slightly at first, appearing to be more of a laurels-resting dish (more Jojo than Jean-Georges?), it grew on me quickly (aided, perhaps, by the move to a more correct wine - and it might have been even better with the suggested one). also, while the experience wasn't free of false notes - the bar captain's cologne (srsly?), needing to take charge a bit on getting the wine selection going, overall, the place seems to have a high level of (fairly unpretentious and just the right amount of forward) service that helped made the experience fun (but perhaps more of a bar than table phenomenon?) and that i think people like the Ques would enjoy. and finally, you get a little breakfast coffee cake as a parting gift - it's nothing special, but a nice gimmick (to help the $ go down, lol).

also, easy-aspie gabbneb guide to chez panisse cafe: 1) make advance reservation (or try to show up on a weeknight sufficiently in advance and hope for non-prime seating, ie before 6 and after 9). 2) go to a bart station on market st (and powell, in this case). 3) put $7(?) in BART ticket machine for round-trip ticket, enter system. 4) get on red (Richmond) or yellow (Pittsburg-Bay Pt.) line towards the East Bay. 5) if on yellow (Pittsburg-Bay Pt.) line, transfer across the platform at 12th St/Oakland City Center to waiting orange (Richmond) line. if on red line, do not transfer. 6) get off at Downtown Berkeley. 7) exit North (in the direction of the train), on the right-hand side, onto Shattuck Ave. 8) walk ~10 blocks (7-10 minutes) North along Shattuck (main/high street) to #1517 (total travel time ~40 minutes). *) optional - have a drink next door at cesar. 9) walk up stairs to Cafe, be amused by harried greeter person during short table wait. 10) sit down (front room is probably more chez panisse, but i think i prefer the back), enjoy table lantern/general feelings of warmth, get some olives or olive oil, be amused by berkeleyites saying hello to each other. 11) focusing on vegetables, pick a starter and a pizza (to share?) or main. i'm a little skeptical of the more rustic dishes (more common in this season), unless they are simple ones. 12) consider a salad, if you have not yet already saladed. 13) have dessert and maybe tea (if on offer, a fresh mint tisane). 14) return the way you came. (probability that bart transfer will be required increases at night.)

*) bonus - on the first street after/last street before the downtown bart station, turn east (right going/left coming back) one block to the Berkeley campus, go through the gate, and continue directly ahead and then around to the right to reach the plaza below the tower (look up to use as landmark). alternately, or returning, follow the wooded paths along the creek and past the little redwood forest to the right (going) or left (returning) of the entrance corridor and tower. they're sufficiently lit at night. from the right side of the tower (going), continue in the same direction uphill until you come to the road lining the upper edge of campus. the Greek Theatre (if that means anything to you) is down the road to the left. continue to the right to the stadium. enter the stadium, and walk up the aisle to the top row for the view back to SF (recommended at sunset). a campus map printout (and flashlight?) might be helpful.

you make where I live sound so quaint and nice I almost like it when I read your description

Danko is really mediocre. Recently went there with one of ILX's most celebrated gourmands and we were both satisfied but not impressed, esp. at that price point (at which you can have a much better meal at TDR@RC).

The food is just there, everything's a beurre monte-based sauce. The kitchen is a weigh-station for cooks on their way to more "exciting" opportunities. The key to the place is its outlandish service (flaming carts, dessert carts, boisterous servers bordering on obsequious)... my grandma really enjoys a heavy dose of pomp and circumstance with her b-day dinners so this fit that pastiche.

yeah, i object to everything steve just talked about and i loved Gary Danko

i have a year-or-two-old book of restaurant capsule reviews by a longterm local critic (who steve thinks is fusty) who, while admittedly perhaps implying that the DR is more consistent than Danko, talks all about how grown-up and formal the former is, while saying literally nothing of substance about the food, but goes on about the latter's dazzling food with flavors singing of themselves

but i'm sure i'd see the light if i'd been to the DR

Burma Superstar (get the Samusa Soup)

While I did think this soup was unbelievably delicious, it completely wrecked me.

I like Mandalay better than BSS. Tea leaf salad is a must order (at either place). The catfish chowder is hit/miss, sometimes it's mind-blowing, othertimes tastes like it's been sitting idle or a clearing-house for less than fresh seafood.

The Mandalay/BSS distinction is something only someone who lives here might care about, but a big plus for the former is you might get a table. A tourist probably can't go wrong with either one.

oh wait, she (ahem) does say that it's Japanese-influenced and that the chef is fond of "Western luxury items" (which I typically care little about)

Yeah, you are right. I posted the phone # wayyyyy upthread which can be helpful at BSS, but Mandalay I've never had to wait for a table and I like the food a little more. Tourists tend to gravitate towards more bustling places (as tourists are wont of doing).

Also, we are on for Friday at La Trappe. :D