San Francisco and what to do in it

OK so SF is awesome and already we have enjoyed great meals at Chez Spence, Dottie's, Sentinal, and Bar Crudo. All excellent recs, thanking u. But now I am hotel-bound with a horrible fucking cold complete with fever, chills, and hurting hair. No way I will make it out for dinner--any ideas for take-out/delivery? We're on Bush at the Stockton tunnel. Chinese, pizza, anything.

Meanwhile Mr. Que is out having a good time at Amoeba, as he should be!

There's got to be some Chinese delivery nearby, but I've never ordered out from near there.

Zante's Indian Pizza! A local specialty I've never really seen anywhere else (even in India!) that I recommend to every SF visitor. Dunno if they deliver all the way over there though.

http://www.zantepizza.com/

Oh man that looks good, and it looks like they deliver anywheres! Thanks!!!

http://www.zantepizza.com/images/135_3595cook.jpg

hmm now I kinda want one

Mr. Que is expressing doubts about the awesomeness of Indian pizza wtf?

maybe we can get someone else who lives here to weigh in (gygax will probably complain that its too greasy or something)

Ah, foah wun, fahnd this pizza miscegenation, highly distuhbin'.

Now, I really want to try some. I am especially intrigued by the idea of cauliflower on pizza.

I am totally going to eat this. Is this a Zante-only thing or do other SF establishments make these things?

Zante's is the original. I think there are some other knockoffs trying to get in on their action because they've been so successful.

Kinda surprised M. White's never had one!

Zante's is great but make sure you don't accidentally order a regular pizza there, because they do make conventional pizzas as well and they're nothing special.

^^true

I don't eat a lot of Indian food - I love the flavor but something about it never agrees with me.

Yeah, I haven't had a Zante's pizza in a while... Get it well-done.

Zante's is great. What is pizza if not greasy tho? Also, you guys are all assholes. <3

Cue Steve Shasta to tell me that really the best Vietnamese sandwiches are at Sing Sing or whatever haha.

Lee's in the TL. It's a branch of the SJ version which is the real deal holyfield.

Okay no way. Saigon >>>>>>>> Lee's. I think you are the first person I've ever heard say otherwise.

What's the place that's next to Turtle Tower?

That's Lee's.

That's what I thought. Never been but their Banh Mi looked fancy.

Well, I only eat at the Lee's in SJ. So there's that. Kudos.

If I'm eating banh mi, there's evey chance I'm not going to be excessively choosy.

Hay what size indian pizza do two dcilxors need? I'm thinking I will also throw in a curry or whathave you for crust-dipping purposes.

Guys I'm sorry I'm being so uber-obsessed with indian pizza; just that I've been stuck feeling like crap in hotel room all day and this will be like the total highlight of today's SF vacation.

Although Mr. Que brought me a surprise from Japantown, which was totally nice.

I would say a Medium should be plenty unless you are super-starving and want to eat 5 slices each - no additional curry necessary either

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/18/bill-oreilly-smears-san-f_n_144734.html

I think I just like that because of the headline-- 'Bill O'Reilly Smears San Francisco'

haha O'Reilly always reliant with the super A++ trolling.

"you live in the new york area. San Francisco, worse than New York?"

"well I've found in Central Park at least at night, after Rudy Giuliani you can go out at night and walk around and feel safe. But in San Francisco you don't even go near some of these parts.

"no you wouldn't go the presidio at night in San Francisco, well I woudn't"

THAT'S FINE DUDE MORE LATE-NIGHT HOT PRESIDIO ACTION FOR ME.

that video also has this classic bit of geographic wizardry:

"almost every city has a Tenderloin district I mean the North Beach in San Francisco is that"

Hilarious.

OK so Zante's was a great call--indian pizza would no doubt be even better HOT (by the time it got to us it was pretty much room temp), but once you're eating it you're like "damn why is this the first time I've had indian food on a pizza crust, obviously this is an A+ idea and clearly everyone should have been doing this for at least a decade now, why hasn't Domino's gotten on board etc. etc." I mean seriously Domino's puts fucking OREOS on pizza, why not indian food?

I'm feeling better today and am going to get out to eat some dungeness if it goddamn kills me.

hooray!

If you actually DO want it to kill you, try Thanh Long in the Sunset, and have their roasted crab and garlic noodles. Not very classy, but buttery and tasty.

Thanh Long is good, but honestly venture out to PPQ on Clement for their crab feast for two. It's cheaper and unlike Thanh Long, their long time chef has NOT jumped ship and suffered of late.

http://www.ppqdungeness.com/

THIS:

Dinner for 2
$ 52.95

Imperial Rolls
Cabbage Salad with Chicken
Roasted Crab
House Garlic Noodles
Deep Fried Banana with Ice Cream

It's amazing.

^^^ second. MUCH better than the one out on Judah and 40th.

Hey so I'll be in town from Christmas day until Tuesday the 30th for the MLA. I'll be staying with and hanging out with my brother, who's got lots planned (especially in terms of dinner)...but I'll be spending most of Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues at the convention downtown (it's mostly split between the Hilton and the Marriott).

What are some good lunch options downtown? Maybe some bars good for between-session time-killing?

If you want to go all the way to 6th, Tu Lan has some A+ vietnamese chow for cheap.

You might find it worthwhile to hit the Ferry Building.

Ynak Sing

Yank Sing?

Yeah, sorry. Insufficiently caffeinated.

s'alright!

That place looks really good, though may be out of my price range for lunch (it sounds like me and my bro are gonna spened quite a bit on dinners--he's booked Chez Panisse for Monday night).

Mastrelli's in the Ferry Bldg = killer Italian deli, great for lunch. Tu Lan is really great Vietnamese food (was Julia Childs' favorite, or something?) I also recommend Rotee on Howard St for great, cheap, quick Indian lunches (kinda greasy but mmmm delish and pretty close to lunch food you would actually get in northern India)

Cool. Yes once I put it together that I would be close to the Ferry Building (which I had already heard about), I figured I'd be there a lot. Am definitely going to the farmer's market Saturday before heading to a panel on "Nabokov and Repetition."

The above should tell you that I've only been to SF once, for two days, when I was thirteen.

(It was part of the best Bar Mitzvah present anyone gave me: family friends who were huge baseball fans like me took me on that year's annual baseball vacation--an eight day trip which took in games in L.A., Anaheim, San Diego, SF, Oakland, and Seattle. I believe they saw a game in every MLB stadium over maybe five consecutive summers.)

pretty OT, but just browsing thru ethiopian reviews in yelp, and seeing a bunch of praise for assab in SF -- is it not common knowledge that the best ethiopian food is in the east bay? I've never been to assab, but hard to imagine it being too much better than any number of places in north oakland

It is common knowledge.