San Francisco and what to do in it

(That said, there are more and more places that "feature" Mitchell's ice cream nowadays, so maybe just keep an eye peeled for it since there's little else to do near San Jose @ 29th!)

Also, I stand by my recommendations. The critiques upthread are TYPICAL Bay Area snob bullshit.

SF/East Bay has a large amount of charismatic, conveniently located "ok" food joints, with the occasional fucking excellent place, in a sparse mire of shitty places.

LA has a slightly smaller amount of not-as-conveniently located restaurants, but they are all "fucking excellent", though surrounded by a lot of shitty restaurants.

Your right, you don't, so keep your insulting nonsense judgments about me to yourself.

The places I mentioned are good fun, and I doubt most people visiting them would have your same elitist reaction ("HORRIBLE hill-dwelling BMW-driving loudmouths", "Clientele are hysterical young people trying to be posh", "Beauty Bar: bring some coke and make a hundred new friends. Yuck"). Your smug, sickening and judgmental attitude reminds me why I left. Yuck, indeed.

so yeah, these aren't necessarily my picks for best of SF but good advice caters to those who are asking for it.

i'm sure someone much smugger than i am (impossible!) will chime in about how great the french laundry is even though they haven't been there in 3 years or something but that's really not going to help clarke and stolenbus (charlieva?) on their adventure.

Gygax spelled out in more detail the reasons why I made the points I did. I really do think that both ceasar and foreign cinema are overpriced; well, foreign cinema is criminally overpriced and I think the food there is not as good as the concept of the restaurant (which is a good idea). Ceasar isn't so much overpriced (although the drinks there are expensive, but they are, from what I understand, well mixed {note: I don't drink anymore}), but it is terribly loud in there and you're more apt to hear the conversation at the next table than the person across from you. Sorry!

The Beauty Bar is a coke den, or was the last time I went. It was fun when it opened but then they started charging a cover at the door. It seemed to be a place for the wanna-be-NYC-hipster electroclash detritus to wash up. It might be fun to visit once though but not if you've been to the New York branch already.

vegetarian:
there are some famous/pricy veg/vegan restaurants (most notably millenium and greens), but here are some other more reasonable ones:
golden ear (o'farrell btw. jones/leavenworth)
herbivore - a small chain: divisadero/fell & valencia/21
legume - 24th/noe

another suprise to look out for:
the tamale lady, a woman (just turned 50 last week) who travels from bar to bar in the mission (sometimes lower haight) has a rolling cart full of fresh tamales (and hot sauce) which is always a treat.

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
don't think because you're going to california in the middle of august that you will be greeted with blue skies and a warm sunrays washing over you. san francisco is notoriously gray and foggy and cold and windy in the summer months. (i spent the fourth about 100 miles inland and it was in the 90s. when i drove back into SF it was 57 mid-day). bring layers. the east bay (berkeley/oakland) is about 10-20 degrees warmer on average. even the east side of SF can be 10 degrees warmer than the west side. again: BRING LAYERS.

As for Cesar, the drinks are expensive, but the food is not especially and it's not always loud in there - maybe on Friday or Saturday nights, but I've had very quiet conversations there and the bartender/owner is very nice. As for Foreign Cinema, I actually haven't eaten there in years, but I had a great steak there once and the novelty of it has not worn off for me.

When I'm staying in SF for a weekend I mostly eat at El Farolito, Puerto Allegre, Atlas, Ti Couz and sometimes Ramblas or Andalu. These are all fine and fun places although I'm sure somebody will condemn who eats there and the "detritus" that hangs around there trying to be cool, when clearly the coolest person is the one criticizing everyone and everything because they aren't "real" San Franciscans, etc vomit.

Atlas Cafe is excellent, that place does so much business on the strength of how good the food is (sandwiches, nothing fancy), amazing since it's really out of the way (not a very foot-travelled street). Ti Couz is a great standby and the crepes are at least as good as you'll find in France. Actually the Mission is filled with great restaurants.

Stolenbus, even though there may sound like a lot to do in Berkeley, I think that most of it can be done easily in one day. It's a tiny town and everything is close to everything else.

Show up at Zeitgeist around 8:00 on any given night, and she will come to your table, feed you an excellent meal for next to nothing, dispense free advice, hug you and call you honey. Best substitute mom EVAH.

don't forget Merritt's in oakland for good homestyle cooking... chicken and waffles is THE SHIT!
m.

Hahaha! That's my (current, until September) hood, Jason. Frankly, that drum circle, or any drum circle I have thus far seen in my brief time in Berkeley, grate like stainless steel on gorgonzola. That said, there are some great swords, and some decent looking used stereo equipment, too (note to future self). The thai temple is key, though I'm not sure why they still serve tofu in the non-veggie section. Make the right choices, and the food is definitely worth it.

Also - the aforementioned comic shop by Mod Lang (British Indie Music? At Extortionate Prices? You should have seen the look on my face) is called Comic Relief.

I also discovered that you can buy a ticket at the UA theatre on Shattuck and just jump from screen to screen all day. That is, if you think The Hulk, Terminator 3, and Charlie's Angels:Full Throttle are even collectively worth $6. Much better, the Pacific Film Archive has an Aki Kaurismaki season at the moment-worth a look if Clarke or Stolenbus are into that kind of thing.

Anthony/Kyle - check your mail (in about ten minutes).

i have no idea if you guys like america's favorite pasttime:

I wish I could say something original about Pac Bell Park, but I'm afraid I'm going to say what everybody else says: It's great. There aren't many beautiful ballparks in the major leagues, but I think Pac Bell just might qualify, especially when the Giants, in their classic cream-colored uniforms, are arrayed about the greensward.

My favorite place in the majors is a good seat at Fenway Park, but now I think my second-favorite place in baseball might be standing on the walkway beyond the right-field wall at Pac Bell, wondering if Barry Bonds is going to hit one over my head and into the water. It's something that every fan should experience at least once ... and the nice thing is, the cheapest ticket can get you there.
-- Rob Neyer

if you have any questions, i can be reached here sporadically M-Th 7am-7pm and Fridays 8am-12noon.

first, you're working too much.

secondly, i'm telling elenor you're using work time for ILX

but yeah, i miss you too babydoll. we should hook up (tomorrow?) for something. i still owe you a night out on the town for your bday. we can invite your wife or maybe not??!?!?!?!?!

8/16 Hemlock - Neil Hamburger/Dr. El Suavo (Australia)
8/18 Cafe Du Norde - M. Ward*
8/20 Grandma's House, Oakland - Friends Forever, Healthy Healthy, Hale Zukas
8/22 Bottom of the Hill - Las Ultrasonicas, Human Life Index, Viki, Mammal

*I will most definitely be at this show.

VVRSSNN SOFT DOLPHIN YARN LAZER in AUGUST:

AUGUST 17TH BALAZO GALLERY, 24th and mission, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 7:30 pm, $5 donation. w/ tenebre, windup bird (ALL AGES)

pet central
660 broadway @ grant - chinatown

walk all the way in to the store and down the stairs in the back to the lower level huge room of aquariums... the most bizarre collection of fish/aquatic life i've ever seen.

the flower mart opens at 5am but that's for trade only. i think it opens for allcomers at 10am. (blame my XXGF for all this knowledge). cut out the middleman spence.

6th st. btw. bryant/brannan.

but I bet gygax knows, he seems like the romantic type.

(x-post!)