San Francisco and what to do in it

...it* feels

They took my sheets and bath towels too! So I've got the expected sense of violation, plus I have to deal with my germophobia and just the leeriness of even touching my stuff, which I now know they toggled through.

Rifled through, not toggled

OK, our visit is in a few weeks. Doing some A+ tourist stuff, like Alcatraz night tour and a long bike tour, plus dinner at Nopa. Looking for a good Sunday night dinner suggestion, though. Any good ideas? I figure staples like burritos and the like we can fit in anywhere, and staples at the other end (like State Bird Provisions) I worry might be booked up already.

I enjoyed Hogwash quite a bit last time I was in town.

Looks awesome but very ... Chicago.

Blue Plate is perfect delicious comfort food, and you can get a reservation there.

Shanghai Dumpling King (either location) is great, and low-cost. Good alternative to some of the higher-end dim sum places.

Dosa is good for fancy Indian food/cocktails, but pretty pricey.

Not really doing high-end food anymore, but Coi is pretty nuts if you're into molecular gastronomy.

China Live is fantastic and huge so getting a seat isn't a real worry.

If you go to Shanghai Dumpling King on Montery Blvd, you will be two blocks from my house. I recommend two cups chicken clay pot.

my wife doesn't like Chinese. :(

I live near you, FS! Over the freeway in mission terrace.

Front Porch, Zuni Cafe, Foreign Cinema, Swan Oyster Depot ...

Blue Plate is perfect delicious comfort food, and you can get a reservation there.

Echoing this, quite good. Enjoy Boulevard on the Embarcadero very much. Will also cosign Front Porch and China Live.

Awesome, you all are the best, thanks for the suggestions. SF comes at the end of a west coast trip for us, where there will be lots of food like Blue Plate, so we went for Front Porch, which also looks like it has a great bar. Love southern food.

Yeah, good stuff. Would however recommend the Royal Cuckoo for a drink too. And will add that I live near both the Front Porch and the Cuckoo, so basically drop a line with your schedule etc.

Not a local but brunch at Son's Addition a few months back was one of the best I've had anywhere.

If you can get a reservation at Foreign Cinema for brunch, it is killer.

oh man, would eat all the ersters

west coast oysters can be delicious but I dunno why y’all bring them out with nothing more than a little thing of cocktail sauce, a little thing of vinegar, and half a lemon. Oysters can tolerate a lot more than that, also, why does San Francisco hate hot sauce generally?

U mean aside from all the asians and latinos and african americans?

I am not aware of SF hot sauce hatred at all.

I think my bias is probably because I live in a place where it regularly gets a seat at the table with other condiments and doesn’t have to be asked for? But Shakey did kinda own me just now

El Tomboto, oysters should be eaten alive in their own brine; they require no, nor are enhanced, flavorwise, by anything but wine, Chablis by my preference

I've got an extra ticket for Bicep at the Independent tonight if anyone wants to join...

Bicep (Live)

El Tomboto, oysters should be eaten alive in their own brine; they require no, nor are enhanced, flavorwise, by anything but wine, Chablis by my preference

Wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and guidance. San Francisco was a great way to end a fun trip. If we had to do it again we'd probably stick with more local/ethnic/neighborhood food. We were staying in Hayes Valley, and there was plenty there of interest to eat, but a couple of our dinners we went to Nopa and Front Porch, and while both were fine we didn't think they were too different from what we could get here. We did hit El Farolito for burritos, and while we have plenty of burritos and Mexican food here, that place was kind of a trip. As was the Royal Cuckoo, Ned, a dive bar with character much more colorful than the usual dive bar (whose character is usually largely its dive-ness).

It had been 20 years since I was last in SF, so a couple of stray observations.

1) It's weird how much the weather (temperature, at least) changes even from neighborhood to neighborhood, made weirder by the irony that July and August are known for cooler weather. Still funny to watch folks in ski parkas and scarves when it's in the upper '50s, but hey, that's California for you.

2) Homelessness was prevalent, but (sadly/tragically) no more so than any major city (like mine). I did notice, for whatever reason, virtually no panhandling. Just people living on the street going about their business.

3) We had been warned by many of all the (people) poop, and while we did see some people poop (gross), we saw a lot more dog poop. Yet weirdly, again and again, we saw *bagged* dog poop, just left on the sidewalk, and we couldn't figure that out. Who goes through the trouble of bagging their dog poop but then just leaves the bag on the sidewalk?

4) I had forgotten how small SF is compared to Chicago.

5) Best SF story. We took a super awesome 20 mile bike tour around the city. When we paused by the Palace of Fine Arts fake ruins, a cop car pulled up. The cop rolled down the window and yelled out. "Hey ... any of you see a naked man run by here?" Second best. We went to the Alcatraz night tour, which was cool. All the way at the end I overheard one of the park rangers telling this tale. Last year I guess there was a big storm that rolled up, and they couldn't take anyone back to the mainland on the ferry, so instead this tour group got to stay on the island until 3am, drinking hot cocoa and watching movies. They even opened up the gift shop and let them pick out shirts and sweatshirts. He said it was like a sleepover. But there was a *second* ferry stuck moored at the dock, and the water was so rough they could neither get the people off the boat nor untie the ferry and let it leave. There was apparently a tour group stuck on the ferry in the rough waters for *45 minutes* before they could get them off safely. The ranger said everyone (including three pregnant women!) was just barfing everywhere. Yuck.

Glad you enjoyed the Cuckoo! It's well worth it.

We took a super awesome 20 mile bike tour around the city. When we paused by the Palace of Fine Arts fake ruins, a cop car pulled up. The cop rolled down the window and yelled out. "Hey ... any of you see a naked man run by here?"

lmao this is classic

peak SF lols

Glad you had a good time! Randomly, while you were in SF I was in Chicago suburbia (where I grew up).

https://www.facebook.com/HemlockTavern/posts/10155678731938671

I was wondering when that would finally be posted. Known about it for about a month and there's been lots of word of mouth; did some interviews recently and a first draft of a story is currently being reviewed for publication.

I wonder if the new owners will keep the smoking room.

someone care to summarize? being sold, I presume?

In the time it took you to reply, you could have scanned the first paragraph?:

*****HEMLOCK TAVERN SOLD, WILL CLOSE IN EARLY OCTOBER, BUILDING TO BE DEMOLISHED AND REPLACED BY CONDOS*****
The Hemlock Tavern and its liquor license have recently been sold to the same real estate developers that purchased our property back in 2015. The new owners of the Hemlock Tavern will be moving forward with their plans to demolish the building (1145 Polk St., which includes Hemlock at 1131 Polk St.) and construct a 54-unit mixed-use condominium building in its place.

In the time it took you to post that, I suppose I could have created a Facebook login and looked it up but you know what no, fuck facebook

Does this link work for you?

https://www.facebook.com/SocietyOfRockets/photos/a.30651445046.51037.30650290046/10153942771190047/?type=3&theater

I don't run that page so no

BTW I had the same problem as Shakey...

I remember visiting Manchester in the early 2000's. The former site of the Hacienda had been turned into condos, which were just on the market. The marketing banner read "The party's over, now you can come home".

Would be nice if we could build condos on empty places like the Balboa Reservoir instead tho.

motherfuckers
https://missionlocal.org/2018/08/bissap-baobab-fate-uncertain-as-owner-faces-immigration-related-charges/

grrrr

John Zorn with Laurie Anderson and Terry Riley at the Chapel on Labor Day

that's kind of nuts

I didn't believe it when I first saw it, but I am now a ticket-holder.

anybody want my extra ticket to Pure Bathing Culture tonight? gratis

I’m in SF right now. It smells like human shit everywhere. What a dump. Bought 13 records at Amoeba though. It’s not all terrible.

fyi those records are made of shit

Tried to find Orbitals Brown album but I was shit out of luck.

i moved to oakland after 11 years