Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Fuzzy can give you the best advice, but I will always love the Slanted Door.

Amy

Yeah ... I am likely to be highly unresponsive for the next few days. Should be back next week.

I went here http://www.kincaids.com/page/home last time I was in SF (last summer) and loved it. It is near the airport in Burlingame (I was all by myself for most of one glorious day after a couple full weeks with family and friends) right on the water overlooking the city. Not so ethnic but first class food.

A few years ago we went to this place in the Embarcadaro Center http://www.sens-sf.com/index.html. My kids are still talking about it.

Those are 2 kind of pricey options but we had lots of fun and great dim sum (great prices) here http://www.yelp.com/biz/dol-ho-san-francisco.

Mary

Hi,

Last summer we spent a few days in SF. Our best dining experiences were at The Slanted Door and Nopa. The SF Chronicle and Eater Link to Eater's Top 38 SF Restaurants

Fuzzy has the best insight on casual and neighborhood dining.

The best thing about SF is the number of reasonable European hotels.

Tim

Nance,

This is such a foodie town ... you'll have to narrow it down a bit!

BTW, we'll be around that week, so we could possibly meet up with Russ.

I will say, though, skip the food trucks/carts in general. Unlike Portland and NYC, San Francisco is not a food cart town (yet); what's available is usually neither particularly good or cheap.

Comparted with NYC, SF excels at mid-priced/affordable gourmet restaurants. So you're in good shape there. Cuisines where SF usually beats NYC, in my experience:

• Thai
• SE Asian Fusion
• Cal Cuisine (duh!)
• Northern Italian
• Exotic sushi (i.e. wierd rolls)
• Wine Bars
• Spanish/Tapas
• South Indian
• Brewpubs
• Salvadorean & Peruvian

Cuisines where SF offerings are generally inferior to NYC, so you should avoid them:

• Chinese
• Southern Italian
• Greek
• Deli/Jewish
• Eastern European
• American Pizza (deep dish etc.)
• "Street Food"
• Cuban/Puerto Rican

Beyond that, it's really a matter of what Russ wants to eat and how much time he has. For example, if you wanted to eat food which was "pure San Francisco" then you'd do:

• A nice Cal Cuisine Restaurant (Nopa, Firefly, Ame, Foreign Cinema) or Cal-Comfort (Q, Chow)
• A Mission Burrito (Cancun, Pancho Villa, etc.)
• Good Thai (Marnee, Thep Phenom) or Vietnamese (Slanted Door)
• A California wine bar (Bar Jules, Bar Crudo) or Brewpub (21st Amendment, Beach Chalet)
• California Pizza place (Little Star, 211)
• Funky Sushi (Blowfish, Chay-Ya, Ebisu)
• A coffee bar (Ritual Roasters, Blue Bottle, 4 Barrels)

Also, brunch is a big thing here are there are a lot of restaurants which specialize in it.

Narrow down Russ's desires some and I'll give more specific advice.

Nancy,

Food places:

• Vanilla Saffron Imports Linky at 949 Valencia Street. High quality vanilla beans and safron at reasonable prices.
• Le Sanctuaire Linky at315 Sutter Street, Fifth Floor. High tech stuff for professionals. Ask your hubby to buy an anti-griddle.
  

Good luck,

Tim

I'd go for a sous vide circulator before an anti-griddle, although those look pretty cool. I'm thinking about getting a Smoking Gun next...I need some serious help...

Amy