SF Essential Restaurants

Click here to see one blogger's list of the 38 "essential" restaurants in San Francisco, complete with Google map. Lots of deserving old favorites, a smattering of newcomers that have proven their worth and a few neighborhood hangouts worthy of inclusion.

Check them out.

Foodie Resources in SF -- Eat, Drink and Shop Like the Food Bloggers Do

Check out this comprehensive post from BlogHer for where to shop for foodie resoures.
Or this one on where to drink in SF.
Here's one with eating recommendations.
The above are from Genie of the Inadvertant Gardener

Here's some BlogHer recommendations from Heather from where to eat in the city that knows how (to eat at least).

Heidi of 101 Cookbooks
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/san-francisco-favorites-recipe.html

More later. including a clean up of this very messy post

Eat Real Festival

Live in the Bay area or visiting this weekend -- plan to stop by Oakland's Jack London Square (get there by bus, BART or ferry) for the Eat Real Festival. Sample the best of street food, local farmers and even tour the new Blue Bottle coffee roasting plant. More information here.

Not Camera Shy

Budget Travel photographer David Fenton posts his 20 favorite snapshots of San Francisco along with commentary here.

Have You Heard the One about the Ox in the Dim Sum Shop?

Looking for the best dim sum tidbits in the San Francisco Bay area?

SF Chronicle comes to the resuce with a Lunar New Year themed round up of local dim sum ("little bites of heaven") restaurants in the region.

Here's the link.

Includes rules for proper chopstick (or is it chopstix) use and photos of some of the different kinds of dim sum available in local joints.

Have a happy lunar new year.

Catch a Ride on the Culture Bus

File this under I had no idea and now it's (almost gone)

San Francisco has a special bus line -- the 74x that connects downtown and Golden Gate Park cultural attractions and museums.

The bus is being cut back from every 20 minutes to once an hour.

Check 511 for info and routing or read the San Francisco Chronicle story here. Check out the sfculture bus site or call 311 (as on your phone) within San Francisco for info.

This is huge news, it can take lots of transfers to get between these sites and lots of time. Plus you avoid parking and traffic jams. The bright yellow buses do cost $7 (good all day), but that's lots less than a cab and by showing your ticket at the DeYoung Museum or the Academy of Sciences you do receive discounts. If you have a SF Muni passport (which you really should if you are visiting -- it will save you a fortune on cable car rides), the culture bus is just $3.

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About the image -- from www.sfculturebus.org

UPDATE 8/09 -- The culture bus could be a gonner due to budget cuts. Check 511.0rg for info before planning on using it.
UPDATE: 9/9 -- the bus is gone. Sigh. A victim of budget cuts.

Only in the Bay Area? Sundays at the Thai Temple

There is a remarkable experience available every Sunday in a residential neighborhood in Berkeley where the local Thai temple serves an amazing brunch. Members of the congregation cook and serve and people throughout the bay come for the steam table Thai food, the colors, sights and smells of alfresco dining, perhaps a peek at Buddha and the temple, and a feeling of connection with each other and with a country half a world away.

I first went to the Wat Mongkolratanaram temple brunch a few years ago, had a wonderful time and took some nice photos and filed it under "I need to blog about this," but got busy with other things and kinda forgot about it.

Now the Sunday morning tradition is endangered since it seems that the temple's residential neighbors are a little tired of some 1,352 visitors for brunch every Sunday and the temple's operating permit from the city only allowed three such brunches a year. The temple has filed to revamp its permit and has tried to ameliorate some of its neighbors' concerns as to parking, hours, trash, etc., so I hope some compromise can be reached at the February 12 Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting since not only is the brunch a remarkable event to participate in, it raises a lot of money for the temple and its cultural center.

When I went, the food was good, not great. There were vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. I remember the mango sticky rice dessert with a lot of fondness. We had waited for a nice day, since all seating is outside. We went into the temple and enjoyed talking to the monk who was there from Thailand.

The site I found for the temple was all in Thai.
Info on the Thai cultural center (in English)
Save the Thai Temple has updates on the permit and links to the planning board and other sites.
This article in Harboiled, the UC Berkeley Asian American news magazine, has a lot of background
There is a Facebook page dedicated to saving the Sunday brunch and helping the Thai temple.
For more info on the food and the brunch experience, check out the temple's Yelp listing here. There are something like 271 reviews of the experience listed.

Note: Brunch hours are now 10 to 1. The temple is located at 1911 Russell St., Berkeley, CA 94703. Phone is (510) 849-3419

While I cook Thai food quite often (and eat it out even more often), I really haven't blogged much about it. You can read some of my Thai curry recipes here and here. But do what I do when I am looking for a Thai recipe, check out Chez Pim's Thai recipe category.
If you need to use public transit to go the the temple, check out 511.org to route yourself there and back.

Update: As of 4/1/09 - the temple has won prelim. approval. Brunches -- and the legal process -- continue

Some East Bay Restaurants for You to Try

Looking for some place to eat in the Oakland - Berkeley area?
I just posted a write up of my experiences at Flora, Herbivore, Vik's Chaat House and Lalimes over at Blog Appetit.

You can read all about it here.

Dine Around Town is Back and Some SF Foodie Goodies

Get ready for two weeks of gourmet lunches and dinners from January 15-31. A three-course lunch is just $21.95 and a dinner is just $34.95.

For all the details and more information, click here. There are oodles of restaurants to pick from, including Absinthe, which I write about here.

The Dine Around Town site is part of Taste SF, sponsored by the vistor's bureau. Check out the other features of the Only in San Francisco Taste SF website including chef profiles, info on farmers' markets and Foodie 411 , a blog all about the SF restaurant scene.

Are You a Local?

It pays to be a Bay area resident.
Show proof of a local zip code and recieve a discount or freebie from a number of San Frnacisco merchants and restaurants throughout the month of December.

Click here for more information.

Today -- Help the Hungry by Getting a Bite to Eat

From The SF Food Bank:

DINE OUT AGAINST HUNGER DECEMBER 18
13 Top Restaurants Will Donate a Portion of Proceeds to the San Francisco Food Bank

Restaurants have seen a real slump in business lately, but the folks at Maverick realized some people are facing worse circumstances – the 150,000 San Franciscans at risk of going hungry this holiday season. So Scott Youkilis and Michael Pierce created Dine Out Against Hunger, and organized some of the city’s top venues to donate up to 10% of today’s [December 18th] dinner sales to the San Francisco Food Bank, which supplies over 600 food programs throughout the city.

Participating Dine Out Against Hunger restaurants are: Maverick, Slow Club, Serpentine, Foreign Cinema, Magnolia, Sociale, Slanted Door, Kuleto's, Delfina, Americano, A16, Incanto and SPQR. Maverick will also take 10% off the tab for any customers making an additional donation to the Food Bank.

The focus is on raising cash, because for every $1 donated, the Food Bank can distribute $9 worth of food into the community – thanks to its relationships with retailers, growers and distributors. San Francisco Food Bank’s goal is to distribute 66,000 holiday meals this season.

For reservations, contact the individual restaurants; for more information, visit http://www.sffoodbank.org/.

A guide to the Ferry Plaza Market

The blog Bunrab is actually several blogs in one, a true destination site on the internet.
It's guide to the Ferry Plaza complex and its wealth of good eats is amazing.
You can find it here.

Consider this what Wikipedia calls a "stub. " I'll fill it out later with lots of links and some pix of the Ferry Plaza and its farmer's market.

Meanwhile, enjoy this taste courtesy Yummy Chow of Bunrab.

A Restaurant Resource

I was playing Blog-Go-Round tonight (where I go from food blog to food blog by trying links to unfamiliar sites or ones I haven't visited in a while) and found Confessions of a Restaurant Whore, which focuses on reviewing, quite tartly, candidly and humorously, the local San Francisco restaurant scene. She even has a directory of restaurants I thought you might find helpful.

Japantown

This will be a post about Japantown. I've still working on it. If you have any links or info you'd like to contribute, please leave a comment below and I'll make sure you input is included.

Thanks.

Watch this space.

FJK

4/26/10- Obviously, I still haven't done this --- but here's a link that has some of the more "untraditional" highlights of the neighborhood.

Day Trip -- Down the Pacific Coast to Santa Cruz

Friends of ours from the Midwest were visiting and Gary and I took them sightseeing for the day. These friends know the San Francisco area well and have already seen many of the traditional sights and sites, so Gary decided a road trip down the coast in search of sea otters, seals and sea lions was in order.

As we headed from downtown to the Great Highway, our first detour was to view the tasteful renovation of the Cliff House overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Seal Rock. There were no seals there, however. We gave our friends a history lesson about the long-gone Sutro Baths and Playland, instead. It was a good thing the bar wasn’t open yet, or I think Catherine and I would have voted to stay and try out the cocktail menu and drink in the view.

We didn’t get far. Just down the Great Highway is the Beach Chalet with its magnificent WPA murals. We chose to ignore the brew pub that now occupies the top floor of the building and concentrate on art, culture and history.

Our odyssey continued as we loaded back up in Gary’s van and wended our way down the spectacular Northern California coast line, stopping at a few of the rugged beaches to admire the pounding surf, wind blown trees and craggy coastline and looking in vain for our marine mammal friends.

Just above Half Moon Bay we stopped at the harbor at Princeton by the Sea. The majority of boats here are working fishing vessels of one sort or another and there are several fish related businesses on the pier. We poked around a bit and decided that since we didn’t have a cooler buying raw fish was not a souvenir we should consider when I declared I was hungry and I wanted fish. Now. We tried a colorful café overlooking the harbor. Barbara’s Fish Trap had fresh fish from rockfish (which Ferrol craved) to calamari. Preparations were simple, portions were huge. The four of us gorged ourselves on broiled fish with coleslaw, fish and chips (the fried fish was perfect, the chips less so), fried calamari rings (incredibly tender and moist with just the right crisp from the fryer) and the largest shrimp and crab louie that I have ever encountered. (The copious amounts of seafood were fresh and steamed until cooked through and not a second more, with a clean taste and a good texture, but I am sorry to say the sauce was a glop of sweet thousand island dressing and the lettuce was rough chunks of iceberg. I ate every bite, however.)

Satiated for now, we shoved off, continuing to explore the twists and turns of Highway One, past fields of Brussels sprouts growing on their stalks, looking like they would be harvested just in time for the nation’s Thanksgiving feasts. We stopped at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse and from the wind-whipped deck at land’s end we finally saw our marine friends frolicking in the waves – a sea otter and a harbor seal.

Mission accomplished, the decision was made to turn inland and head back via a faster (and straighter) highway. We had barely turned onto Pine Flat Road when Catherine, Ferrol (a big wine enthusiast) and I all yelled at Gary to stop. We had spotted the Bonnie Doon Vineyard Tasting Room. Luckily, Gary decided to be our designated driver, so we could imbibe to our hearts’ content. I’ll post more about our wine tasting experience in the future, but let’s just say after a full flight of wines that included a raspberry desert wine in a dark Belgian chocolate cup, I was ready for a nap or a mug of something caffeinated.

Now our route took us through the redwoods of the Santa Cruz mountains and when we popped out we were in the little town of Felton, which reminded me very much of a rustic Berkeley. We stopped at the White Raven Café, where they take their chai seriously. Their chai deserves a post of its own and will get one soon.

Then, somehow to our surprise, we were back on a major highway and on our way back to San Francisco. We’ve promised to visit them in Minnesota. They have a friend who keeps them supplied with fresh white fish and a friend who owns a Vietnamese restaurant. Sounds like it will be a great trip!
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Resources:
Barbara's Fish Trap, 650. 728.7049, no web or email, 281 Capistrano Rd., Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
Beach Chalet – http://www.beachchalet.com/
Bonnie Doon Vineyard Tasting Room: http://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/tasting/bonnydoon
Cliff House -- http://www.cliffhouse.com/

Pigeon Point Lighthouse – http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=533

White Raven -- http://www.awhiteraven.com/

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Note: This originally appeared in Blog Appetit in November 2005

Monkeys from Musee Mecanique

More on Musee Mecanique from BADSF at http://blogappetitdoessanfrancisco.blogspot.com/2008/01/only-in-sf-musee-mecanique.html

Only in SF -- Musee Mecanique

The Musee Mecanique is like no other museum. It is full of working (cost you a nickel each) old arcade, midway and other coin-operated wonders. The collection, loving assembled by a father and maintained by the son, showcases fortune telling dolls (like in the movie "Big"), mechanical horse races, orchestras, Old Western towns, farms and more. Chuck a nickel or two in the nickelodeons and see what informed or scandalized folks back in 1900.

The musee is literally right behind Fisherman's Wharf. There is no entry fee. There are wonderful photos and other displays of the bygone Playland by the Sea amusement park and a small gift shop. And a coin machine for change, of course, in case.

It is a great place to bring kids and teens, but I always enjoy going, too, and it always surprises and delights visitors of all ages.

Here's a link to an SF Chronicle story about the place with photos and a sound clip with comments from owner Daniel Zelinsky and the cackle of "Laughing Sal" and some of the music of the machines playing in the background. To get there, click here, then select archives and then look for the "penny for his thoughts" feature. There is no direct link to photographer Mike Kepka's wonderful short interviews and photos of the city. While you are on the site, check out some of his other photo and sound vignettes of the city.

Here's a youtube clip of laughing sal. While she is probably the musee's most famous machine, she's not my favorite. I like the older action games and more musical pieces better. I like this one of one of the mechanical orchestra. You can't see much of the action, but I love how it sounds. Here's the index at youtube for the Musee Mecanique, but don't check out too many of the videos, you'll lose that element of surprise and awe when you finally do get to go there yourself!

(Next time I'm at the musee, I'll snap a few photos of my own and update this post. In the meantime, here's a youtube video I downloaded on the monkey band.)

Dine Around Program Offers Discount Meals

Check out Blog Appetit (the parent blog if you will) for info on San Francisco's discount Dine Around program for 2008. From January 15-31 selected restaurants will be featuring specially priced lunches and dinners. Check it out!

SF in Your Ear -- Touring San Francisco with Your iPod

If seeing is believing, what is listening?

I thought it would be interesting to search out aural resources. Here’s some downloads for your iPods, MP3 players or just your computer to help you enjoy your trip to San Francisco.

This link is for Metroblogging San Francisco and has a good list of resources on how to “San Francisco-ize” your iPod, including tours, maps and music.

Another site with a good list of resources is the San Francisco Convention Center. It lists members' iPod and MP3 resources, many of them free. Among the offerings, free podcasts from Geogad for tours of several of the city’s attractions, including Fisherman’s Wharf, the Ferry Building and Union Square.

Sparkletack has an interesting list of podcasts, history or travel related. The S.F. history site also has its own quirky set of podcasts.

Pod City Guides are free (although you must register) and seem to be like a guide book in your ear. The guides are meant to function as a “travel book” with information on events, restaurants, hotels, sites and shopping.

AIA San Francisco has a series of what it calls ARCHCASTS highlighting significant San Francisco buildings. The free service has podcasts on the Federal Building, the JP Morgan Chase building as well as a tour of San Francisco’s common spaces and more.

Stroll San Francisco will give you a taste of its 33 walking tours for free. You can download one to sample, but the rest will cost you (but not all that much.) Chose from the 1906 earthquake, Carol Doda and San Francisco’s topless past, Chinatown, the Haight Ashbury, the cable cars or the Wells Fargo Museum.

City Story Walks offers a San Francisco “overview” for $9.99 and a comprehensive walking tour for ($19.99, or buy both for $24.99). You can check out a list of the 14 sites and check out a sample on the website. Also on the site is a sample of the overview with links to some of what City Story Walks considers insider information on where to shop, what to do with kids and more.

The San Francisco Chronicle invites users to “get behind the headlines” with its free podcasts and tours of the 1906 earthquake, North Beach and more.

If you plan on traveling with your cell phone instead of your iPod, this company offers downloadable walking tours for your mobile.

I guess I’ll make this Part One, still to come, more on food, art, culture, and well, just more.

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About the photo illustration (my first): It uses two free images from MS Clip Art.

SF Photos Worth Clicking About

Above is a photo I took just after midnight of fireworks exploding above San Francisco on January 1st.

I know that I like to "preview" a city before I travel to it and thought it might be helpful to feature photo sites that feature some "only in San Francisco" shots on Blog Appetit Does San Francisco.

Here's a few I found that I thought were worthwhile. I'll add to this list as I come across more.
If you know of a site with great Bay area photos, please leave a comment below to share it.

Flicker -- SF group

A different photo for every day

SF Axis has lots of photos as well as a lot of other information for tourists and locals. (See my post on SF web basics for more info.)

SF Photorama has wonderful photos. It sometimes takes a bit to load (at least on my computer with my dsl) but is well worth the wait. (Be sure to scroll down, the pix tend to be toward the bottom of the page.)

Some Basics for Those Who Want to Be in the Know -- Part 1 -- Including The Best Places to See Sunsets and How to Pay Less for a Cable Car Ride

This is a first in what will be a series of posts on websites to help you plan a San Francisco Bay area adventure.

San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau has a great site that puts a lot of emphasis not just on Fisherman’s Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge and other well known attractions but the charms of the city’s many neighborhoods. (After you pick out a San Francisco neighborhood to explore, take a look at SF City Guides to see if there is a free walking tour.)

The convention bureau site offers hotel, flight, car and dining reservations. It has an events calendar so you can enjoy the city’s cultural and social life and it has info on accessibility and other special needs. It includes a mapping function to help plan your explorations.

Introducing Blog Appetit Does San Francisco ... and the Bay Area

I’ve wanted to do more “San Francisco Bay Area specific” posts for awhile, but they did not really seem to fit in well with the generalist approach I take to Blog Appetit, so I’ve decided to create a new blog.

Blog Appetit Does San Francisco will be mostly original features about enjoying the Bay area aimed at visitors and locals alike. Some food-related posts will have also run on Blog Appetit. The new blog will however not be all encompassing because hey it’s my blog and I don’t even run ads on the thing so I get to write about people, places, foods, ideas and rants I am interested in. But in the wonderful world of the web, there are lots of resources that should cover anything you’d like to know about just about visiting or enjoying the Bay area. I plan on many of those as links and/or in my posts as resources.

Because of my interests as a wanna-be food writer, there is the potential for BADSF* to have more of a food focus, but I also am a history buff and like off-beat museums and other sites as well as a big fan of neighborhood exploration. So its potential scope is much larger than a food and/or restaurant resource guide. When I get a clearer vision, I’ll be sure to share it.

If you have anything you’d like to share, especially any Bay area tips or links you think should be included, you can email me through my profile or leave a comment on a post.

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*Yes I realize BADSF reads Bad SF, but I am choosing to ignore it right now!

More on SF and Area on Blog Appetit

Want to see what I have eaten or experienced around the San Francisco Bay area?
Click here to see my SF Bay Area posts on Blog Appetit.

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