Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Eating in San Francisco
The stated purpose of this blog is to chronicle what happens when this California working girl picks up and moves thousands of miles away to become a student in Philadelphia. But before I go, I've been pressured to come up with my definitive list of San Francisco restaurants, since my main value add (I'm already talking like an MBA) has been my ability to eat and tell other people where to eat. I'm not going to tell you about Aqua, Boulevard, Farallon, Chez Panisse, etc. because duh. I slipped in maybe two that are of that same caliber, but it's my blog so deal.


Julie's Somewhat Thorough List of Restaurants She Can Think of Right Now

Delfina
Italian restaurant in the Mission, I've long thought this was the best restaurant in the city. Everything is fresh and delicious and beautifully prepared; nothing is overly fancy or overdone. Reservations are tough, but it's nice to go in randomly and sit at the counter. My favorite thing (which they often have) is the ribollita, which is like Minestrone soup made into a porridge and then fried into a pancake and drizzled with olive oil.

Ti Couz
People go here for dinner, for me it's a brunch place, and the only place in the city I'll eat crepes. I don't like eating crepes anywhere they put marinated tofu in the crepes and put home fries on the side, I like eating crepes at places which strive for the traditional French experience. This place is Breton style, which means the savory crepes are made with buckwheat and the sweet crepes are made with regular wheat. My recommendation is to get savory crepes all around (and consider putting the mushroom sauce on everything) and then split a sweet crepe (Nutella with mixed berries never hurt anyone).

Truly Med
More like a stand than a restaurant, directly across the street from Ti Couz, this is the best schwerma I've ever had. Two days a week they have chicken schwerma, which is yuck, so if you end up there on one of those days (or are a vegetarian), get a dolma pita, mashed up dolmas with onions and cucumbers and hot sauce wrapped in a pita.

Kelly's Burgers
I've never had a burger here, though I've heard they're terrific. Even more terrific (terrificer?) is their giant Greek salad with anchovies, which has enough feta to make any cheese lover weep. And if that weren't enough, they serve it with a side toasted pita stuffed with herbs which makes the angels cry. Lots of tears at Kelly's.

La Taqueria
Where to go for tacos in the Mission. Load up on the yellow hot sauce.

Taqueria Cancun
Where to go for burritos in the Mission. If you eat pork, get the al pastor (marinated pork YUM), and get any burrito here super as they understand that if you want avocado in your burrito, you probably want something like an entire avocado in your burrito and not just one little tiny cube.

Arinell
Where to go for a slice of pizza in the Mission, and really worth the trip from anywhere. The most authentic New York style pizza in the city.

Pauline's Pizza
Excellent gourmet pizza with unconventional toppings.

Luna Park
I don't think this is the best food in the city, but it is the perfect intersection of fun place, reasonably priced, not hard to get into, funky and fun atmosphere, and great cocktails. I think this is the perfect place for a birthday dinner.

Walzwerk
I realize this list is all Mission-centric so before I depart for other parts of the city, please go to Walzwerk and hang with the kooky East German proprieteresses and drink the Kotzritzer (sp?) beer, a dark wheat beer which defies description. They have heavenly potato pancakes, delicious wiener schnitzel, and anything with mashed potatoes is worth eating.

So, you've decided to leave the Mission (why?)
Chow
Cheap but delicious home food with an Asian twist. I've often said their gingerbread with pumpkin ice cream and caramel sauce is my favorite dessert in the city. But I say a lot of things.

Quince
My other contender for best restaurant in the city, though much much fancier (and still not overstated). Seriously the best pasta I've ever had in my life, and I've kept every menu from every meal I've eaten here because they're like mini-works of art. You will need your server to translate every single thing on the menu. You will need to call 3-4 weeks in advance to get in.

Yabbies Coastal Kitchen
Seafood gem with a fantastic menu and cute atmosphere. This is where I send anyone who likes fish.

Frascati
Russian Hill neighborhood restaurant, for some reason you can always get in here even though the food is excellent, the atmosphere is lovely, and the staff are the nicest people around. Last minute people in from out of town? This place will always impress.

Okoze
My vote for best sushi in the city. I prefer my sushi sans techno DJ and saketini, but with the freshest fish ever. There are very few places I'll order uni in this city, this is one of them.

Sushi Groove
OK, so you want sushi but you want a techno DJ and a saketini. They actually have outstanding fish and that funkified atmosphere all the hipsters are talking about. This is my final point on sushi, there are a lot of decent to good places peppered throughout the city, and I can't think of any that are 'stay away' so have fun and be good.

Kokkari
Fancy and delicious Greek restaurant. It's fun to go to the bar and get a glass of wine and order just the flatbread appetizer, which comes with three delectable spreads.

Bocadillos
Casual tapas outpost by the Bubble Lounge, this place is delicious but hard to get into. But if you can, yum.

Tu Lan
So you think you're a foodie and you think you're brave. Then head over to 6th and Market, step over the heroin addicts, and head into the best Vietnamese in the city (you heard me, Charles Phan). Of note are the imperial rolls (if you're on your own, get the Bun with imperial rolls and pork kebab, a bowl of cold noodles topped with both), the shrimp fried rice, the beef cubes with Vietnamese style (sic), the vegetables and tofu on a bed of crispy noodles, and pretty much everything else on the menu. I challenge you to spend more than $5/person here. Double challenge, please order "Ten Things in a Pot" and tell me how it is. Warning- once friends dined there and reported that all of the meat for the next day was out and thawing at the next table. Take your parents to Slanted Door instead.

Nick's Crispy Tacos
So you're not in the Mission but you want some delicious Mexican food? Nick's Crispy Tacos on Polk is excellent. Especially worth trying are the tortilla soup, any taco Nick's Way (crispy wrapped in soft with guac), and the margaritas. After 9 or 10, this place stops serving delicious Mexican food and turns into the cheeseball nighclub Rouge. So eat there early!


Sameer, LJ, Marisa, Julie, Sudhir, Trish, and Matt can't pose for long, the cheeseballs of Rouge are fast approaching!

2 Comments:

Blogger Matthew Glotzbach said...

Wow, this "blogger" thing is really cool. ;-)

3:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for not forgetting Nick's Crispy Tacos. You saved the best for last!

10:22 PM  

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