Will be spending 9 days in San Francisco and staying at the Palace Hotel. Absolutely LOVE food. Looking for a good Sushi, French, Italian and Asian restaurant. Any ides?

i had an amazing pasta dish at perbacco a couple weeks ago when i was in SF--highly recommended. the slanted door is great for upscale vietnamese; reserve well ahead of time. on my previous visit, i enjoyed the dim sum at yank sing--it's more upscale and expensive than places in chinatown but the food is very good, i thought.

not to steer you to a competitor's website but if you're a foodie and in the spirit of you getting good information, check out Chowhound.com and look at the san francisco board...it's a foodie website where folks spend days discussing the best restaurants. you are in good hands if you love food - SF is a great food town. you will need reservations at most of the top spots so plan ahead a bit.

I love A16...had great sushi at ...goodness... will have to go back and look at my trip report. The name has escaped me - jazz club as well - great sushi - feel like it was on Fillmore street...

Yoshi's

Betelnut - Asian
La Mar - Peruvian ceviche
Yank Sing - dim sum
Boulevard

Burma Superstar in the Richmond district, amazing Burmese food!

Walk around in some of the neighborhoods. Pacific Heights on Broadway that leads to the Presido is a wonderful walk with beautiful gardens, homes and views. Magic Flute restaurant on Sacramento Street in nearby lower Pacific Heights is a lovely place to have lunch.

North Beach walk down Columbus Avenue, many charming sidewalk cafes. A good Italian restaurant in North Beach is

E Tutto Qua,
270 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133-4518

The restaurant is near some "Live Girls" shows but it is easy to avoid and we have taken family and children to this restaurant many times with no problem.

China Town, Grant Street, make sure you see the Fortune Cookie Factory on Ross Alley. We love Hang Ah (hole in the wall)for Dim Sum.

Take a ferry to Sausalito and get Lappert's Aloha Ice Cream. yummy!

Amazing Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building on Saturday mornings, street musician's, great food, amazing view of the Bay Bridge and the bay. The Ferry Building has many interesting shops and restaurants, too.

Have you seen Maitai tom's posting today? Reports on a meal in LA and one in SF.

Agree about getting out into the neighborhoods - S.F. is all about the personalities of it's neighborhoods.

Check out Civic Center/Hayes Valley as an off-beat option - although it's become very popular since the central freeway came down:

- Visit great Asian Art museum located in the Civic Center plaza - be sure to see the new 3-headed/6-armed Buddha sculpture in the center of the plaza.

- Hayes Valley - Just on the other side of Van Ness from Civic Center (you can't miss the big gold dome of city hall)Hayes St has some nice restaurants / sidewalk cafes - in particular Absinthe or Bar Jules. My fave for a little respite: Arlequin Wine Merchant - buy a nice bottle of wine retail and drink it out back in the lovely garden...you can also grab a cheese plate from the cafe next door. There are heaters if it's chilly.

In the Union Square area consider heading over to Cafe Claude - the perfect French bistro hidden in a little alley way - plays jazz on weekends, starting on Thurs night.
http://www.cafeclaude.com/

The Mission is lively at night for bar hopping - or settling in at Bar Bambino - Italian wine bar with great small plates. No reservations needed to sit at the bar which is fun - but often full. It's popular so definitely call for rez if you want a table - also nice covered patio in back.
http://www.barbambino.com/ Easy BART ride to Mission from Union Sq / Powell St station - just 2 stops to 16th street the 1 1/2 block walk.

Also agree that on a nice day it's great to take a ferry ride over to Marin - only my spot is to head to Tiburon and sit on the patio at Guaymas drinking a margarita and Mexican food with a fantastic view of S.F. skyline - less touristy than Sausalito, in my view. And a gorgeous ride to and from.
http://www.guaymasrestaurant.com/index.html

Of course, asking about food in S.F. is a loaded question since it's a big foodie / wine town and so many options. So check out these resources:

http://www.sfgate.com/food/top100/
http://www.tablehopper.com/
http://sf.eater.com/


Things to do:
- S.F.City Walks http://www.sfcityguides.org/
Put on by city library/parks - run by docents. They're free (donations welcome) and they're really good.

- Golden Gate Park: Japanese Tea Garden (take a tour); DeYoung (Friday night open late for cocktail soiree - Impressionist exhibit in town http://deyoung.famsf.org/ ); Academy of Sciences (Thursday night cocktail party at discounted entry fee http://www.calacademy.org/). Both museums have cool new architecture.

- Suggest getting S.F. Access guidebook, which is organized by neighborhood which will provide good context.

You're hotel is in a perfect central location around Union Sq to get around easily, especially using the Market Muni/BART corridor.

Have a wonderful stay!

Just to put my two cents in. We had the nicest lunch at The Slanted Door in the Ferry Building. Beautiful fresh Vietnamese food, we sat at the bar as we didn't have a reservation for lunch, but it was fantastic. I'm still talking about that lunch and that was in October last year.

http://slanteddoor.com/
The Slanted Door attempts to recreate the richness of Vietnamese street food and enhance it with western style service, beverages and desserts using the freshest ingredients possible.

i second "e tutti qua", it was a wonderful meal, also across from the city limits book store, where jack kerouac et al would read poetry, and drink next door. didn't make it to "the slanted door" but my friend and native san franciscan said it is the best food in the city. for chinatown, go to "r & g lounge."