mxstanl

My wife and I will be arriving in San Francisco early afrernoon on a Saturday in October. We like to eat and will be coming from Colorado, so some really fresh seafood would be great! I am looking for some suggestions for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings, and some general suggestions for lunch. A fancy place or 2 for dinner then just great food spots fancy or not for the rest! We are still mapping out our daily activities, but we will be taking a tour of China Town and spending a day at Golden Gate Park. We are not planning on visiting Fisherman's Wharf. We will be leaving San Fran on Tuesday before lunch and heading to Carmel for a few days. if you know some good breakfast locales in San Fran, that would be appreciated as well. Our San Fran hotel is the Renaissance in Nob Hill.
Thanks,
Mark

logandog

I can't think of a better seafood place than Swan's Oyster Depot.
Get there early to avoid the wait,it's a tiny old school place with only nine stools I think.
Fresh clams and oysters on the half-shell,crab louie and a unique clam chowder.

Dayenu

California and Powell? Tonga Room in Fairmont is close, it's an interesting place for dinner. Live music, thunderstorm. If on weekend, make reservations.

Not far, but if walking it will be a steep hill, E&O Trading on Sutter. Don't be fooled by the name, it's a nice place for lunch/dinner.

Grassshopper

One of my favorite ways to check out menus is opentable.com Great seafood is easy to come by in SF. One of my favorite things to do any afternoon is sit on the terrace at Waterbar and enjoy their $1.00 oysters. I know it's not a favorite of some folks here but I am always happy there.

LowCountryIslander

If you like Italian I can recommend Flour + Water or Incanto, you would need to either take public transit or a taxi to either place from your hotel location. I had great meals at both in July. If you click on my screen name a list of my trip reports will come up, and you can check out what I wrote about both restaurants. It's titled, Fantastic Food Weekend in San Francisco.

DebitNM

Not sure if this is a first trip to San Francisco [note, use the whole name, locals don't care much for the shortened versions] but Tadich Grill is a quintessential spot that we always go to. Lunch or an early dinner to beat the crowds.

Skool, Firefly, Hog Island at the Ferry building, are on on list our upcoming trip.

http://www.hogislandoysters.com/bars/san-francisco
http://skoolsf.com/
http://www.fireflyrestaurant.com/

Other favorites for fine dining:
One Market, Spruce, Fifth Floor and our FAV spot - Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-francisco.cfm

charnees

Check out this supplement to the San Francisco Chronicle. It lists interesting food places in each of the 49 square miles of the city. They are not all restaurants, but many are, and it also includes some good regional delis and food stores where you can buy ready to eat food.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...FDAF1KL5VB.DTL

And yes, San Fran is not the name. And it's not Frisco, either. It's San Francisco.

mxstanl

Charnees - Forgive me for abbreviating. Now I see what the people are like that keep Nancy Pelosi in office. I will use San Francisco from now on! Thanks for the link there is some interesting stuff there!

Underhill

I do hope that was a backhanded compliment.

Wellvis

I really like Sotto Mare in North Beach. They have an excellent cioppino and make a wonderful seafood risotto as well. http://www.sottomaresf.com
Another place I really like is Firefly in Noe Valley - http://fireflyrestaurant.com/ - they have a $35 USD prix fixe menu that's quite good.
If you like Indian food, Dosa in the Mission on Valencia near 21st and Aslam's Rasoi just down the street are both good choices.
Check out the SF Gate's Bargain bites for other suggestions: http://www.sfgate.com/bargainbites

mxstanl

Thanks so much for everyone's help. We are booked for Dinner Saturday night at Allegro Romano, and Sunday night at Incanto. I have made notes of all of your suggestions for Monday night and the lunches and breakfasts in between. Thanks very much.
-Mark

easytraveler

You are only a few blocks from SF Chinatown (It's OK to abbreviate it to "SF" )

Here are a couple of places in Chinatown for seafood:

New Asia on Pacific for dim sum lunch (Chinese tapas)

http://www.sfnewasia.com/

They have a lobster noodle dish for $15 - $19 and features a whole lobster per dish. If you don't see any lobster dish on the rolling carts, then just ask the waiter for "lung ha mien". Best time to arrive is slightly after 11am on a weekday. Even then, there might be a slight wait; just get a number. This is the hurly-burly of a typical Hong Kong Cantonese "tea" house. There are also shrimp dumpings prepared several different ways.


One street down from Chinatown's main drag, Grant Street, is Kearney Street which has the R&G Lounge well known for its dungeness crab dishes, but also has other seafood:

http://www.rnglounge.com/

(Just avoid the touristy places in Chinatown)


Just one block up the hill from your hotel and on California Street towards Grace Cathedral is the Big 4 Restaurant in the Huntington Hotel for an experience of another era.

http://www.big4restaurant.com/

Enjoy!

charnees

FYI, many of us do not live in San Francisco proper and so are not in Pelosi's district. But among The City's quirks is an insistence on referring to it as San Francisco (or The City as I just did). it's part of the regional tradition. Even Republicans in the Bay Area insist on calling it by its proper name.

logandog

I love Frisco!

SAB

Texas or Colorado?

DebitNM

lol, SAB

nana5

Best place for breakfast-Ella's @ 500 Presidio Ave. Get there early for the sticky buns. Their french toast is also very good. Best "hole in the wall ethnic food? Paladare's. It is a cuban restaurant that serves the real thing.Only problem is they are only open for lunch.

suze

If your around Union Square, Mocca at 175 Maiden Lane is a fabulous place for lunch.

For dinner I like all the restaurants at www.belden-place.com