Stu,

Would you please add your recent restaurant favorites to this wonderful thread?

Visiting SF again and I have your favorite Incanto and Contigo on my list. Wondering if you have any new favorites for a special dinner or two to mark a "we're now officially empty nesters!" vacation?

(sorry for the hijack)
:-)

First, I should briefly describe the type of restaurant we seek out. We like food & presentations that we can't/won't do at home or find at hundreds of other restaurants in San Francisco. We like something clever & unusual. My wife loves fish - sardines, anchovies, squid, scallops, Dourade, etc. We don't order sole, beef, or crab - because those are things we have at home quite often. I'm not a pasta lover - so I stay away from pasta unless it has some special "stuff" on it. Then I might have it as an appetizer. We spend 2 months in France most years, so we go there for our French cuisine.

Given these food preferences, we find ourselves dining at a lot of ethnic restaurants (I don't consider "ethnic" to be French or Italian).

We won't dine at any restaurant that has a "bomb" noise rating from the San Francisco restaurant critic.

It is near the end of 2013, so here are the restaurants that we liked and dined at this year. Ones we won't return to are not on this list.

- Aziza, where we dined this past Saturday. Way out on Geary. Moroccan/California cuisine. This is a Michelin 1 star restaurant and one of our favorites. We've dined here maybe 7-8 times.

- Farallon, where we dined last Wednesday before a musical at the nearby Curren theater. Near Union Square. Seafood with an amazing interior. Lots of tourists & businessmen. Basic menu - and a little pricey. We've dined here 3 times & a good choice of you want to eat in the Union Square area.

- Delfina in the Mission, where we dined a week ago - Saturday. Italian, but not a North Beach red-sauce type place. Very popular. We've dined there 6-7 times.

- Incanto in the Noe Valley. "Different" Italian. We've dined there perhaps 10 times.

- Osha on Union Street. Thai. Very loud. We get there early when there is less noise, and we sit next to the window so we can people-watch on Union Street.

- Pasion in the inner Sunset on Irving St. Peruvian. Perhaps the last remaining Fern Bar in the City is across the street. We've dined here 5-6 times - 3 times this year.

- Zare at Fly Trap in SOMA. Calif cuisine. We had one excellent meal here & one "good" one. Quiet with nice interior.

- Fattoush in the Noe Valley. Middle Eastern. You won't find this in any guide books. Order the Mansaf. Very reasonably priced.

- Pomelo in the Noe Valley. World food. We've dined here more often than any other restaurant. Excellent Paella on the Fri, Sat, & Sunday closest to the 15th of the month (based on Friday's date). I had an excellent brunch here yesterday - different than the "standard" brunch/egg/pancake offering. Very reasonably priced.

- Coco500 in SOMA. Calif cuisine. Long-time famous SF female chef. We've dined here twice

- Contigo in the Noe Valley. Spanish. One of our favorites. Have the tasting menu. We've dined here 6-7 times

- Foreign Cinema in the Mission. Calif. Very nice interior, and quieter than most restaurants in the Mission. One of only 3 restaurants that we frequent in the Mission. We've been there 4-5 times, and have rewervations again for November..

- Spruce, way out on Sacramento Street. Calif cuisine. Kind of a splurge. More formal and much quieter than most restaurants. You might see some sport coats here. Nice area - most tourists don't get out here.

- Skool close to Potrero Hill. Seafood with an Asian twist. One of our favorites. Dined here 5-6 times.

- Plaj. Civic Center at the Inn at the Opera. Swedish cuisine. Excellent venison. Civic Center area can be a little "threatening" at night.

- Thanh Long way out on Judah. Vietnamese. We go here quite often after returning from one of our vacations and need an "Asian fix". Noted for their Dungeness Crab - which we do not order (see above). Excellent appetizers. "Must order" their Drunken Beef and Garlic Noodles. We've dined here 8-10 times.

- State Bird Provisions in the Western Addition. Calif Cuisine - dem sum style. Currently, the most difficult reservation to get in the City. May be impossible.!!!. Recently named "best new restaurant" in a food/travel magazine. They just remodeled and will re-open soon. We've dined here twice.


For a special occasion, or if someone else is paying:

- La Folie on Polk St. French. A Michelin 1 star. We went here on my birthday. I am a big fan of the chef. We've dined here 5-6 times.

- Acquerello in Polk Gulch. Italian - perhaps the best pure Italian place in the City. We've only dined here once.

- Quince downtown. Italian/Calif. Perhaps our best meal in the City in the past 5 years. We've dined here 3 times (twice when it was at another location).


Other restaurants we like, but didn't dine at this year.

- AQ in SOMA. Calif cuisine "Best new restaurant of the year" a few years ago. Area a little dodgy. We've dined here 3 times.

- Chapeau! in the inner Richmond district. This is the "other" French restaurant that we frequent. Excellent menu with a fixed-price option. Congenial owner. One of our favorites. We've dined here maybe 8-10 times over the last 20 years.

- Betelnut on Union St. Asian food. This has been here a long time. It changed its name/menu this year - and then changed it back to the "original" when there was a flood of protests. Outside dining. We've dined here around 9 times.

- Marnee Thai in the inner Sunset close to Pasion, on Irving just off 9th Ave. This is a very popular hole-in-the-wall place with excellently presented Thai cuisine. Reserve ahead if you don't want to wait in line. We've dined here twice.

- Commonwealth in the Mission. Calif/creative cuisine. Very popular. A little "rustic". We've dined here twice.

- La Mar near the Ferry Bldg. Peruvian. Nice ambience. We've dined here 3 times.

- Gitane. Downtown/Financial district. French/Spanish. One of our favorites. Cozy/clubby atmosphere. In an alley. We've dined here 4-5 times. Will do so again before the year is up.

- Perbacco. Downtown/Financial District. Italian - with some unusual twists. We've dined here 3-4 times.

- Padrecito in the Cole Valley. "New" Mexican. This is a newly opened off-shoot of Mamacita in the Marina, which has excellent "new" Mexican food - but is VERY loud. We love the food, but have to take ear plugs with us when we go to Mamacita. We have reservations for Padrecito for the week after next - hoping it is not as noisy as Momacita.

- Zuni on Market near Civic Center. Calif. cuisine. Well known female chef, noted for her rotisserie chicken - but we don't order it. This has been around forever - and is still packing them in. Sometimes we find something "new & original" on the menu, and sometimes we don't. Been here 5-6 times.

- Frances in the Castro. Excellent Michelin 1 star restaurant. Reservations are difficult to get. We've dined here twice.

Stu Dudley

I would add Rich Table as a restaurant that is very good choice. Also hard to get reservations on Opentable but if you call and are willing to go early, you may get in. We had dinner there week before last and then went to a performance at the new SFJazz Center; it was really a nice evening.

http://www.sfjazz.org/

<i>Skoooooooool</i> =P~

Skool's one of our faves, too, Thee Stu.

Thanks Stu, you really ARE Mr. San Francisco! :-D

Made all our reservations using your guide as THE guide. Looking forward to the gastronomic nirvana that is San Francisco.

Debit and Kal,
Skool and Rich Table are now on the list as well.

Thanks again!

Skool has a nice Sunday Brunch especially if it's nice weather and they have the small patio open. We had a Fodorite GTG there once.
Make a killah' Bloody Mary. I needed two since Dayenu was there. :-d

Bookmarking for July trip - so much great info I need to come back and reread!

Thank you, thank you. Our trip to the SF area last week was much enhanced by your suggestions.

Where did you end up eating, Connie and what did you think of the restaurants? What else did you see and do?

Topping for newbies.

I had to look at this again...Thanks STu

I would like to say, I have followed a number of Stu's suggestions over the course of several trips, and they are just wonderful. Last trip, laden with pastries from Chinatown and gelato from North Beach, I dragged DH and DD to the top of the parking lot above the police station. My family thought I was crazy, until they saw the views!

bookmarking

Can anybody recommend a good Asian place near the Embarcadro? We were going to go to China House for lunch next Tuesday but they are remodeling.

Slanted Door qualify?

A gentle reminder - this thread has been around a long time. Always check to be sure that recommended restaurants etc are still around, there are several that are closed now.

What's China House?

We just had lunch at E&O and enjoyed it very much. Attractive place, good service and delicious food.
314 Sutter Street

Yank Sing at the Rincon Center is another good choice if you're interested in dim sum.

China House is a restaurant in the area at which we wanted to eat . I have no idea about it. My friends picked it.

I have heard good things about the Slanted Door but that it is pricey and that won't work for all in our party. I have been to Yank Sing. I would go back there in a snap.

I will check out E&O. Thanks

Just boarded my plane heading to San Fran and this thread is showing up again. Thanks again Stu d! I have this thread printed out in my carry on. :)

Off we go!!!!!!!!!