Haunts

A lot of times people ask me for recommendations on where to go in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

This is not meant to be comprehensive, just a list of places which I can recommend, because I’ve been to them recently and enjoyed myself.

Food:

Bar Jules: Hayes Valley Jewel.
Canteen: Tenderloin/Nob Hill Oddity.
Front Porch: Carribean influenced home cooking.
Fish!: Sustainable and delicious Seafood in Sausalito.
Gialina: Pizza and Italian home cooking in Glen Park.
La Ciccia: Sardinian Food in Noe Valley.
La Trappe: Belgian Beer and food in North Beach.
Magnolia Brewpub: Great Pub food and charcuterie in the Upper Haight.
Papalote Mexican Grill: Depending on my mood, it may be San Francisco’s best burrito.
Restaurant Eloise: Wonderful Bistro type food in Sebastopol.
S.P.Q.R.: Opened by the same people behind A16, this is a smaller neighborhood type place, “inspired by the typical Roman osteria.” Yum.
Weird Fish: Mission Sea Food.

Cocktail Centric Bars and Restaurants:

15 Romolo: Newly remodeled North Beach bar.
Absinthe: Food also quite good.
Alembic*: Along with cocktails, some “offally” good food at Alembic. Sweetbreads, Hearts and Kidneys, Marrow Bones.
Beretta: Great Pizza and Italian small plates.
Bourbon & Branch: San Francisco’s first neo-speakeasy.
Cantina: Latin American inspired cocktails downtown.
Clock Bar: Maybe the best cocktails you’ll have in an American hotel.
Conduit: Mission District New American Cuisine and Cocktails.
Flora: Food and cocktails in Oakland.
Heaven’s Dog*: Chinese Food and Cocktails.
Jardiniere: My wife and I announced our plans to marry to her parents at Jardiniere. A sentimental favorite.
NOPA: Really good food, too!
Presidio Social Club
range: Food also quite good.
rye: Oft overlooked Tenderloin/Nob Hill Bar.
Slanted Door: Mixed reviews of the food among the food blogger mafia, but I enjoy it.

Bars where I am routinely insulted or otherwise abused, yet go back anyway:

Li Po Lounge
Toronado
Zeitgeist

Just Bars:

Homestead
Rite Spot
Wild Side West
Broken Record

Classic SF Bars:

Big 4
House of Prime Rib
Pied Piper Bar at the Palace Hotel
Tadich Grill
Tonga Room

*I sometimes bartend at these places.