Weekend in SF

[Twohearted]

Normally I would put in the time to research some choices here, but I'm extraordinarily busy and hopefully the community here can take pity on me. My wife and I are going to be in San Francisco this weekend and we'd love some recommendations for breakfast, lunch, dinner and bars. We will be staying at the Hilton in Union Square and we will have a car. We are open to any kind of food at any price level. For bars, we like places with a high quality, diverse selection of beer or places with excellent cocktails. I already called French Laundry a month ago and Gary Danko just now with no luck so anywhere else is a possibility.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Twohearted (log)

[annachan]

Since you contacted Gary Danko and French Laundry with no luck, here are some alternatives for dinner:

Quince - lovely high end Italian

Coi - one of my favorites in the city

Frances - excellent food for great prices, casual

Prospect - plan your meal accordingly as you won't want to miss dessert. Get an order of the caramel corn to go!

For Saturday morning, check out a farmer's market and eat there! The Ferry Building one is more upscale. Can eat at one of the stall or inside the building at Il Cane Rosso. If you're looking for a more rustic market, the Alemany one is for you. Cheaper produce and less fancy food. El Huarache Loco is not to be missed for real Mexican food.

One of my favorite hole-in-the-wall place for breakfast is Art's Cafe by Golden Gate Park. Hash brown sandwich is a specialty.

Tony's Pizza Napoletana has great award winning pizzas and fried calzone. He recently opened a take out place next door to the restaurant. I haven't been but heard the pizza by the slice there is great. There are also sandwiches and Gino's Italian ice. There is a park right across if you want a little picnic.

[therippa]

If you want excellent cocktails check out The Alembic or Bourbon & Branch (make a reservation at B&B)

[Twohearted]

Made reservations at Jardiniere for dinner on Saturday. More recommendations for breakfast, lunch, beer bars and cocktail bars would be great.

[johnder]

So I live in NYC, but I am in SF for work almost once a month. Here is my short list of places to go:

Breakfast:

Blue Bottle -- Mint Street -- Amazing coffee and great (if a bit expensive) breakfast bites.

Weekend Brunch

Beretta (see Beretta below for more)

Foreign Cinema I usually eat at the bar portion of this which is actually Laszlo. I like sitting at the bar and interacting with the bartender. You can get th e full menu from FC at the bar. Don't miss the Bloody Maria and candied bacon.

Lunch:

Yang Sing -- Best deem sum in SF. Make a reservation.

Cocktails:

Rickhouse - go early. It gets a little hectic around 8-9. Owned by the same people as Bourbon and Branch

Bar Agricole -- Amazing drinks and great small plates. If the weather is nice, site outside.

Smugglers cove -- Greak tiki style drinks with an amazing tiki designed bar

Beretta (see below)

Burrit room --Kevin runs the drink program here and is an alum of Bourbon and Branch and PDT. It is in the newly renovated crescent hotel.

Clock bar -- Part of Michael Mina's empire, in the St. Francis hotel right off Union Square. Nice place to get a cocktail and a few signature MM bites.

Prospect -- Sit at the bar and get some great Snack s from Ravi and amazing drinks from the bar manager Brooke.

Dinner (my short list)

Saison Joshua Skenes amazing place. Great ingredients, and a great interaction with the kitchen. They do 2 seating a night. This was one of my best meals in SF.

Incanto -- Another place I hit everytime I am in town. Chris Costentinos Italian place. If you are into great dinners that utilize the whole animal this is the place to go.

Slanted Door -- Great for Lunch or Dinner. In the ferry building. Best time to go is to try to go Saturday for lunch. Walk around the farmers market, get a cup of blue bottle coffee and then lunch at the door.

54 Mint -- Great Italian food run by a few brothers from New York. Their steak for two is a bargin.

Range -- Great food, and cocktails. Menu changes all the time based on seasonal ingredients. Michelin starred.

Berretta -- If you have noticed I put Berretta is most of the categories in this list. I am there all the time. Ryan, who runs the drink program doesn't have a dud on the whole list. It is also great because they serve food up to 1am. The winning dish on the menu is sort of an insiders choice. Sit down at the bar, order a cocktail and the pizza with burratta, spicy sausage and an egg. It is amazing.

A great day would for me would be:

Coffee at blue bottle. Lunch at Yang Sing or Slanted door. Nap. Cocktails at Bar Agricole. Earlyish dinner at Incanto. Drinks at Bar Agircole. Then a late night pizza at Beretta.

Edit to add: Two more places I love Zero Zero for pizza and Delfina.

Edited November 6, 2010 by johnder (log)

[Twohearted]

I think we will be going to Clock Bar tonight after we get in since it's very close to our hotel. Great recs so far. I really appreciate it.

[johnder]

The Burrit room is very close to the hilton too. Try to hit both. Very different experiences for 2 hotel bars.

It is on the second floor of the hotel.

[daisy17]

you're in good hands with johnder's recs here (blue bottle's iced coffee sets an all new standard for the genre, and I'm a fan of Incanto) - but I have to say, I had dinner in the lounge at Coi a few weeks ago and it was the freaking bomb. Awesome meal - interesting and delicious. In the lounge you can order a la carte off the main dining room tasting menu as well as the lounge menu. I was a happy, happy girl.

[vice]

To the already great list of recommendations, I would just add that you should absolutely get the affogato at Blue Bottle (Ferry building and Mint Plaza locations). For that matter, you should probably get ice cream at both Humphrey Slocombe and Bi-Rite Creamery (both in the Mission). No one has mentioned Una Pizza Napoletana yet, about which there's been a lot of deserved buzz.

For cocktails, I never fail to stop at Alembic when I'm in the city, but I've had notably great experiences at Nopa, Bar Agricole, and Smuggler's Cove, amongst all the others. Some might scoff, but I also make a stop at House of Nanking whenever possible and I've yet to be disappointed over the course of six years going there.