Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

c,

Memphis Minnie's is far from superb BBQ. It is marginal at best, though I guess decent enough for SF BBQ. You're not from the South, are you?

For BBQ in SF, you can get ribs at Big Nate's, which are pretty damn good. Also Brother-in-Law's BBQ used to be very good, I haven't been back since they reopened as Lily's. Assuming it's the same, they make excellent ribs and brisket and sausage. That's pretty much it when it comes to BBQ in the city. Oakland has a few good places. I've only been to Everett & Jones, which is pretty good - I like the brisket. But apparently there's better over there.

For some outstanding fried chicken and soul food, Powell's Place is a great place to go. http://powellsplace.citysearch.com/page/o459/Menu.html

"there's something satisfying about a place where you can get a dinner of smothered pork chops, liver and onions, or ox tails (with two sides plus corn muffins) for under $10."

That says it all. Legit. I prefer to just get the fried chicken to go from there with a bunch of sides, so good.

Magnolia is indeed a good brew pub with very good beers, but a sorta crowded bar area. 21st Amendment and Rogue are two other excellent brewpubs that have better bar areas.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

the buffalo (bison) herd in the park is pretty cool as well.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Last time I went to SF I stayed at the Cow Hollow inn in the marina district and it was awesome. The rooms are normal size but just have a very nice feel. The location is good for walking or driving places; they have free highspeed wireless.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

ohh we can do peninsula too? then its on!

The four restaurants where we frequently go to lunch in Mountain View are:

-Cafe Yulong. This place is my favorite. It is seriously a fantastic lunch deal. I always get the Szechewan Sha Zhang Noodles with Seafood, which is a giant bowl of homemade noodles covered with onions, zucchini, chiles, shrimp and calamari, soooo good.

- Sushitomi - I LOOOOOVE sushi, and this place has tons of awesome stuff. The first time i went i had Kobe Beef and Toro Nigiri, super expensive, but just flat out amazing. Since then I have gotten the Sashimi Lunch Special, which is a ton of sashimi, soup and a salad for like 12 dollars. Whenever im having a bad day pre-lunch i go here.

- The Old Siam - This is the best Thai Food place i have ever been to. The Pad Se Ew here is just ridiculously good, the waitresses, while seeming mean and snappy, are incredibly nice once youve gone a few times, and this is the restaurant where we most frequently converse with the servers. KAI NGA- Deep fried chicken nugget mixed with sweet&sour sauce. Is pretty insane too. But yeah, its just fried chicken breast, which always rules.

- Dittmer's Gourmet Meats and Wurst-Haus - Ridiculously good sandwiches, their walls are just covered with awards. They have 50+ varities of sausage and the most comprehensive meat selection i have ever seen. My friend and I spent ~$100 here on meat for our superbowl party and didnt regret it. The day after I made probably the best sandwich i have ever had when i made a big slab of skirt steak on the grill, cut it up, put it on a ciabatta roll, fried some of dittmer's thick cut garlic bacon and some onions and put it all together. they won the award for best bacon in california in 2006. and they have slab bacon, nuff said?

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Diablo - I'm not from the South and don't know much about bbq, but I'm not a big fan of Memphis either (although my buddy who lived in Lower Haight liked it alot, in part cause it's pretty cheap).

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For some outstanding fried chicken and soul food, Powell's Place is a great place to go. http://powellsplace.citysearch.com/p...9/Menu.html<br />
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So good - reminds me that I enjoyed strolling around Hayes Valley when I lived in SF. (Powell's is not too far a walk from this area).

Food wise I like the frites place there (I believe it's called "Frites"), Absinthe wasn't bad, Suppenkuche, Hayes Street Grill. Sure there are more / better restaurants in walking distance but can't recall off the top of my head. Also some good bars (Place Pigalle I liked alot, as well as Jade which I went to recently and thought was cool). Also remember there being some good design stores on Hayes.

-Al

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Al,

http://www.hayesstreetgrill.com/ is a great suggestion for a reasonably priced nice seafood dinner in SF. The thing to get is their grilled fish w/ fries. They get whatever the best fish is that day and you choose one of them, grilled up with your sauch of choice and a side of amazing fries for under $25. It is really, really good.

The frites place you are thinking of is Frjtz http://frjtzfries.com/ . In addition to excellent frites and sauces, they also make some really tasty crepes. Nice patio in the back to sit and eat snacks or a meal.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Hayes Valley has some really good burger joints, too. The name of my favorite is escaping me at the moment, however.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Diablo - oh right that Frjtz place had crepes too - good stuff. Damn this thread is making me miss SF.

-Al

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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If it's the beach in the pic, it's Baker Beach. not really a swimming beach, as the water's cold, the currents can be ripping and it's a popular fishing beach for striped bass, halibut and perch. the eastern end (towards the ggb) is affectionately known as man-fort beach by the local fishermen. basically, it's a nude beach that's frequented mostly by older men.

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Yea, that must be it, there was a naked guy that seemed to be doing laps around the beach or something. We didn't go in the water so I'll trust you about it being cold. It was in May so the weather hadn't totally warmed up yet, although it was pretty hot that day.

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yeah, that's bakers beach...I have a painting of it at my house. It's always effing freezing there no matter what.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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yeah, that's bakers beach...I have a painting of it at my house. It's always effing freezing there no matter what.

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Ah thanks - now I don't miss SF as much [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

-Al