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

[El Diablo]

Evan,

My favorite burrito place in SF is La Taqueria on Mission near 25th. El Farolito is my second favorite.

Oh, I mentioned Tommy's above for Mexican. Pretty much across the street from there is Trad'r Sam's. It is a tiki bar w/ all sorts of crazy fruity and milkshake drinks. On weekends it is often packed with young, super drunk people. It can be really fun (if you're drunk) or really annoying (if you're not). If you go there, take a cab. Those scorpion bowls and milkshake drinks will get you super messed up. Also, the most horrible hangovers ever.

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
Tommy's Joynt. This place makes great corned beef, pastrami, brisket, and tons of other stuff. They'll make that up on a platter for you with a couple of sides for about $8 or make a big sandwich for you for $5. I recommend the brisket sandwich w/ BBQ sauce or the corned beef and cabbage.

[/ QUOTE ]

On Saturdays their special is BBQ ribs.. very tender and delicious.

They have great sides, too. I usually opt for a side of brussel sprouts.

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
My favorite burrito place in SF is La Taqueria on Mission near 25th. El Farolito is my second favorite.


[/ QUOTE ]
I like tacos more than burritos and pretty much get them without exception at northern california mexican places because I love all the different choices of meats. Which place do you think is better for tacos?

[nyc999]

For people coming into town - I've stayed at 6-7 hotels in SF, and here are my favorites:

<u>W Hotel</u> (Soma) - Great atmosphere, nice rooms, excellent location. Downside is it can be pricey and is always booked.

<u>Hotel Monaco</u> (Union Square) - a nice boutique hotel. Nice touches everywhere, centrally located, not overpriced and they have a free wine tasting every night of the week.

<u>Pan Pacific</u> (Union Square) - this is your run of the mill "nice" hotel - think Hilton, etc. Central location, is fairly nice, and isn't too expensive.

I'm sure others can chime in.

[cbloom]

Also in the Lower Haight is Memphis Minnie's, superb BBQ. Nearby up Haight is Magnolia Brew Pub which has okay food but some very good beer.

For tourists :

The Exploratorium is really fun and right near the green belt on the Marina which has great views of Golden Gate Bridge. Also nearby if you bikes it's really fun to ride around the Presidio and you can ride across the bridge.

Coit Tower is actually really cool, the view is nice but my favorite thing are the WPA murals.

The De Young Museum is pretty cool; the building itself has really interesting architecture, you can go up in the tower for another cool view, and it's right in Golden Gate Park which is a totally amazing place (again best on bikes because it's huge).

I love going up to Twin Peaks and Buena Vista Park, but like my favorite thing generally is trekking around.

The Mexican food in the Mission is indeed great. I'm kind of tired of taquerias now so I've been hitting other places :

Chava's has amazing mexican soups called "caldos" that are rich and spicy.

Los Jarritos is a sit-down joint that has all the regular stuff; I love the "sopa de albondigas" (meatball soup)

[El Diablo]

nyc,

If you like the W and Monaco, other hotels you would like are the new Hotel Vitale (across from the Ferry Building) and the Clift (near Union Square). These are all sorta "hip, stylish, relative expensive boutique hotel" vibe.

Those are all relatively pricey, though. Expedia usually has tons of much cheaper hotels in SF that are totally fine to stay at. Except if there's a big convention in town, at which time prices get ridiculous.

[DpR]

Well since this says Bay Area and not just SF I will add some of my fav places down on teh pennisula.

Sushi: Fuki Sushi on El Camino Ave in Palo Alto. This is my favorite sushi places outside of the best of the best national stuff (i.e Nobu).

Mexican: Casa Lupe in Los Altos. Sort of a dive, it is basically someones house on Main St, but man I love this place.

American: Somewhat unknown and stuck with the hotel restaurant stigma, but Parcel 104 at the Marriott near great adventure is surprisingly good.

There are tons of other great restaurants of course, but those are 3 I would eat at weekly.

[M2d]

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.

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]
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.

[M2d]

lots of my favorites have already been posted, so i'll go with: festivals/street fairs
i think sf is the home of the counterculture street fair. you get the standard renaissance fair up in marin and the snooty ala carte ala park in the gg park, but for a "you don't see this everyday in springfield" experience, go check out folsom street fair, castro street fair, carnival or haloween night in the castro. there's also the more standard cultural street fairs like Nihonmachi in J-town, or the 10-10 parade in chinatown.