|
Don't expect us to list
hamburger joints and typical traditional American diners here
(unless...). San Francisco is a cosmopolitan city where you can get
excellent food from all over the world including Mexican tacos,
Japanese sushi, and French fricassée de volaille. Of course, being
close to the sea, we tend to favor fish, crabs and other shells, but
enjoy our pizzas, Szechuan vegetables, and tacos as well. Here's a
short, but tried and tested list of places to eat.
San Francisco is an expensive
place to hang out, even after the dot com went bust. Our recommended
list has a bit of everything, but we like good value for money. Even if
it sounds expensive, it may be here as you get what you pay for. Our
prices don't include wine, Californian, naturally.
Expensive: Above
$15.00 a head
Moderate: Between
US $6.00 and US $15.00 a head
El Cheapo Loco: Below
US $6.00 a head
Alioto's
crab stand
Fisherman’s
wharf - between Pier 39 and Aquatic Park. Look for crowds munching on
crab legs.
Telephone:
na
Price:
Cheap for seafood
Crowd:
Crowded during the tourist season. Don’t be timid - yell out your order!
Special
feature: Very fresh seafood prepared as you wait, watch and drool.
Fresh
whole crab, excellent clam chowder and shrimp cocktails, beer and soft
drinks. What more?
Bistrot Burger
4
locations
201
Mission Street - (415) 348-8788
333 Bush Street - (415) 434-3754
343
Sansome Street - (415) 989-7566
21
Drumm Street - (415) 772-9974
website
Price:
Inexpensive to moderate
Crowd:
Casual to dressy, Jeans OK, dress OK
Special
feature: Gourmet burgers in a casual ambiance
Not
your average fast food joint, though the prices are reasonable. The
bistrot serves charbroiled beef hamburgers, classic pineapple cheddar
burgers, Paris burgers with brie cheese and sauteed mushrooms, chicken
burgers, healthy garden salads, milkshakes, grilled fish, turkey
burgers, and veggie burgers. So all in all, about a dozen kinds of
basic burgers with your choice of beef, chicken, turkey or veggie. It's
super and it's not expensive. C'est bon, c' est pas cher. Not usually
opened on weekends (a shame!), except for Drumm Street.
Blondie's
Pizza
64
Powell Street, San Francisco, CA 94102-2816
Telephone: (415) 982 6168
Price:
Inexpensive
Crowd:
Casual, but you can wear what you like
Special
feature: Spot Blondie
A
slice of pizza is gonna cost you... US $2 to US $4, plus a buck for the
fountain drink. Obviously, you will not need to take a second mortgage
for your meal here. You can order a whole pizza if you like, but you
can only order what they sell, i.e. you cannot choose your own toppings
to make your own pizza: cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, veggie pizza or
the works with everything. A casual spot on the go with seats
downstairs.
Café
Bastille
22
Belden Place, San Francisco, CA 94104
Telephone: (415) 986-5673
Price:
Moderate to inexpensive
Crowd:
Chic, but jeans and t-shirts are fine
Special
feature: Practice your broken French with the friendly wait
staff.
Excellent
French food served in a very colorful decor. Go downstairs to the cozy
underground room. French dishes, salads, sandwiches. French wines.
French chef too.
Kiki
1269
9th Avenue at Irving, San Francisco, CA 94122
Telephone: (415) 661-5522
Price:
Moderate to inexpensive
Crowd:
Casual, but kimono is fine
Special
feature: Learn the gun kata
Tasty
and fresh Japanese sushi and sashimi classics such as Godzilla and
Spider rolls! Cheap, cheap.
La
Cumbre Taqueria
515
Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Telephone: (415) 863-8205
Price:
About $5 for a burrito as big as your head
Crowd:
very casual
Special
feature: authentic Mexican Californian food, SF style.
Possibly
the best burritos (Mexican wrap with beans and meat, served in a hot
sauce) in SF, in California, maybe even in the US. You have
to cross over the border to find food as flavorful.
Park
Chow
9th
Avenue at Lincoln, just south of Golden Gate Park near the Botanical
Gardens
1238
9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Telephone: (415) 665-9912
Price:
Inexpensive!
Crowd:
From well dressed to t-shirts and flip-flaps (don’t be fooled by
sunshine though - you will be cold in shorts!)
Special
feature: Excellent deal!
Uninspiring
name, but really a good address. Great pizzas, entrees, salads,
smoothies, beer! Eat plenty or only a little.
Polly
Ann Ice Cream Parlor
3142
Noriega Street between 38th and 39th Av.
Telephone: (415) 664-2472
Price:
Doggone inexpensive!
Crowd:
From well-trimmed dogs to mongrels
Special
feature: A dog's deal!
Free
ice cream cone for every dog accompanied by a human being! Dog-gone! A
dangerous place for dogs and people with a sweet tooth, or rotten teeth
for that matter. Polly Ann has been making her own ice-cream since 1955
with an ice-cream wheel. A one-gallon bucket of ice-cream is
excellently priced at US $6. Exotic flavors include passion fruit,
lychee, mango-strawberry, taro, banana-coconut, red bean and many,
many, many others (several hundred actually) to choose from.
It's
Tops diner
1801
Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Telephone: (415) 431-6395
Price:
Inexpensive
Crowd:
Trendy locals, blue collar, comfortable
Special
feature: Excellent pancakes and bacon!
This
is an original American diner, just like in the 50s and maybe the 80s.
It's good for breakfast, it's good for lunch, and it's good for dinner
as well. Try some burgers from the grill with a cup of
coffee.
Yum
Yum Sushi To Go
in
the sunset district
2181
Irving Street, San Francisco, CA 94122
Telephone: (415) 566-6433
Price:
Inexpensive for sushi
Crowd:
To go - no crowd.
Special
feature: Californian Kamikaze roll
Order
and you will be granted. Excellent cheap fresh sushi made in a seafood
shop. The hamachi kamikaze roll is unbeatable.
|