OK, a few people have requested this in different threads. So I'm planning to do a few of these, maybe one a week, then post in the resource guide thread. I figure we'll hit NY, Chicago, Atlanta, and some other big cities first. Post other cities to do in the suggestions thread.

Feel free to mention both well-known top restaurants and little divey places. Mention tourist attractions that are great plus things to do that are off the beaten path.

Here are a few things to do in the San Francisco area.

Alcatraz tour. I am usually anti-touristy things, but this tour (get the audio guided tour thing) is really cool.

Sushi Groove South. Tons of great sushi places in SF (see the sushi thread for a long list). This place is very "SF-style" with a nice, somewhat dark ambience. A friend I just took there said "this is the first time I've been at a sushi place with a DJ, interesting!" which pretty much sums it up. Great fish as well, of course.

Harris'. The best steak in SF, this is an old-school place with great martinis, steaks, and whatever else you want. Expensive, but well worth it.

Izzy's. For a more casual steak, go to Izzy's in the Marina. For about $25 you get a steak and two sides. I recommend the Prime Rib plus Izzy's potatoes and creamed spinach.

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.

Tommy's Mexican and Tequila Bar. This is out in the avenues, a bit of a hike from the center of the city, but really everything's close in SF. A nice meal after checking out Golden Gate Park during the day. They have some pretty good Mexican food, but the highlight is the bar w/ countless forms of tequila that you can sip straight or in some really great margaritas.

Farmer's Market at Ferry Building. On Saturday mornings. This place is a little pricier than the other farmer's markets in the Bay Area due to its central location, but it has tons of great vendors. Lots of really, really delicious stuff to buy. Also, inside the building are a lot of great speciality stores like olive oil stores (on a Saturday between the stores and vendors, there are probably 20 places selling high-end olive oil!), chocolates, butcher, cheese place, bakeries, etc. Between the farmer's market and ferry building shops you can put together an INCREDIBLE picnic.

Anchor Steam Brewery Tour. I haven't actually done this, but people love it.

Scharfen Berger Factory Tour. In Oakland. Another one I haven't done, but am told is great. They make really great chocolate.

The best bread I've had in the US is at Acme which started in Berkeley but is also in the Ferry Building market. Berkeley also has terrific chaat at Vik's, which is basically a barebones warehouse operation adjacent to their food import business.

In the Castro is Anchor Oyster Bar, which has the best New England clam chowder I've had. It's a little neighborhood secret with the same guy in the kitchen every day.

The standard touristy (yet still very good) Chinese place is House of Nanking but down the block and up Broadway is Yuet Lee, which IMO is much more delicious. I'll typically just order whatever specials they have and go to town.

Another tradition was having a sausage foccacia sandwich and some good coffee at Mario's Bohemian Cigar Shop off Washington Square or getting a delicious sandwich at Molinari's, a couple blocks down Columbus. Molinari also makes fresh ravioli that you can buy by the box.

EDIT: Forgot about Pyung Chang in Oakland. Excellent soon dubu for people who like Korean food. And Avatar's Punjabi Burritos in Mill Valley.

I'm a big fan of City Lights for independent and political books. This probably isn't news for anyone who lives in the city.

Edit: Also like the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park

See the seals(sea lions?) hanging out at Fisherman's Wharf.

Daver,

At Yuet Lee, the following are some standouts:

BBQ Pork Chow Mein (so much better than what you'd normally expect from this)
Sweet and Sour Pork with Plum Sauce (best sweet and sour pork I've ever had)
All the fish dishes (many of them they'll steam whole then cut it open and debone it right there at the table for you. Also, they go grab a live fish from the tank for your approval. That's cool.)
Beef w/ asparagus and black bean sauce.
Beef tenderloin.
As you noted, the specials.

Everything is cheap ($8-10ish) except for the big fish dishes ($20-30ish). With four, 2 meat dishes, some chow mein, and a fish is a good amount of food.

This place is also open super-late, something like 4am on the weekends.

Boston should be next, I've probably seen more in SF than I have in Boston and I haven't done anything in SF.

All,

The Buena Vista (near Fisherman's Wharf) is famous for their Irish Coffee. Very good stuff.

After visiting City Lights, head to some bars in North Beach before getting some food at Yuet Lee.

Tosca is old school. The drink of choice is a cappucino/brandy mixture that is delicious. They do all sorts of coffee/liquor drinks. Just get the house special, it's the best. They have tons of glasses lined up and ready to go.

If you're in more of a beer mood, Vesuvio is great.

Savoy Tivoli if you want to meet some girls and be at a livelier and louder bar.

Bubble Lounge if you want sophisticated older champagne vibe. I'm not a big fan.

Cigar Bar for, well, cigars. And expensive alcohol. Often a cover here, but worth it if you're in the mood for a cigar on the patio.

Kell's if you want to meet some young girls in a crazy college-bar type atmosphere.

Grant & Green if you want to listen to some live blues while you drink.

Gino & Carlo's if it's 6am and you are ready to drink w/ some crusty old Italian locals. This is a pretty sweet bar, actually.

Kennedy's if you are in the mood for some great beers (HUGE beer selection, cheap great beers) or some curry - yes, it has an Indian joint in the back! Also, foosball and other games.

Li Po (or The Buddha Bar across the street) if you want to venture over to some Chinatown bars on your way to Yuet Lee. Buddha Bar features one of the drunkest, most insane bartenders in the city. Also, if you go, you must have some shots of "The Chinese." You can also get The Chinese at Li Po, just look for the ceramic pots.

That's a small fraction of the bars right in that area. Good times.

This place is really good.

My favorite thing to eat in northern California is Mexican food. It's a real treat for someone coming from the east coast where it's very hard to get anything near that quality. I know Diablo has posted about El Farolito in the past, it's really good. I still think Taqueria Santa Cruz is the best Mexican I've ever had.

Other than food I think one of the coolest things I did in SF was playing Frisbee on a beach under the Golden Gate Bridge. I forget the name but I'm sure any of the locals know where it is.

Golden Gate Park is one of the nicest parks i have ever been to. Steinhart Aquarium(im not sure if it has moved or something?) is the 2nd best aquarium i have ever been to, with Monterey Bay Aquarium Winning out here.

The Dragon Well is in the top 3 Chinese Resturants I have ever been to.

I've been to the San Francisco Opera House twice and it is the most beautiful building I have been to in the United States.

This one should be pretty obvious, but ATT/SBC/PacBell park for Giants Games. This is my 2nd favorite baseball stadium after Wrigley field. The view is just spectacular.

The whole area by Fishermans wharf is pretty sweet. I am a seafood lover and the clam chowder/all dishes around here are just fantastic. As is the sourdough pizza. damn, now i want some sourdough pizza. My uncle's favorite restaurant is Scoma's, right by Fisherman's Wharf, but i prefer Pompei's Grotto.

I had a few friends who went to SF State, I def got drunk and partied and met lots of cute girls there on a few occasions, fun part of town. Also, that long beach near there rules. Isnt it called Ocean Beach or something?

I live about an hour from SF, so this is the best i could do. Like Evan said, i couldnt part with the delicious Mexican food that Taqueria Santa Cruz makes me almost daily. Seriously ridiculously good.

Unless times have changed over past couple years, you can smoke in there too! (Although I guess this might not be good for some people...)

Wanted to recommend the Lower Haight area - couple good spots there (had a good friend who lived at Haight and Fillmore), and noticed doesn't get much love in SF threads: Mad Dog in the Fog (good bar to watch soccer games); Rosamunde's Grill (excellent sausage sandwiches); Toronado (one of the better beer selections in SF, 100+ on tap); Molotov (reminds me of Kilowatt in Mission; gritty biker type bar).

And second Daver's comment about Acme Bread - best I've ever had in US, Bay Area is lucky to have it there.

-Al

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.

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.

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?

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

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

Hotel Monaco (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.

Pan Pacific (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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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).

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