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.

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

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

-Al

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

Ah thanks - now I don't miss SF as much

-Al

I'll try to do a roundup of my favorite (indie) live music places :

Great American Music Hall - tons of great music, awesome space, 5 thumbs up!!!
(bad neighborhood though, so not a place to bar hop)

Bimbo's 365 - really cool place but only has bands like once in a while, definitely go if you see a good show scheduled here

The Independent - meh space, big enough, lots of good bands

Hotel Utah - never been here, someone else has to review

Bottom of the Hill - I hate this space, it gets way too crowded and the bar is right on the floor, but they have lots of good bands, so check their listings, also out in the middle of nowhere which is annoying

Make out Room - not bad, has some pretty good bands now and the cover is like $3-5

Amnesia - little joint with great hipster Gypsy and Klezmer and Balkan music a couple nights each week, very fun; no hard liquor & very tiny so if you're not into the band it sucks.

Elbo Room - very rarely has decent bands but it's actually a really nice space, fun crowd, band on one floor and just a bar on the other floor so you can pick your poison

Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers is a really great place, there's a few locations but the one I'm thinking of is just off of Lombard near the Marina.

Mt. Diablo is a good destination in the east bay, on a clear day it's got the second best visibility in the world. You can drive all the way to the top, but there's a lot of fun hiking spots, including a really cool place called rock city.

A great place to take kids is Tilden Park, also in the east bay area. There's a mini train that you can ride and a merry-go-round. Really good botanical gardens there also to keep the ladies happy.

Cable Car Museum is very interesting also if you're into that sort of thing.

Lastly, Fior d'Italia, pretty much the best Italian food I've ever had.

c,

Excellent list. Comments on a few of those + a couple others.

GAMH - Not a big fan. I think the acoustics generally suck.

Hotel Utah is a cool little place, small, more singer-songwritery acoustic stuff than rocking music. Doesn't get all that much really good stuff, but a fun place to have a couple of beers.

BOTH - Hah, I love it. Best place in the city to see punk/indie shows. Yeah, it can get way too crowded, but has incredible energy.

Bimbo's I agree is a great place to see shows, usually the stuff they book is more on the low key side.

Elbo Room, I agree w/ your review.

Slim's is one of my favorite places to see shows, small club that gets lots of good shows.

Cafe du Nord is another great small venue, with more low-key pretty sounding and jazzy stuff, though they also do some cool rocking indie shows.

The Hemlock Tavern has some great shows that really rock out including some cool punk shows. The front half is a really good bar separate from the music part.

The Red Devil Lounge gets a lot of old 80's/90's acts coming through, plus the occassional new stuff. OK place.

The "fact" that Mt Diablo has the 2nd best visibility in the world was actually started by a real estate promooter around 1915. It just isn't tall enough.

I actually grew up right at the base of Mt Diablo and believed this myth until I recently stumbled upon the wikipedia article about the mountain.

There is actually a flower called Mt Diablo buckwheat only found there. It was thought extinct since 1936 but was rediscovered in 2005.

My personal favorite place to hike is Morgan Territory park east of Mt Diablo. There are lots of great trails, it's not very popular and a great place to take your dog for an off leash walk (dont know if it is technically allowed). The road to the park is a great one lane winding road which is a very fun drive, but be careful several people have died plunging off the side of the road.

It must have been 80+ that day, by far the hottest weather I've seen in SF or Santa Cruz (I've spent a lot more time in SC). Really nice place to hang out though, the bridge/cliffs in the distance look really cool.

wrt san francisco clubs.

my FAVORITE club EVER was the Cocodrie, which is now closed down. article.
i remember reading that article and almost being in tears as i read it.

My favorite sf club at this point is the fillmore, mostly because of the insane amount of ridiculously cool, historic artwork everywhere.

put me up for one vote for the pound, which is super underrated and fun.

Memphis Minnies is not good BBQ no matter where you are from. I've eaten there twice, don't think I will go again.

Ali Baba (19th and Valencia, Haight between Steiner and Fillmore) makes pretty damn good Shwarma and Falafel, IMO.

Lots of people (myself included) like the atmosphere at Zeitgeist they have a nice little out door patio, but it is often times quiet crowded.

La Randia (20th and Valencia)- Decently strong $12 dollar pitchers of margarita, mariachi band, a bit of a dive though. Good value I think.

Majoul- 22nd and Mission- I don't know why I like it. It's not my scene (trendy/ European) and the drinks are weak. There is something about sitting on a rooftop staring out at the city chatting comfortably with friends that I find pleasant.

Edit to add Fort Funston. Nice little lookout spot about 150 feet over the ocean. Nice short walk, and cool to watch hang gliders do their thing. The sunsets are nice, but I prefer Muir beach for sunsets in the bay area.



Claude

muir is a nice beach, but the sunset views are compromised vbecause it's a north facing beach. some of the beaches along point bonita provide great unobstructed sunset views, though.

for the record, muir is another manfort beach, but sunny summer days (especially during the weekdays) sees some hot younger and milf-ish residents from nearby homes sporting what god gave them.

baker can actually be a very nice respite from the heat during the three days of heatwave that the City experiences every year. when it's 90 downtown, it's usually high 70's at the beach. it's really nice when it's clear at the end of summer and the baitfish are hanging around. the bait attracts the stripers and the stripers attract porpoises. very cool sight to see the sun going down and porpoises playing in the surf

This news crushes me.

I just read the wiki article and it looks like it's not even close. Oh well, there are still some pretty good views from up there.

claude,

Great recs all around. However....


La Randia... Haha, gringo. It's La Rondalla! I agree, this is a great fun divey Mexican place w/ tasty food and drinks.

Majoul... Good recs, horrible spelling! Medjool. I feel the same way as you. I am not so much into places like this either w/ a little too much of a clubby vibe to them, but it's often a fun place and on nice days the roof is a really great place to hang out. However, it can get super crowded and annoying on warm weekend evenings.

i would just add that for those flying to sf, oakland is one of the 5 best airports in the us, sfo is probably one of the 5 worst.

QFT. My wife and I went to the SF Ballet at the Opera House last weekend. That is a SPECTACULAR building. The ballet, by the way, only cost us $18 for way-top balcony seating.

SBC Park - or whatever they're calling it now - was masterfully designed. Every time you walk into that building, it's like being transported to the Willie Mays era. It's exactly what I imagine things looked like when my grandfather went to games. Until you see that they're selling wine in the upper levels.

Cliffs: Opera House and SBC Park = great calls.

For those of you taking the family, or who enjoy these types of things, there are two places I recomend. One is the California Science Academy (where the previously mentioned Steinhart Aquarium is located) and the SF Zoo. Plan on spending the entire day at either one if you are going to see everything. For restaraunts, I suggest:

Breakfast- Pergamino's (they say they have the best waffles in the world; I'm not going to argue, cuz they are awesome)

Lunch- Swiss Louis (Great food, every seat by a window. Watch the bay or watch the sea lions.)

Dinner- The Franciscan (Pricey, but the food is great.)

I'd also recommend Polk Street Station for any meal if you are looking to stay on the kinda cheap side. It's kind of a hole in the wall type place, but aren't most of the best restaraunts?

Oh, good catch, slipped my mind, I agree.

Somebody who knows the club scene better than me should do clubbing recommendations.

I speak not a word of Spanish, and my English is also weak.

One of the very cool bay area things is the Thai Buddhist sunday brunch in Berkeley. It's kind of an ordeal and the food's not that great, but it's an awesome experience to do once.

Hit up Oakland and them sideshows.

I don't have a lot of experience with the city, but I went to a Giants game and it was fantastic. An excelent modern ballpark, any baseball fan who gets a chance should definetly go.

korean bbq: Brothers, on Geary around 6th ave i believe.

happy hour: John Collins, on 2nd between mission and market

All the asian grocery stores on Clement...better seafood and meat at a lower price than you will find at other places.