Dan,

My favorite butcher:
http://oliviersbutchery.com

Costco is the best place to buy steaks, though.

From market and Powell you are within walking distance of pretty much anything you want to eat at any price point.

Golden Gate Meat Company in the Ferry Building is very good but also not cheap.

And my top Market/Powell recommendation is Kin Khao if you have an adventurous palate and you’re not on a budget.

Lived there for four years and one of the best nights out was at the Speakeasy SF. Google it!

Had no idea Costco had good meat. And Kin Khao looks bomb. Excited to try it, thanks!

I didnt realize Pim of the Chez Pim blog opened a restaurant, thats pretty awesome.

Hey ya'll

I'll be heading to SF at the beginning of March and was wondering which hotels people would recommend. My buddy who goes there all the time suggested just getting an Airbnb in the Mission District, but I didn't see too many that were very appealing, and I just enjoy the amenities that come with a hotel.

Hotel Vitale looks great, but I'd want the water view room which is a bit pricey. I'd be fine spending around $300/night. Anyone know of any cool boutique hotels or otherwise that are in a good location?

Thanks

a,

$300/night gets you either a really nice hotel room or a really crappy hotel room depending on whether or not there's a big convention in town. What dates are you in SF?

I ate at the Progress last night. We got 6 different things. All were good but nothing spectacular. Two standouts were the mushroom tempura with porcini aoili amuse and the Truffle Dutch Boy (literally only the Dutch boy, melted Mt Tam cheese - I love that cheese company - and Perigold truffle). Beautiful restaurant. I’m a chef so I tend to be a little nit picky over technical stuff. For the octopus, the octopus was overcooked, for the pasta, the ravioli was undercooked, and on the smoked tuna dish the balance btwn sauce (a buttermilk sauce) and smoked tuna was off - way too much sauce and too little fish. I looked in the open kitchen afterwards and commented to my gf that it was a really young kitchen, which would explain it as inexperienced cooks obv tend to be a little less consistent.

All in all, I would go back though. I asked the waitress some questions and they change the menu constantly, so I feel like they are definitely always trying out new dishes and it’s a good spot to go, order 4-5 different things, and get some new flavors or combinations - which is mainly what I am most interested in when I eat at restaurants on the higher end. 74/100

Good first post. I am also partial to Cowgirl Creamery.

Hey El D,

I'll be there Mar 1-4. I actually had looked into that a little bit after booking (its for her bday on the 1st, so couldn't really go a different time) and saw that the Lesbians in Tech conference is happening. Not sure if anything else.

Thanks

Anyone have recommendations for best events in SF beer week? I just started looking now -- may try to do the beer walk in San Jose or the Modern Times tap takeover at Refuge in San Carlos on Saturday. Apparently there's a huge opening gala tomorrow night, think that's worth going to?

Joe,

I am not really a fan of the gala. It involves too much waiting in line for me.

I’ve been to the double ipa fest at the bistro in Hayward a few times and always really enjoy it. Also always end up drunker than intended.

There are soooooo many events now that I mainly just look for smaller events with breweries I like at local bars I like.

O: excellent post, thanks!

A: I’m not familiar with lesbians in tech, but I’m guessing it’s not like salesforce Dreamforce or oracle world... skimming through kayak, hotel prices look great those days. If you post a few you’re considering, can give you feedback.

Thanks El D. Going through some of your posts in here have been really helpful to a newb to the city. I'm looking for a valentine's day reservation for the lady and I, and I think I've settled on Villon. Has anyone been? The chef has serious chops (you don't run across too many former exec sous's of EMP) and the menu looks promising. Plus the rooftop bar looks like a good spot for either a before or after dinner drink.

I think I'll call on a reservation but if anyone has any other good date night food recs (we go out about once a week) I'm all ears. Thanks!

Edit: reserved for Villon. Still open to date night recs for other nights! tyty

Also, I live in the Tenderloin. Would be really interested in local food recommendations - either ethnic, divey, or "new american", which I don't like saying but best describes what I'm into - good, inventive, seasonal, "chefy" food. I obviously can go by the guide or zagat but would like some recs from here too since I give 2+2 a lot more credit than an avg diner.

Also a good sushi rec would be greatly appreciated

O,

Cocktails at villon we’re pretty disappointing. Most overly sweet. And the bar is just completely slammed, they really need a service bar. Drinks upstairs at Charmaine’s were better, and it’s a beautiful space. I imagine there will be a long wait on Valentine’s Day tho.

Food at villon was a mixed bag. Let’s see what did we have...

Everything Hawaiian Bread
Cultured Butter, Market Preserves, Blood Orange Chicken Liver Mousse

EXCELLENT!!! All of it just delicious.

Tuna Tartare
Crispy Chicken, Deviled Egg, Chive

Very underseasoned. Just not a good dish.

Dashi Flan
Mussels, Clams, Cremini Mushrooms

Also kinda under seasoned and kinda boring.

Foie Gras Torchon
Mustard Seeds, Pickled Carrots, Hazelnut, Warm Brioche

That was ok, but nothing special.

Couple other things I don’t see on the current menu. My overall take on it was that the dishes tended to be overcomplicated with too many components and not enough focus on flavor. I bet you’d find it at the very least an interesting spot to try as a chef. Service was very nice/polite, but kinda inconsistent and pacing was off. Overall they just felt a bit overwhelmed.

But it was still a pretty good date spot.

O,

Saratoga is a great date spot. Love both their food and cocktails. And very cool space and service.

I think Rooh is a cool date spot - “modern Indian” cuisine.

I really enjoy the downstairs room of liholiho, Louie’s gen gen room. Different smaller, more casual snacky menu than the upstairs restaurant. I really like the vibe down there.

As always, excellent review El D. Thanks a lot. I'll look fwd to trying this bread and will report in full here.

Saratoga is officially next on the list.

O,

Added a couple to that post.

Also re: Saratoga, date and I always split a burger there. I think it’s a really great burger. I like everything else I’ve tried (haven’t tried the big mains, mostly just the smaller stuff) except the toga tots which I thought were lame. I have high tots standards tho!

SF visitors,

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/art...e-12545144.php

Never leave ANYTHING in your rental car. It's terrible.

Is there any particular reason it’s so bad in SF?

It’s actually funny because my GF was pissed the rental didn’t have a screen to cover the “trunk” of the suv and I of course said she was overreacting.

Seems like the rental companies could put a large dent in the problem by alerting renters to the problem and suggesting a sedan of some sort.

What struck me was the fact that it’s happening in broad daylight in high traffic areas. Seems like a really hard problem to stop.

This is a large part of the reason why https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article...o-12526601.php


edit: I drive a hatchback and the car accessory I have ever bought was a trunk cover, pretty much mandatory even though my car is rarely on the street.

I drive an SUV and I feel like even using the cargo cover is inviting trouble...obv if you've deployed it, there must be something underneath it, right?

I'm only half-joking about this: I feel like it should continue to be illegal to effectively booby trap your car, but if you do it in a non-lethal fashion, there should be a nod-and-wink agreement that while you've still committed a crime, you won't be prosecuted for it.

Well it was definitely my favorite omakase that I've had! Maybe I should have expected this since it was also the priciest at around $700 for 2 including drinks/tax/tip.

I posted a copy of the menu below.

Service was awesome. They started us off with a complimentary glass of champagne for our anniversary.

Hashiri has a couple options for omakase and we did the Omakase Edomae which is available only on weeknights. The amount of food we were served was well above average compared to the omakases I've done in the past. It was probably 80-90% as large as Kabuto in Vegas which I thought had comically large portions. Frankly I cannot imagine doing one of Hashiri's the larger omakase options, I would probably struggle to get through it.

Highlight of the meal was for sure the 12 pieces of nigiri. It was exactly what I was looking for, nothing terribly inventive, just lots of great fish. Spanish mackerel was the best.

If this place had an a la carte menu I'd come back a lot. As it stands I'll probably be back once every 1-2 years.

Also I ended up going out a ton for SF beer week. Thanks for the rec on the Hayward double IPA fest, I had to miss it this year but I'll definitely go in 2019!

Crafty Fox is really nice! I can't believe I haven't been there before. Didn't get a chance to try the food menu, just beer, but I'd like to eat there next time.

I went to Standard Deviant and it was pretty disappointing, beer on par with a BJs/Rock Bottom type place.

Obv this is a very SF-centric thread but for those that make it out to the Peninsula, Ale Arsenal is an amazing place to drink beer, both during beer week and otherwise. They served Bare Bottle beer this week which I hadn't had before. I need to check that place out ASAP.

Joe,

Glad to hear Hashiri delivered for your anniversary. Was crossing my fingers it wouldn't be a disappointment with that big price tag. I'll put it on my list of hope to check out someday, thought not sure when I'll have next have a reason/excuse to pay $700 (for the LOWER priced menu!) for dinner for 2.

This thread is for SF Bay Area stuff, so definitely post non-city stuff as well.

Crafty Fox is great. I haven't eaten there, but always a great tap list.

I haven't been to Standard Deviant, their beer list sounded kinda boring to me. Thanks for the review, now I don't have to bother checking it out.

Bare Bottle is OK, but I wouldn't make a trip there unless you have kids. It's a great space and very family friendly, but the beer is only so-so. Many better places to visit in the city and east bay. For breweries in SF, Cellarmaker (for IPAs and stouts) and Almanac (for sours) are at the top of my list. Fieldwork and Rare Barrel in the East Bay. Also TONS of beer bars in SF with consistently amazing lists - City Beer Store and Beer Basement my current two favorites.

FYI there's also currently some SF beer week chat in the EDF Beer thread.