Ty! Love Neaopolitan pizza, somehow have never had good Deep Dish but I also have not gone looking for it (or ever been to Chicago).


I've found all the trendy brunch places to be pretty interchangeable but goddamn Lolo was insanely good. Tacos were surprisingly strong, the breakfast sandwich was 10/10, and I really love the unusual way they did french toast. Sangria was surprisingly tasty, also.

nopalito - very good upscale mexican. So far I've done nopa twice and nopalito once and give the owners an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Always solid food and great service. Nopa's running a pork chop on their menu right now that's the best I've had in a long time.

Haven't done a lot of eating out as of late bc of work....I ate some BBQ at a newish spot on filmore before watching damien Marley @ the fillmore (was close to the venue). BBQ was very average; concert was great though! I do a lot of live music and thought the ambiance and the acoustics of the Filmore were both ~8/10.

I played around 25 hrs total at the 2/3/5 game in oaks card room over the bridge on my days off...you can buy in for 1k and a lot of the time there's a straddle and it plays like a 5/10 game anyways. I forgot how LOL live poker is....makes me wonder what it was like 10 years ago, as I almost always played online. There's such a huge edge to be had there. I think I could really use some work with a better preflop range bc there is so much limping/weird raise sizes pre and I talked myself into probably too many preflop calls due to the fact that the players have such poor knowledge of how to play postflop. From the dozens I played against at Oaks, i played with 2 people who I would even consider competent and 0 who had any advanced understanding. Most of the time it was 9 fish. If only I had the patience for it and the stakes were a little higher.

El D your comments are as always appreciated, I'm going to start checking out some sushi joints soon. A late blooming lactose intolerance keeps me out of the pizza game for the most part but once in awhile I give into the craving so ill check out one of the spots you listed above for sure

Dan: I've never been to Lolo for lunch, but it is one of my favorite places for dinner and drinks.

igot: nopa and nopalito are both great. I hope you had the carnitas at nopalito. If not, be sure to get it next time!

The Fillmore is an amazing venue. Independent is a great smaller venue. And for a really beautiful venue, check out the Fox in Oakland.

Lucky Chances has a 5-10 (often straddled) game (in addition to lots of 3-5 games) as well as a PLO (I haven't played it but iirc it's 5-5-10 or something like that). For bigger than that, you'll have to head down to San Jose.

I'd actually avoid San Jose for now due to the turmoil around the Bay 101 reopening. Neither Bay 101 nor M8trix were even trying to open a 5-10 game today. Lucky Chances is the spot, they get a 5-10 going every weekend day and if you suggest a mandatory straddle there's a great chance everyone will comply.

As a NY'er I'd second Arinell. The Sicilian when fresh one time was like the best I'd ever had, but that hasn't always held true. Also on one of my recent visits I got fishy taste contamination from some moron who ordered anchovies in the same oven, so I'm a bit turned off from the place temporarily.

Do not order a topping for a slice, they'll look down on you and you're wrong.

SF Ballers,

If you're the type to spend a bunch of money on truffles, this Truffle tasting menu looks AMAZING.

http://www.acquerello.com/menus/SeasonalTastingMenu.pdf

You can add "hipster" to "SF baller" for me, but I thought Acquerello was a lot better before it started doing tweezer food and foams and ****. That being said, truffle menu does look super legit.

Potato,

That's disappointing. It has been a few years since I've been to acquerello, and I always loved them so much precisely because they didn't do the kind of food you describe. Just refined classic Italian food, straightforward but elegant and amazing.

El D,

My thoughts exactly, The last time I went was 2 years ago (mid Oct 2015) so I guess it's possible things have changed since then, but I haven't been excited about going back. They got their second star the week after I was there, so they're probably doing fine. I remember wondering if this is just what you have to do to survive at that price point.

El D and others,

The wife and I are going back to SF in January, hopefully this time we don't have a hurricane going on like when we went this past January.

This time we're staying in the Mission and I'm starting to put together a list of places to eat. So far on my list, based on previous experiences and reading some of the recommendations ITT:

Tartine bakery
Limon
Lolo
Nihon (maybe... just because of their Scotch selection)
La Taqueria and/or El Farolito

I need a few more recommendations for the following:
Sushi
Ramen
Cocktails
Beer (wife likes sours, I like IPAs)

Thanks!

ETA: Has anyone done the Alcatraz at night tour? Is it good?

I like IPAs too so my list is slightly shaded toward that.

Cellarmaker
Monks Kettle
Big Rec Taproom
Old Bus (??? I haven't been yet but people say it's good)

For cocktails I had a great time at Tradition a few years ago, but haven't been back since so YMMV.

Thanks! Old Bus' bottled sour selection looks amazing, I think that place would be a hit with my wife.

ET,

For sours, the place to go in the city is Almanac. Across the bay, Rare Barrel. For IPAs, cellarmaker. Across the bay, fieldwork. Those are my four current favorite beer places. See the beer thread for more SF recs. Shotwell’s is another good beer bar in the mission. And it’s always fun to hang out at zeitgeist.

I also like taqueria San Francisco a lot, but they’re all great.

Sushi - for casual sushi in the mission, Sugoi is great. For slightly fancier, I’ve heard great things about sushi hon’s $85 omakase but haven’t been yet. See recent post itt for more fancy places.

Also listed ramen places itt recently. Ken Ken prob my favorite in the mission. Some good izakayas in the mission too.

Good cocktails are everywhere you look in sf and particularly in the mission. Lolo, hog and rocks, alba rays, foreign cinema, lolinda are just a few of many great cocktail places. Oh, definitely check out Trick Dog (ideally early afternoon or late night midweek) for some excellent crazy cocktails.

I would skip tartine and instead go to tartine manufactory and craftsman & wolves for mission bakeries. If you like cheese, go to mission cheese, I love that place.

El D,

Somehow I missed your sushi/ramen post above. I got plenty of places on my list now, this thread always delivers.

Thanks!

If you want to hit both of these styles in one stop I would think about one of the better beer bars. Liquid Gold is probably my favorite (also bottles to go), but I also like Crafty Fox and Beer Hall.

ET,

From zeitgeist, crafty fox is right around the corner. Then you’re just a few blocks from the willows. And then a couple blocks to city beer store. And then a block to cellarmaker. And a few blocks from there to mikkeller. Beer hall is not far either, but I’m not a huge fan. Liquid gold is great and not too far, but you’ll prob want to uber over by this point.

This sounds like something I would have absolutely done in my 30s. Can't handle it anymore

for tacos in the mission my power rankings are

1) la taqueria (make sure to order them el dorado, which means they make the inside crunchy)
2) cancun
3) el buen sabor

Dan,

Cancun #2? You crazy, boy! (I do like Cancun fine though, and one of the best late night places)

Go to taqueria San Francisco!

And metate.

Have you been there recently ? Been told Cancun stepped upped their game recently.

Will check out those spots, ty!

Btw, I checked out Robin and have it as my top sushi in the city so far. Slightly pricey. Not a traditional nigiri meal, but everything was great and I liked the vibe. Played a lot of good rap.

Dan,

How much did you pay? And how much you eat/drink?

Buzzworks is really not bad either if you're looking to hit the parlay of decent tap list and good place to watch sports. It's one of those hybrid bar/arcade places if you're into that.

~$230-250 per person, one bottle of sake (they didn't have any cheap stuff). We ate quite a bit... maybe an additional 6 pieces on top of what would be a normal decent sized omakase?

Joe: Yeah buzzworks solid. Kinda weird layout and tv setup, but I like it.

Dan: thanks, that’s at the top of my list. Maybe next week!