The neighborhood is home to The Fillmore (just around the corner from State Bird) which is an intimate venue that's been hosting big name musicians since the 60s so maybe that's what you're thinking of.

Went to Frances tonight...wonderful. There are too many really good restaurants in SF.

Okay, ****'s getting real now.

Talked the wife into staying at Hotel Vitale instead of The Clift Hotel. Clift looks pretty cool but I just don't want to take the risk of a smoky room next to loud partiers... I'm too old for that.

El D, when my business partner found out I was planning a trip to SF he took the liberty of asking a friend of his, Kate Something-or-Other, the Mayor's Deputy Director for Housing and Community, about hotel recommendations and she pretty much duplicated your recs: Vitale, Four Seasons, Clift, and added The Huntington, Campton Place, and Hotel Nikko. She then added her recommendation as follows:

"If their visit is just for fun, and they want to explore lots of neighborhoods, art and architecture, I think I would recommend Hotel Vitale because it’s so easy to walk and take public transit to everything (but that’s my bias). The eating in that neighborhood is divine, too (Ferry Building, Boulevard, One Market, Chaya, just to name a few).

So for what it's worth, you and Kate Something-or-Other look to be on the same page.

We will be arriving on Thursday May 19th and departing on Monday, May 23rd.

We've taken care of the no. 1 important tourist booking: Alcatraz Tour.

Gonna check it out on Friday so my wife has a chance to scope the Bay before she swims from Alcatraz to the mainland on Saturday. I'll be waiting for her on the mainland having lunch & drinks or doing something sensible like that.

I'll post reservation confirmations and/or itinerary plans as we firm things up—just for the hell of it—and also in case it looks like we are doing something stupid or someone has a suggestion to make about doing something or other.

We aren't going to want to have all details planned out in advance, got to have some room for movement here and there.

Did try to get reservations at State Bird Provisions... but LOL, doesn't look like there is gonna be much hope of that—but might take OT's early walk-up suggestion.

Time to start going over all of the great suggestions in more detail and hammer out a pseudo-itinerary over the next couple of weeks.

99,

You're dead to me if you ever get a second opinion on my recs again!

Edit: in all seriousness, her food recommendations are fine but like 10 years behind the times. Ignore them, except for the ferry building which is awesome, especially for casual snacks, breakfast, and lunch.

Hah!

My business partner "took the liberty" tho... plus I had already decided anyway.

99,

Excellent cocktails at Coqueta.
Excellent whiskey (American) at Hard Water.



Slanted Door also makes some really good cocktails.

The girlfriend and I and going to SF May 8th-12th (Sun-Thursday). This will be our first time. We are flying for free and staying at the Sheraton Fisherman's Warf for free from credit card sign up bonuses, so I'm looking to somewhat go all out with food and entertainment. I already got tickets for the Alcatraz tour and all the recent recs for 99 seem excellent.

Here are a few specific things I'm looking for that I didn't see covered:

Best craft beer bars? I'm familiar with Mikkeller Bar and will definitely be going there.

Best local/regional breweries I should look out for? I've heard a lot about Modern Times and will be looking for their stuff.

Arcade/game/bowling place?

Chill Jazz place?

Best charcuterie and cheese spot?

Best way to get out to Napa for half a day? Best way to experience it? Is it worth it in general? I don't want to be bored after a couple hours and regret the trip out there.

Dem,

Excellent post for getting recs, very easy to answer posts like this.

Mikkeller for sure.
City Beer Store (they are not far from Mikkeller, and also right around the block from amazing brewery, Cellarmaker).
Toronado and Zeitgeist (with great outdoor patio) are awesome divey beer bars.
Monk's Kettle is good, especially if you're into belgians.
Shotwells another really good one.
There are many others, though, and also lots of bars that are not specifically beer bars have excellent draft and bottle selections.

I wouldn't worry too much about looking out for specific breweries at bars, every bar and restaurant you go to will have tons of excellent west coast stuff. Modern Times is one of my favorites, but there are just tons more. Check the Beer thread for much more discussion on this.

Breweries/brewpubs that are great to visit:
Cellarmaker
Rare Barrel - this is a sour beer brewery in Berkeley, amazing if you like sour beer
Fieldwork - also in Berkeley, one of my favorites
(above are mainly breweries)

Some good more mainstream brewpubs:
21st Amendment
Magnolia (two locations, Smokestack BBQ restaurant is the flagship)
Drake's Dealership

No idea, not sure if SF is the best place for that kind of stuff. I mean, there are bowling alleys and stuff, but it's not a big thing.

Mr. Tipples Recording Studio is a new bar w/ live jazz that I love, but it's more of a bar w/ live jazz players rather than a jazz place.

SF is not a great jazz city, most of the live jazz focused places have closed in the last few years. You'll find a few in the Fillmore and North Beach neighborhoods.

Tons and tons of bars/restaurants will have great cheese/charcuterie plates. Some of my favorites:

Mission Cheese (great cheese, charcuterie, wine)
Trou Normand (amazing charcuterie made in-house, great cocktails)
Boccalone, Fatted Calf (great places to buy charcuterie for lunch/picnic/etc)

It doesn't really make sense to do for half a day. You'd rent a car, drive out there for 60-90 mins, go to a winery or two, then drive back 60-90 mins. The easiest way to do some wine tasting is one of these tours: http://www.winecountrytourshuttle.com/ They are something like $100 + some minimal add'l tasting fees, pick you up at 8am for a bus ride there, then bring you back on a ferry arriving back about 5. The wineries they visit are nothing special, but totally fine/good for people who aren't super wine snobs. Very convenient from where you're staying. Wine tasting is really the only reason to visit Napa, so just decide if that's something you're into enough to want to spend a day of your trip on that.

Only thing I can add to El D's above is check out Brewcade - decent beer selection and tons of retro arcade games.
There are a bunch of puzzle rooms in SF, there's Lucky Strike for bowling, and the Church of 8 wheels for old school roller skating.

I think I mentioned it before ITT but I also like hopwater for some california beer tastings.

ETA: @Demi, if you like SF consider both getting the Hyatt CC as the anniversary nights (cat1-cat4) cover two Hyatts in SF, probably some of the best uses of those certs.

You can also check out pinball at Free Gold Watch, 1767 Waller St.

Pinball "museum" in Alameda with machines from the earliest days up through the present, almost all playable.

For beer stuff

Liquid Gold - Bar/Bottleshop
Hopwater Distribution - California beers only, 40ish taps I think

both very close to each other.

For a more intimate place I like Church Key a lot.

And for the games Brewcade is good for beers but the arcade aspect is pretty sub par.

edit to add don't miss Cellarmaker, and good chance they will be doing a bottle release while you are here which is a plus

edit #2 both Hopwater and Church Key don't open until 5 which in this city has never made any sense to me since so many people work market hours or something like that.

Thanks for all the recs!

I made a reservation at Commonwealth for Tuesday night. I'm planning to buy tickets to Lazy Bear for Wednesday night. We will most likely try to get a spot at State Bird Provisions on Monday. For lunch and late night food we will most likely just wing it with cheaper/divey places.

Rough plan for each day:
1. Different coffee place/breakfast each day
2. Wander around by foot or uber/transit and grab lunch wherever
3. Specific activity/sight seeing (Alcatraz, Muir woods/GGB, galleries/museums, GG Park)
4. Nap
5. Nice dinner ~8 PM
6. Bars/live music in different neighborhoods each night

Dem,

A+ plan.

Yeah that is really solid. If the weather holds up you will have an awesome trip

After realizing I wasn't getting very good value out of hotel points I have, we ended up cancelling our reservation at the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf. We will now be staying at this Airbnb spot in North Beach. Total for four nights came out to $811 which seems like a pretty sick deal if you ask me.

Recs between de young, legion of honor and contemporary Jewish museum? All are free this weekend with boa credit card and not sure which to go to first

Looking for breakfast recommendations. I usually stay in the union square area, my cow-orkers ****ing love Pinecrest, and it's fine for what it is but I can't eat there five mornings in a row. FWIW my office is near AT&T park, so basically anything along that path would be OK.

bonus if they have good vegetarian options

Dottie's True Blue. Sketchy location but awesome food. There will likely be a wait. If you're alone you can usually get a counter seat quickly.

Brickhouse and Town's End are decent options closer to your office.

Heading to SF in the morning for a long weekend—arriving Thursday noon and departing Monday evening.

Will post a TR but not sure if it will be live or after the fact...

99,

PM me if you want to buy me expensive booze or food, thx!

Will do.

Our flight out of Vancouver was around 9-ish this morning. One of our cats helped with the packing:



Arrived at about 11am, grabbed our bags then grabbed a cab for a $50 ride into town *ouch*.

Checked into Hotel Vitale and got unpacked:



Strolled down the waterfront to Fisherman's Wharf, but the definite highlight was the amazing porchetta sandwiches we got outside of the Ferry Building — pretty sure I could eat one of those every day:







*drool* Had a nice lemonade with it too... not too sweet and pretty much perfect for cutting through the succulent fat and crackling.

Obligatory selfie with the Coit Tower in the background:



Saw the sealions, Alcatraz tour departure point (for tomorrow), and the thousands of tourists of which we are but two. The weather is great, hope it stays this way through the weekend.

Rode a railway car back to the hotel—will hit up a cable car later.

Afternoon nap time because: olds.

99,

Uber >>> cabs!

Roli roti porchetta sandwich possibly best sandwich in SF.

You just missed a heatwave. It was like 15 degrees hotter the last couple days.