Advice you can taste. Adventure you can feel.

Instant SF Local Part Two: Good Eats

Part two was going to be about lifestyle, dining and coffee, but dining kinda took the cake.  So part two is all about dining, and lifestyle and coffee are just going to have to wait.

As you probably have noticed though past Weotta blog posts, like Food Glorious Food, SF is foodie haven. So if you are going to be a local you are going to have to release your inner foodie!

Here are some of our favorite local eateries to get you started…

Pizzeria Delfina is a great place for a quick date or casual dinner with a few friends. They have two small locations, always fresh unique pizza’s, lots of quality ingredients, and great seasonal specials. They are pretty much packed every night of the week with a line out the door on the weekends, but the line moves fast and the service is usually pretty snappy. If they are featuring any pizza with a lightly cooked egg on top, like the one in this photo to the right, you must get it. Read more about their pizzas at Eating-sf.com.

Universal Café is quintessential local San Franciscan dining.  It can be

Eggs can look this good

summed up as great value, super flavors, friendly service, oh so fresh, and as local as can be. They have an ever changing menu, great portions, and fantastic fries.  It is the perfect setting for a casual time with friends, a leisurely business lunch, or a relaxing relatively inexpensive date. But where many folks will say they shine is Brunch. Their brunch is one of the best in SF and deserves a post to its self, so checkout nosaladasameal.com to read all about it.

Nopa has to be one of the most packed and lively restaurants in SF. It is a big, open concrete space that just feels social. It is usually quite noisy and rarely do people mingle, but the people watching is always fun. They have a fantastic long bar that draws the room together. Yes it is hard to get a seat at the bar. This is probably because, as we have said before, they have some of the best bartenders in the city, making some of the best drinks in the city…  try their pisco sour with a raw egg in it.
Oh ya, Nopa has good food too and they serve until midnight most nights.  The best way to describe their food is rustic SF style dining.  It is similar to Universal Cafe, just a little more expensive and perhaps a little more produced.  Their menu changes from time-to-time and their starters are always interesting, making it a fun place to order a few dishes with a good friend and taste, taste, taste.

Okoze Sushi is hands down one of the best Japanese restaurants in SF… just ask my buddy Disco who thinks it is the best restaurant in the city period.  They have some of the freshest fish around, greatest sushi chefs in the city, and friendly service to boot. They are consistently a good dining experience any night of the week, even Sundays. Okoze is a great place to take a group of up to 6 people and share lots of rolls and small plates. Better yet, go to Okoze on a date or with one friend, sit at the sushi bar, and focus on their fresh fish… if you want to have a unique sushi dining experience ask for DJ and tell him, “Grant sent me I am in your hands.”

Yes we have many more favorites to share with you, but these four are a good start to get you dining like a local. We will cover many more in posts to come, and if you need some more suggestions right now check out curious Eater SF. And if you want some great places for a quick nosh checkout  City Mama.

Oh ya, one more dining tip for ya. These days some of our top chefs have been taking their food to the streets through gourmet food carts… checkout Edopeno’s great list of many of the best.

Got any favorites of your own to add?

A Night in the Marina

Last Saturday night I decided to hang out with several friends in one of San Francisco’s most picturesque neighborhoods, the Marina.   Nestled between Russian Hill and Pacific Heights,  with beautiful bay views and the Golden Gate Bridge within walking distance, this small neighborhood transcends trendy. It is one of my favorite neighborhoods in all of SF and for good reason: it is full of attractive men and women, stylishly dressed patrons,  lots of fun intimate bars, exclusive boutiques,  and one-of-a-kind restaurants close enough to each other that a girl in the highest of heels has no prob hopping around. It truly is an experience for the uninitiated.

A proper night out in the Marina can take many turns, from trendy and hip, to downright divey.  Let’s take a look at one of the bars that dots Fillmore Street, a staple in the Marina pub crawl, the Matrix at Fillmore.

For those of you who don’t know, the Matrix has been a part of the Marina district since the mid-60’s. It was opened by Marty Balin, the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, and has hosted music legends such as the Doors and the Grateful Dead.

Today, the Matrix is a cluster of lounge seats, dark lighting, inconspicuous “S-E-X” letter tables and sexy patrons. In the middle is a chic fireplace with comfortable lounge seating. On any weeknight the Matrix would be a perfect date venue, but on Friday or Saturday nights it’s a cluster of single men and women conversing, mingling, and of course checking out the procession of candidates who glide in through the doors.

Once you have your drinks, find a seat on the wall and watch the scene unfold before your eyes.  Better yet, for a little more privacy head through the short, dark hallway to the back room where a venerable playground of cushions, ottomans, and comfortable plush seating awaits.

After a warm-up drink at the Matrix, make a beeline for the Balboa Café across the street. This corner bar, with its brightly lit interior, is a stark contrast to the lounge feel of the Matrix.  Saddle up to the bar and order any one of the traditional cocktails that the attentive bartenders can muster up… a Manhattan, a gin and tonic, bourbon on the rocks. The venue oozes old school, where drinks are stiff, and the furniture and interior harkens back to a time and place when a bar was for drinking with your friends, not a game of beer pong.

If the night calls for another venue change, walk down Fillmore towards the bay, and at the corner of Chestnut and Fillmore sits one of the trendiest and coolest hot spots in the area, Circa.  Once you get past the bouncer and the tall, thin, impeccably dressed female patrons, you’re immersed in an expansive room with a large, almost circular bar. Here the libations have a tendency to run towards beer, mixed drinks and shots.  Don’t let the Banana Republic shirts and jackets donned by the young men scare you away, or the short Bebe skirts and dresses intimidate you.  Yes, the post-college crowd can dominate the scene; but if that doesn’t deter you, then by all means, come in and mingle with the stylish and hip 20 and 30-somethings.

For a late night bite, you can’t go wrong with Pizza Orgasmica right next to the Balboa Café.  Wait, you’re a little short on cash?  You’ve only got $6 in your wallet because you’ve been buying rounds of Patron instead of Jose Cuervo?   If your expensive tequila habit drains your wallet have no fear.  At Pizza Orgasmica you can get 2 slices for the lonely Lincoln and Washington inhabiting your wallet… make one a pepperoni, and the other a sausage with cheese.

If your palate requires a more “sophisticated fare”, i.e. a 24-hour joint, you have 2 options right around the corner on Lombard Street.  The International House of Pancakes, affectionately known as IHOP, serves up a cornucopia of delightful pancake pairings to curb your late-night hunger.  Feel free to top off the pancakes or Belgian waffles with strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream and/or 4 different types of syrup.  If you’re craving more of the mom & pop feel of a good old-fashioned 50’s establishment, head a couple of blocks down Lombard to Mel’s Diner. This long-standing San Francisco institution has burgers, fries, shakes, and an extensive menu of late night grub to help you forget how inebriated you are.

Enjoy your night out in the Marina, and stay tuned for more about one of my favorite neighbourhoods in SF…

3 Activities for a Cold & Wet 3 Day Weekend

Cold wet weekends in San Francisco are never fun… especially a three day one and on-top of that one with the big “L word” day smack in the middle of it. So what are you going to do this weekend? Do you have your Valentine’s Day plan together? Perhaps Weotta can help…

Museum hopping with a bit of Burmese

We have some pretty fantastic museums in SF and rainy weekends are the perfect time to do some museum hopping. One of our favorite combos is to start out with the DeYoung and end up at the Legion of Honor. Not only because one ticket gets you into both, but because they really are an ideal pairing of taste and style. Plus, if you go to the Legion of Honor right before closing on Saturday, you may get to hear them playing the organ; it fills every hall, bringing the artwork to life in an amazing way. Afterwards, continue your day of art and culture with a bite of Burmese food at nearby Mandalay or Burma Superstar. For those that haven’t had Burmese, it is like a combo of Indian and Thai, but with its own unique flavor. Some of our favorite dishes are fermented tea leaf salad, samusas soup and curry lamb. Both restaurants do a nice job, aren’t expensive, and are pretty much on the same level, but they are almost always packed. Don’t know what it is about SF residents, but we love our Burmese food. If you still have energy afterwards and it isn’t raining too hard head over to Sutro’s at the Cliff House to watch the rough seas . Last minute V-day addition: Get some flowers in there, dress a little nicer, and go to B-star (slightly upscale Burmese place). After dinner head to Nopa for cocktails and dessert, a 5 min cab ride away. They do amazing mixed drinks, always have great wines by the glass and fantastic unique deserts. Get a gin drink with caprock gin and checkout their sopaipillas (kind of a fancy donut… perfect for cold weather) .

Tahoe

Cold rain in SF usually means lots of snow in Tahoe… so you could get out of town, fight the crowds and the weather, and hit the slopes at Heavenly, Squaw Valley or Kirkwood. Last minute V-day addition: Get a nice bottle of red wine, some fine dark chocolate and a fire can go a long way after an exhausting day in the snow.

Takeout extravaganza

Hunker down (ever wonder what Hunker means?) and have a different type of takeout… pizza, Thai, Chinese, and perhaps sushi each night of the three day weekend. At least do Thai… both Basil Thai and Chai-Yo are good choices. This is the perfect opportunity to snuggle up in front of the tube for some mind-numbing entertainment. Try not to spend the whole day indoors… at least walk out to the restaurant.  Last minute V-day addition: Forget about takeout and cook together Saturday night… experiment and try something new. Perhaps wild mushroom and asparagus risotto or French onion soup with sourdough… both good, cold weather classy foods. Top this off with a nice Syrah and you are good to go. If you want to add a little something sweet touch to the evening with some adult hot cocoa.

Hope this helps you get through this long perhaps quite rainy weekend with a smile

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Weotta team!