San Francisco and what to do in it

haha I dunno! what's a good watering hole, maybe?

about 30 seconds from you on divisadero is the bean bag cafe, after 3 pm they got $1.92 pints of pretty good beer + good food.

I also like trax, a divey gay bar on upper haight (haight/masonic.)

+ no shortage of bars on lower haight (the portion of haight street closer to where you're staying)

hah we just passed by the bean bag cafe earlier - looked pretty good. will check out lower haight. my friend naturally wants to know what cheap eats there are around the area - thanks!

haight is pretty much nothing but cheap eats. rosamunde sausage grill and indian oven on lower haight. my favorite place nearby is papalote (not authentic but really good mexican) - fulton and masonic. it doesn't get any love on this thread and sorta looks like a chipotle, but I luv.

buena vista park isn't as essential as golden gate park, but it's def worth checking out if you have the time, and you'll be pretty close.

in addition to the haight, you are a few blocks from hayes valley (cute little gentrified area) and the fillmore district (historical black neighborhood)

def. check the Rosamunde Sausage grill... there's a semi-decent BBQ place down the street from there as well (Memphis Minnie's, I think it is?)

Uva Enoteca is right there too on Haight too. They have great happy hour deals. Waziema (Ethiopean) on Divis & Hayes has an all you can eat veggie happy hour. Little Star Pizza on Divis & Fulton a lot of folks swear by.

Jay's Cheesesteaks I really like too, also on Divis & Hayes.

If you get to Hayes Valley (my old haunt) I wholeheartedly recommend Suppenkuche (great German restaurant/beer hall--they also do a fantastic Sunday brunch) and the Blue Bottle Coffee Kiosk.

Little Chihuahua on Divisadero @ Scott- really good Mexican for white people food. Try the shrimp burrito or anything, really. For a little more upscale, try Nopalito at Broderick and Fell/

Uva (across from Rosamunde and near Memphis Minnie's on Haight) is an excellent Italian winebar with snacky food and their happy hour from 4-6 (I think) is a deal.

If you wander down to Market and Church (could be part of a good walk to the MUNI trains, the Mission or the Castro), check out Chow (Church south of Market), one of the best little, relatively cheap restaurants in the City. Nearby Pilsner bar is a cute gay bar and there's the Lucky 13 up the street (near the Cafe du Nord venue).

If you week like a swank cocktail in the kind of SF place that gets written up in the NY Times, go to Nopa at Divis & Hayes and get something fancy. To atone, you can go across the street and get Popeye's.

also The Grind has good food, especially if yr lookin for kid-friendly fare. Haight & Scott.

i highly rec the walk to the top of Buena Vista...it truly is a good view of a significant portion of the city.

also, in terms of bars in that area, nothing beats Toronado in the Lower Haight, and if you're into smoking, Amber, which is right near to Home, at Church & Market.

that said, i don't go out to bars much in that area. too straight.

If you get any nice weather and you tire of Divis/Bean Bag at breakfast, head down to Cafe du Soleil at Waller and Fillmore. The pastry is made by a French dude, they have salads and open faced sandwiches, wine/beer and potable coffee.

Michael have you been to the Green Chile Kitchen or whatever on Baker/Fulton?

Has anybody seen the new bar on Market where the Expansion and 2nd gen Metro used to be? I passed by there with a gay friend who said it was kind of a gay/hipster combo crowd at the opening but the space is pretty cool. Apart from the old bar, they've totally redone the place.

Alex, Green Chile's green chile stew is awesome. Also their Mexican hot chocolate (for weather like this) is excellent.

I didn't even realize it was being re-modeled until I passed by there a couple of weeks/month ago.

I thought Cafe Du Soleil was another La Boulange front? Is it it's own thing.

Their pozole disappoints but I've had a bunch fo stuff from there. It's less Mexican than New Mexican I think (though thankfully without the extreme Southwestern kitsch theme) but it's tasty and they're awfully nice in there, too.

I didn't know about the re-do, either which is odd 'cause Pam goes to Pilates down the street and loves that place.

It is partly a Boulange front but Moustapha is a part-owner and Rigo's baking is top-notch for the States.

Gotchya. Not that I have any issue with Boulange, really (although generally the service at the Hayes Valley one is pretty awful--the bread/pastries/food is good.)

I really hope Pascal hasn't expanded too quickly. He has boulanges all over the place and the service varies widely. The service at Soleil is okay (maybe since I've been showing my face since they opened) but their open-faced sandwiches on poilane-style bread are excellent and I stop by and get canneles (a little burnt custard treat from his native Bordeaux that Rigo is repopularzing) 'cause they're so delicious.

ooh I second the Jay's Cheesesteaks rec as well. I remember when they opened off of Valencia right after I moved to the city, one of my favorite places - glad they've stuck around and expanded

Last time I was in LA I went to this place (which was excellent) and had great caneles http://www.canele-la.com/

Looks like the old Expansion Bar is the Blackbird

Man now I'm all hungry again for good SF spots. Oh well, be there in a month!

xp no relation to the Chicago place, I assume.

Wow, Alex, that place looks great. Their wine list looks exquisite.

Ned and his sister and I had brunch at Soleil.

I saw Bubbles from the Wire (who was dating one of the owners) and Keith from Six Feet Under there as well.

OMG i would frakn die if i ran into Bubs. he seems like such a good guy.

Ned and his sister and I had brunch at Soleil.

And very good it was.

xp I was very very excited!

Speaking of celbrity sightings IN LA, I ran into a bunch fo the cast of Madmen at the London hotel about a year ago. The food at their bar (the resto is Gordon Ramsey, dontcha know?) was really good and not so expensive.

They make a mean dirty martini too.

back on topic, which of these mexicans should I head to for a fish taco?

That place in the Ferry building gets a lot of love.

My favorite is at La Fajita Grill on Market near 17th. It's not otherwise a great place but I really like their fish tacos.

I finally wnet to the Ferry Bldg place and I thought my tacos were fairly good but rather dear.

This may also be a steve shasta question but is there a good place to hire bikes from?

Most of the bike rental places are in gawdawful Fisherman's Wharf.

I can't really recommend SF's fish tacos in general - that's more of a SoCal/San Diego thing

I think I heard people like SF Cyclery on Stanyon.

Sinaloa taco truck has excellent fish tacos.

And I'm from San Diego, fwiw.

I can't really recommend SF's fish tacos in general

They're far too often made with salmon, which I just cannot abide. (Not salmon, per se, but salmon in baja style tacos.)

Where's Sinaloa, polyphonic?

salmon doesn't sound like it belongs in a taco.

That's where you're wrong, Ed.

Not with baja sauce, at least, Ned.

I'll allow that.

Where's Sinaloa, polyphonic?

I don't know where this is either...?

I will defer to ned on this, although I tend to avoid salmon on environmental/sustainability grounds.

That's more than fair. I usually don't have it unless when I'm home in Carmel.