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Food

By admin | Published January 20, 2012

Waves of Asian and Central American immigrants have made San Francisco a flavorful and festive hotbed of cheap taquerias, backstreet Chinese holes-in-the-wall, gracious Thai and Vietnamese establishments, reasonably priced sushi houses, and Korean barbecue joints. Oakland is known for Southern-style eats and its less touristy version of Chinatown; and Berkeley has its Gourmet Ghetto, with everything a foodie could want. Marin County and the South Bay, though generally more expensive, both have their share of worthwhile restaurants, with Marin County’s known for their waterfront views.

For serious mavens, a trip to Alice Waters’ legendary Chez Panisse is a must: It’s the birthplace of the seasonal, Mediterranean-inspired style known as California cuisine. You can sample great versions of this now common fare at hundreds of excellent sit-down restaurants throughout the Bay Area where entrees cost less than $10-$15. In addition, we’ve included a handful of the city’s most cutting-edge restaurants, where entrees cost up to $20 – but at any of these places you can get away with ordering appetizers for dinner or splitting a main course. Our price categories refer to the cost of the majority of main courses at the establishment being reviewed. Unless otherwise noted, the restaurants in this chapter accept one or more major credit cards.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alice Waters, American Immigrants, Appetizers, Barbecue Joints, California Cuisine, Chez Panisse, Chinatown, Dental Clinic, Foodie, Gourmet Ghetto, Holes In The Wall, Hotbed, Korean Barbecue, Marin County, Mavens, Price Categories, Puerto Morelos, Southern Style, Taquerias, Waterfront Views | Leave a comment

Berkeley Marina

By admin | Published January 16, 2012

Warm days were meant to be spent at the Berkeley Marina, at the end of University Avenue approximately half a mile west of 1-80. Head for the 3/4-mi pier jutting out into the bay to enjoy the unbeatable views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island. Winds along the bay can be quite chilly, which makes nearby Cesar E. Chavez Park (formerly North Waterfront Park) a perfect retreat. The hilly 92-acrepark is Berkeley’s only open space without a leash law for dogs and is also one of the most popular kite flying areas in the Bay Area.

The Shorebird Nature Center (160 University Ave.,) offers visitors a glimpse of bay marine life in its 100-gallon saltwater aquarium and runs all sorts of educational and environmental programs. For information on renting boats or hooking up with one of the sailing clubs stationed at the marina, stop by the Marina Office (201 University Ave.) To get to the marina, drive west on University Avenue across 1-80 or take Bus 51M from the Berkeley BART station.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, Berkeley Bart Station, Berkeley Marina, Environmental Programs, Golden Gate Bridge, Island Winds, Leash Law, Marina Drive, Marina Office, Nature Center, North Waterfront, Perfect Retreat, Renting Boats, Sailing Clubs, Saltwater Aquarium, Shorebird, Unbeatable Views, University Avenue, Waterfront Park | Leave a comment

Parks and Gardens: Tilden Regional Park

By admin | Published January 12, 2012

Tilden Park’s more than 2,000 acres of forests and grasslands are a wonderful escape from the gridlocked lowlands. Follow the signs to Inspiration Point for a view of reservoirs and of rolling hills where cows laze. There are plenty of picnic spots and miles of hiking and biking trails.

Tilden Nature Area Environmental Education Center (EEC), at the north end of the park, sponsors a number of naturalist-led programs throughout the year. Independent types can borrow or buy self-guided trail booklet ($2) at the center, which is open Tuesday-Sunday 10-5, For a nice, easy walk (about a mile), take the Jewel Lake Trail loop from the EEC office, and look out for the salamanders. To make friends with domestic animals, detour to the nearby Little Farm.

Other destinations in the park include Lake Anza, which is open for swimming late March to mid-October, daily 11-6; pony rides ($2.50); a vintage carousel ($1); a botanical garden of California plants, open daily 8:30-5, with no admission charge; the 18-hole Tilden Park Golf Course; and a miniature steam train ($1.50). Rides operate on weekends and holidays when school is in session and daily during spring and summer vacations.

To reach Tilden Park from the Berkeley BART station, take Bus 8, 65, or 67. If you’re driving, take University Avenue east from 1-80 to Oxford Street, go left on Oxford, right on Rose, and left on Spruce to the top of the hill, cross Grizzly Peak Boulevard, make an immediate left on Canon Drive, and follow the signs. The park is open 5 AM-10 PM.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Admission Charge, Berkeley Bart Station, California Plants, Canon Drive, Cosmetic Dentistry, Environmental Education Center, Grizzly Peak, Hill Cross, Independent Types, Inspiration Point, Jewel Lake, Lake Anza, Miniature Steam Train, Oxford Street, Park Golf Course, Picnic Spots, Pony Rides, Summer Vacations, Tilden Park, Tilden Regional Park | Leave a comment

North Berkeley

By admin | Published January 8, 2012

Grad students, professors, and folks with steady jobs frequent Northside, lending it a calmer atmosphere than you’ll find on the campus’s Southside. Homes in the hilly neighborhoods here date from the 1920s and are in a variety of architectural styles. The area’s crowning glory is the so-called Gourmet Ghetto (Shattuck Ave. and Vine St.), lined with dozens of tantalizing restaurants, including Cafe at Chez Panisse, as well as specialty stores, clothing boutiques, and bookstores. Of note are Black Oak Books and the original Peet’s Coffee & Tea (2124 Vine St., at Walnut St.), now part of a caffeine empire. Cafes and restaurants also line a block-long section of Euclid Street, where it dead-ends at the campus. Continue north on Euclid to reach the Berkeley Rose Garden.

Shattuck Avenue becomes Solano Avanue about 2 mi north of University Avenue. The small shopping district here is worth a trip simply because of Zachary’s Chicago Pizza Inc., which sells heavenly Chicago-style pies ($11 and up).

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Architectural Styles, Avanue, Berkeley Rose Garden, Black Oak Books, Cafes And Restaurants, Chez Panisse, Chicago Pizza, Chicago Style, Clothing Boutiques, Crowning Glory, Del Carmen Mexico, Gourmet Ghetto, Grad Students, North Berkeley, Playa Del Carmen, Playa Del Carmen Mexico, Shattuck Ave, Shopping District, Vine St, Walnut St | Leave a comment

The Tenderloin

By admin | Published January 4, 2012

The Tenderloin encompasses portions of O’Farrell, Geary, Post, and Sutter streets. For decades it’s been considered a dangerous area: In the early days policemen got higher wages for working these streets, which enabled them to buy more tender cuts of meat – hence the name. The area still has the highest reported incidence of rape in the city; a particularly seedy triangle is formed by Larkin, Market, and Post streets. When the Tenderloin’s call of cheap beef, live music, and inexpensive Vietnamese and Thai food beckons, you’re best off visiting by cab.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Cuts Of Meat, Dangerous Area, Decades, Dental Clinic, Larkin, Live Music, Mazda, Policemen, Puerto Morelos, Rape, Tender Cuts, Thai Food, Triangle, Wages | Leave a comment

Polk Gulch

By admin | Published December 31, 2011

Once the gay heart of San Francisco, Polk Gulch (Polk Street between Geary and California streets) now takes second place to the even gayer Castro. The Gulch is part yuppie neighborhood, part urban blight: a good place to buy roast coffee, watch a drug bust, browse a bookstore, and get solicited for prostitution. There are more than a dozen small and special-interest bookstores here, including Acorn Books. For coffee, try one of two Royal Ground locations (2216 Polk St., near Vallejo St.; 1605 Polk St., at Sacramento St.,)

Once you get past the sleaze, Polk Street makes a pleasant 15-minute walk to Fisherman’s Wharf. The street is lined with shops and cafes, including Rainbow Cafe (1406 Polk St., between Pine and California Sts.), a popular place to drink coffee and eat sandwiches. Bus 19 from the Civic Center BART station runs along Polk Street on its way to Ghirardelli Square at Fisherman’s Wharf.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Acorn Books, Bart Station, Bookstore, Bookstores, California Streets, Castro, Civic Center Bart, Cosmetic Dentistry, Drug Bust, Fisherman, Gay, Ghirardelli Square, Heart, Neighborhood, Polk Gulch, Polk St, Polk Street, Prostitution, Rainbow Cafe, Roast Coffee, Sacramento St, San Francisco, Sandwiches, Sleaze, Special Interest, Urban Blight, Vallejo St, Yuppie | Leave a comment

City Hall

By admin | Published December 27, 2011

The offices of San Francisco’s mayor and board of supervisors are back in this building after a $300 million makeover following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Built in classic beaux arts style with a prominent bronze rotunda that can be seen blocks away, the newly reopened structure has received rave reviews, even from critics of San Francisco’s flamboyant mayor, Willie Brown. City hall has a fascinating history: Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe got married here on January 15, 1954. In 1960 civil rights and freedom of speech protesters were washed down city hall’s central stairway with giant fire hoses, while the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee went on inside – all depicted in the amusing government propaganda effort (now a cult film) Operation Abolition. Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered here on November 27, 1978. And on February 14, 1991, scores of gay couples lined up to get “married” in celebration of the passage of San Francisco’s Domestic Partners Act the previous November. Between Van Ness Ave. and Grove, McAllister, and Polks Sts. Surrounding city hall are many of the city’s cultural mainstays. On Van Ness Avenue the Louise M.Davies Symphony Hall and the more stately War Memorial Opera House offer San Franciscans their fill of high culture. You can catch a variety of cultural events, including, concerts, readings, and lectures at Herbst Theatre, just north of the Opera House. Volunteers conduct 75-minute tours of the three buildings every Monday hourly from 10 to 2, leaving from the Grove Street entrance of Davies Symphony Hall. Tickets cost $5. The sparkling new San Francisco Main Library (Larkin St. at Grove St.) is one of the most technologically advanced in the country. It houses a fine collection of books, records, CDs, and San Francsisco memorabilia, as well as 300 computer terminals, many with free Web access and CD-ROMs. In addition to books, you’ll find a cafe, a rooftop garden, an incredible children’s library, an excellent video library, and African-American center, the nation’s first Gay and Lesbian Archive Center, an Asian-American center, and more, more, more! If you’re walking around the area, head to Hayes Street between Franklin and Webster streets; dubbed Hayes Valley, this area is loaded with specialty shops, art galleries, cafes, and restaurants.

Just east of city hall is the sprawling Civic Center Plaza, which has seen its share of protest marches, political rallies (those during the Persian Gulf War drew crowds of more than 200,000), and riots. Continue east to the intersection of Market and 7th streets and then go left to find United Nations Plaza, commemorating the founding of the United Nations, in San Francisco in 1945. The plaza is presided over by a dramatic statue of Latin American revolutionary hero Simon Bolivar. It is also home to an excellent farmers’ market on Sunday and Wednesday.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Beaux Arts Style, Davies Symphony Hall, Fire Hoses, Flamboyant Mayor, Free Web Access, George Moscone, Government Propaganda, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio And Marilyn Monroe, Larkin St, Loma Prieta Earthquake, Mayor George Moscone, Mayor Willie Brown, Operation Abolition, Propaganda Effort, San Franciscans, San Francisco Main Library, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Van Ness Ave, War Memorial Opera House | Leave a comment

Civic Center Area

By admin | Published December 23, 2011

The Civic Center is the locus of San Francisco government and home of many of the city’s cultural events, including dance and opera. The area immediately surrounding the center is also where a good percentage of San Francisco’s homeless have camped since the 1940s. To reach the area, take BART to the Civic Center station or catch any of a thousand buses plying Market Street.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1940s, Bart, Buses, Civic Center Area, Cosmetic Dentistry, Homeless, Locus, Nbsp, Opera, Puerto Morelos, San Francisco Government | Leave a comment

Embarcadero

By admin | Published December 19, 2011

The Embarcadero, Spanish for “wharf,” looks more like a string of office buildings than anything vaguely maritime. One exception is the Ferry Building, at the end of Market Street. The 230-ft clock tower, modeled after Venice’s Campanile, is an attractive landmark that can be seen along much of Market Street. Ferries still depart from here for Oakland, Sausalito, Larkspur, and Vallejo.

Embarcadero Center is a set of neatly stacked concrete buildings along Sacramento Street between Battery and Drumm streets. Its monolithic architectural style is no draw, but it is one of the few shopping malls that offer free parking on weekends for buying customers. The center is a conglomeration of four nearly identical towers housing offices, restaurants, boutiques that cater to the corporate crowd, and the Embarcadero Center Cinema, which features foreign and independent films. Opened in 1996, the Skydeck is an indoor-outdoor observation area with impressive views. Views from the fancy Equinox restaurant, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, are dizzying (literally!): The rooftop bar revolves 360 degrees.

JUSTIN HERMAN PLAZA Between Embarcadero Center and the Ferry Building stretches Justin Herman Plaza, a favorite haunt of the office bag-lunch crowd and daredevil young skateboarders. Here, Jean Dubuffet’s mammoth stainless-steel sculpture La Chiffoniere poses like a Napoleonic Pillsbury Dough Boy. Nearby, Armand Vaillancourt’s huge building-block fountain looks a little too much like prehistoric plumbing, but you can gambol among its girders even when the water is streaming through. Around the winter holidays, part of Justin Herman Plaza converts to an ice-skating rink. At other times of year it hosts free concerts, usually on a Wednesday or Friday at noon.

RINCON CENTER Which houses shops, offices, and apartments, was formerly the city’s main post office. The outside of the building is unassuming – you’ll recognize it by the raised blue dolphins on its sides – but inside you’ll find a recently restored 1940s lobby and a stately atrium into which a tall, shimmering column of water descends. The socialist-realist-type murals in the lobby depict the history of California, including the oppression of Native Americans and the exploitation of workers by capitalist overlords. 101 Spear St., at Mission St.

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