Where: San Francisco?

plenty of threads on this, a little search will pull up dozens of recommendations.

But it all depends on what kind of money you're looking at spending.

-=The Big 3=- (big moolah)
Fleur de Lys
Masas
Gary Danko

For a more relaxed experience that's a bit cheaper, Zuni Cafe is still my favorite. Food is awesome. And by awesome, I mean... awesome.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

don't miss Incanto in Noe Valley and Chez Spencer in the Mission.

Free Martha!

Yeah! Fleur de Lys is my favorite.....wife and I are going next week. Grunhauser is right....for a more "reasonable" meal Incanto is great. The Pork ragut with pasta is great on a cold night. The wine list is all Italian and is wonderful. I also like Piperade and Bizou. For $$$ check out Masas and Charles Nob Hill. Great city and great food!

SF is hardly the place to escape the cold, but we'll have ya.

I recently had dinner at Restaurant Lulu and loved it. Casual, but very nice. Great pizzas. Served family style.

I really enjoyed it.

I'm with DJ Hombre-Fleur de Lys, Masa's and Gary Danko

Weinfrauline: The day I booked the flight last week we hit -45F. Now we have warmed up to a balmy -16F in our current heat wave. At 6:56 this morning SF appears to be +48F. It makes me sweat just thinking about it!

I'm convinced, Fleur de Lys for one night for sure. Sounds like a good town to eat it - I wonder how many restuarants we can get to in three days...

The service at Fleur de Lys was outstanding. No sooner do you put down your water glass and someone is there to fill it. The decor is a little bizarre, though. Because of all the fabric in the dining room you either feel that you will be suffocated should the tent collapse, or leave wondering about how the interior designer came across so much material: "who shot the couch?"

quote:

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Originally posted by nmcbain:
I'm convinced, Fleur de Lys for one night for sure. Sounds like a good town to eat it - I wonder how many restuarants we can get to in three days...

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that depends on how much money you got to spend on food.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

DJ - your warnings make me shudder a little. It might be bread and water after FDL, but at least I should be able to starve with a smile!

If you're looking for one night of fantabulous dinner, service n' whatnot. Then you cannot go wrong with Masas, Danko or FdL. For a more casual dining experience that will cost you a lot less than those three, SF will definatly rock your socks off. Even if it's just walking through Chinatown and picking up 3 Pork Buns for $1. (god I love chinatown)

I can recommend I recommend Zuni earlier, and it really is a fantastic restaurant. It's chic n' trendy, but the food is freakin good and won't hurt ya in the wallet. Even if the Chef / Owner is an Alice Waters acolyte.

If you do try Zuni (and I really recommend that you do) get the Chicken. It's for 2, and it's awesome.

I had lunch last week at Piperade. It opened last year to much fanfare. It's not perfect, but it's a fun place to eat and the food is pretty damn slammin. The desserts are fantabulous. I do recommend just ordering off the tapas menu for great QPR.

And I see that JimmyV just bumped up a pretty old thread full of good stuff. So you can check that out.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

With conviction like that, how can't I go to Zuni as well?

Done and done. I can't wait to go, I am giddy like a school girl!

I'd say Danko!

MCBAIN, Did i buy a camera from you?

don't get the chicken at Zuni. don't get me wrong, it's good, but a bit trivial and is only an option if anything else on the menu does not excite you, which is never the case i have to add. when i go there, and i've been going there for 14 years, chicken is the last thing i want to order, plus it's too big for two people. since the menu changes daily, you don't really know what's cooking untill the day you dine, which can be tricky, if BYOB...and fun. get anything with cherries. good luck.

Free Martha!

I think you just don't think much of chicken.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

not so. i regard it higher than beef, as a matter of fact. Zuni's chicken is riding high because of the wood fired oven, that's all.

Free Martha!

I would cook the chicken a bit different. Personally, I love the entire dish. It's just good food. But, they could lessen the pickup time on it greatly if they were to break the chicken into 2 halves instead of roasting it whole. Instead of a 45 minute wait, you'd be looking at a 20 minute pickup.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

dj, the wait is part of the recipe. cheerios.

Free Martha!

It all becomes so confusing. I think I am settled on FDL and Zuni as the where. As for the what, I think we will wait and see.

Vader - I don't think so, but I'm pretty sure I did sell a camera one time. Maybe? By the way, what time is it?

Well thanks all for the good advice on SF dining.

We did Zuni (and ordered the chicken - good call DJ) one night and Gary Danko's the other night. Both were just as billed.

Zuni is cool, with good food and good prices. Danko is Danko. Food is great and the service is spot on (and they charge for it).

Unfortunately, instead of leaving her heart in San Francisco, my wife left her stomach as she came down with a nasty bout of the flu for the three days we were there and wasn't able to enjoy too much.

Oh, well, the upside is that she made me promise to bring her back to SF (and I scored a sixer of Lorings!!!).

Thanks all.

no wonder she got sick, poor thing, i told you not to get the chicken
they, Zuni people, just had their gazilion's year in business celebration a week ago, which of course i'm shamed to say i've missed.

Free Martha!

more of a question than a recommendation but what about aqua?

i haven't been there when Mina was in charge and have nothing to compare it with, but in my opinion it's best to avoid it these days. i don't remember details anymore, but last time we had dinner there, it was so uninspiriing, we left early and headed to Danko for deserts and drinks.

Free Martha!

I'm trying to remember who the Chef is there now. I think it's the former Chef of The Fifth Floor. But I could be wrong.

Either way, reports are that it's best to avoid Aqua nowadays. It has seen it's day.

On a side note, the Chef who started Aqua is back in the bay area. Looks like George Marrone is going to look at opening a new restaurant. That'd be so slick, I loved Redwood Park.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

The New York Times just published a story about salting meat long before cooking it. They feature Judy Rodgers from Zuni Cafe, offering some insight into the aforementioned chicken.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/25/dining/25SALT.html

Has anybody on the forum tried Michael Mina restaurant? I've got a trip to San Francisco coming up and was thinking of giving it a try.
The reviews I have read sound good, but I'd like you hear how the forum members think it compares to other restaurants in the area.
Thanks