The view from Alamo Square is not to be missed! You will quickly agree that a trip here is time well spent to enjoy "The Painted Ladies" (the Victorian houses in the foreground), and the sharp contrast they make with the skyscrapers behind them in the sweeping panorama of the city. Take 21 Bus from Market Street, anywhere between Spear and Ninth St., and get off at Steiner.

Recently they opened this place near my house that serve Vietnamese sandwiches- Bun mee.Their sandwiches are spicy at the right level, filling at the fight level and in the right price.  They also have great salads and sweet potato fries with curry aioli sauce.I've been having their sandwiches for dinner 3 times a week for the last month. Highly recommend if you feel like a light (but warm and meaty) sandwich, and you're in the neighborhood (Pacific heights).

Out The Door is one of my favorite spots in my neighborhood. My friends and I go here all the time primarily for the chicken pho, but I have ventured out and tried some other items on the menu and have never been disappointed. This past weekend we went for brunch and I decided to try something new, this time the baked eggs. I was so intrigued by the ingredients: smoked ham, goat cheese, green garlic, snap peas?! It was the perfect meal - so colorful, full of flavor, and the right amount of filling. This Vietnamese restaurant (casual spin-off of the famous Slanted Door) is so innovative with their dishes and happen to have a great wine list (all served in steel taps).

One of my favorite local cafes in the NOPA district of San Francisco is Matching Half. They serve Sight Glass coffee and pastries made in house, including homemade pop tarts. It's a great place to spend a cozy afternoon with a cup o' joe on a rainy day, or sit outside on a sunny day with a sandwich and a beer, or get a group of friends to join the weekly trivia night.

Ocean Beach is a massive, four-mile-long stretch of sand. Surfers talk about it in terms of the block they surf. I surf Pacheco or Moraga Street. As told to Jen Murphy. See all of Danny Hess’s favorite places in San Francisco’s Sunset District. Photos by Erin Kunkel. This story appeared in the January/February 2012 issue.

Papa Gianni is known for the best espresso outside of Europe as well as the longest-running show in the City of San Francisco. "The Caffe Trieste Saturday Concert has evolved from a small, family show with guitar and mandolin ensemble into an Italian-flavored version of the Lawrence Welk show (one of the Giotta Family's favorite television indulgences from the 1950's through the 1970's). Many new singers have joined the Trieste Musical Family in the last few years. Wonderful local singers such as Bruce Winslow, Steve Randolph, Irving Mok and Alfredo Tollis bring new facets of jazz, show tunes, ballads, and vaudeville, as well as songs by Piaf, Weill, and Dean Martin to the Trieste repertoire."(www.caffetrieste.c0m)

This place is tiny, but it's one of my favorite places in my neighborhood. The menu is small so there are only a few choices, but no matter what you get, you'll be happy. Make sure to try the iced coffee. It's made with chicory, the way it's done down in New Orleans.

I'm a self-proclaimed sushi snob on a mission to discover the best sushi in San Francisco. You know, the kind that melts in your mouth like butter. The bar of excellence: An airport sushi restaurant in Tokyo. I want my sushi to taste like THAT every single time. Ino is a mom-and-pop run sushi joint in San Francisco's Japantown. Surprisingly, Japantown is the last place I'd normally go for great sushi, but Ino is amazing. Tip: Make a reservation! The place only has a few tables and usually has a long wait.

I had the pleasure of dining at Bar Crudo in San Francisco's NOPA district last night. I could live off of seafood so last night's feast was a dream. A platter of oysters, clams, prawns, and lobster. A crudo plate of butterfish, scallops, and Arctic char. Seafood chowder. Some of the best swordfish I've ever had. And this Greek white fish called Branzino, smothered in all kinds of flavors including orange oil and poblano peppers. This meal, with a couple bottles of delicious worldly white wines, the fun upstairs seating overlooking the activity in the kitchen, and fantastic company made this a perfect evening. http://www.barcrudo.com/

You couldn't find a union more perfect if you tried. Bread wizard Josey Baker, who mastered the art of crafting whole wheat flour into complex, delicious loaves of bread, joins Jeremy Tooker of Four Barrel Coffee, one of the city's infamous third wave roasters, in this lofty new space near Alamo Square. Amidst rows of whirring espresso machines and a life-sized mixer that's always filled with the doughy beginnings of that day's housemade pastries, Baker churns out steaming loaves of bread textured just right. Purchase a whole loaf or drink your joe with a thick slab of toast, topped with your choice of melty almond butter, cream cheese, cinnamon and sugar or the day's special (often a seasonal jam), and you'll understand how some of the finest things in life come from the simplest beginnings. Tip: To skip the lines, come on a weekday or if you're a local, ask for the subscription service: you get to pick up your weekly loaf from the back door on the weekends and sometimes, since you're a regular, they'll squeeze in your coffee order right there.

Casey's Pizza serves old world New York style, locally sourced, mostly organic, pizzas from a truck. The owner, a East Coaster spent a lot of time trying to replicate the pizza of his youth and has added the West Coast mandates of local and organic ingredients to make his offerings the best of both worlds. It's really fun to see pizza food trucks, it takes a little longer, but it is always worth it! Why sit inside a pizza parlor when you can experience a really good pie on the streets of San Francisco...just like they do it in New York!

At the restaurant Nopa in San Francisco's Western Addition, the long bar and communal tables are perfect places to perch on a weeknight. Go early, order an elderflower gimlet or a sparkling, minty Old Cuban (both off-menu). Don't miss the Mission School-style mural painted on the wall.

The artist is unknown, but the Tenderloin National Forest is a wonderful place to visit. Behind a big steel door, and open to the public off and on, the walls of this little alley that has been turned into a park, are covered with murals, and mosaics. The walkway is also a wonderful mosaic. Cohen Alley off of Leavenworth near Eddy

Cue "Full House" music. Alamo Square's famous "Painted Ladies" or "Postcard Row" as many know it. After 9 months of traveling last year, I planned a short stay in San Francisco, yet months later, I'm still here in the City by the Bay.

"There's too many," I overheard a patron say, right behind me in line at Chantal Guillon. Yes, there are many macrarons in pastel colors lining the glass case and cafe. And thankfully, you can buy a box of one of each flavor: Persian rose, salted caramel, dark chocolate, pistachio and more. The taste, well it's like biting into a creamy cookie and delectable cake at the same time.