Local Places to See
2015 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
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Bun Mee recently opened near my house. Their Vietnamese sandwiches are just spicy enough, with the right amount of filling and at the right price. They also have great salads and sweet potato fries with curry aioli sauce. I've been having their...
525 Laguna St, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA
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754 Post St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
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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...
261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
In an age when many independent bookstores have surrendered to the advance of chain stores and Amazon, City Lights is a true survivor. Since it was founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1956, it has served as a gathering place for San...
Hayes Valley, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA
Consistently ranked in Top 5/10 lists for the best San Francisco Bay Area Food Truck list, Mama's Empanadas is a food truck with a seemingly strange food combination: empanadas and pasta. But Mama—born in Chile and raised in Italy—makes it work....
490 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
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Cotogna is dangerously close to the AFAR Media offices. This rustic sister restaurant to Quince opened last year, and the roomy bar is a cozy place to sit mid-day with a double espresso served neat in a Heath Ceramics cup. The pastas are all...
442 Hyde St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
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Despite its tongue-in-cheek name, this sweets shop and cafe located in the gritty Tenderloin district is one of my favorite finds in San Francisco. The salted caramels here melt in your mouth. They also have a good variety of coffees from...
1192 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
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The Crème Brûlée Cart has three locations in SF, the most convenient location being in the financial district at Market and Sansome. Their first bricks and motar location is on Folsom. The cart also makes appearances at food truck events like Off...
Ferry Building, One San Francisco Bay Trail #8, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA
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Blueberry Boy Bait may sound like a B-side song from an alternative band, but it's actually just an ice cream flavor offered by Humphry Slocombe, a small shop in the Mission District. Owner and former pastry chef Jake Godby has made the name...
3876 Noriega St, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA
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This bakery just opened across the street from Woodshop. It’s a godsend. It’s been rough finding good coffee out here, but they serve Blue Bottle Coffee and breakfast sandwiches on house-baked biscuits.” 3876 Noriega St., (415) 683-5533, ...
Landmark Building C, 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94123, USA
Off the Grid is an organization that hosts food trucks stops at various points throughout San Francisco as well in spots in the greater Bay Area. At any given time you can have 5-10 trucks in this downtown spot at 5th and Minna on Wednesdays and...
633 Battery St, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA
Look for the "Jackson Place Cafe" sign on the Sansome Street sidewalk between Jackson and Pacific. Turn down into the breezeway toward Battery Street and find this secluded, New Orleans-like courtyard. When the summer fog hasn't rolled in, the sun...
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, CA, USA
A new pizzeria being named for being one of the top 5 pizzas in San Francisco is not unusual, but the fact that this top-ranked pizza is coming from a food truck may surprise you! This mobile pizzeria housed in a twenty-foot transatlantic shipping...
3901 Noriega St, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA
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The owners wanted a neighborhood pizza joint like they had growing up in Boston. The Dimitri is a pie they named after the guy who runs Noriega Produce up the road. It has every crazy thing on it: sausage, pepperoni,mushrooms, garlic. The bar...
One Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA
Outdoor markets always tell a story about their city: what goods are for sale, what foods are locally grown and how the residents interact with one another as they buy and sell their wares. San Francisco's Saturday Market at the Ferry Terminal...
1001 Minnesota St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA
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They had me at the yellow building. I love wandering the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco and both Piccino restaurant and separate coffee bar, are lovely places to gather. The coffee bar on 22nd Street serves carefully crafted Sightglass...
101 Spear St, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
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Located in historic Rincon Center, this little spot has a great offering of Southern African food, which is fairly hard to find in San Francisco. Amawele means twins and the two sisters who created this lunch spot have designed a great menu of...
San Francisco, CA, USA
Garden Creamery serves small batch (vegan) sorbets and ice creams sweetened with agave nectar. Sounds healthy? Doesn't impact the taste! They travel the usual food truck circuit, you can find them at Off The Grid and out and about. A great way to...
57 Post St, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA
It doesn't matter how well you think you know a place—there's always somewhere new worth exploring. San Francisco is packed with secret hideouts. One of my all-time favorites has to be the Mechanics Institute Library and Chess Room—and the rather...
601 Vallejo St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
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Caffe Trieste is hardly a "hidden gem" some may even say it's a tourist trap, but considering the amount of locals that came in, and I'm not talking about young hipsters only, it's worth ambling in. Moody, atmospheric, original. Sit upfront by the...
24898 Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, Burney, CA 96013, USA
only 4 hours up north of san francisco is Burney Falls State Park. The 129 ft falls is a beautiful Oasis set among pristine forest area. There are campgrounds not far from the falls and you can catch Rainbow Trout in the picturesque river..... The...
600 Guerrero St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
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With no sign above its unassuming storefront, Tartine is most easily recognized by the line that snakes out its door and down Guerrero Street. People patiently wait for flaky pains au chocolat (the best outside Paris, in my opinion), decadent...
355 11th St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
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If their New American–style brunch and dinner menus don’t tempt you to Bar Agricole, in SOMA, maybe their recent James Beard Award nomination for Outstanding Bar Program will. Cocktails run at $11 across the board, and head bartenders Thad Vogler...
80 4th St, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956, USA
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This is another place I immediately return to when I'm in the Bay Area. It's a cheese lover's temple! I loved this salad pictured that I had. It was also my first picture of San Francisco! I must say that the Mount Tam is one of my favourite...
San Francisco, CA, USA
Consistently rated one of the best food trucks in San Francisco, The Chairman is a culinary delight! They have a small menu of steamed and baked buns with exotic fillings (including a great vegetarian offering), but everything is unique,...
1398 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
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Head to Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery on any night of the week and you’ll find nothing but Haight locals. For the past 16 years, Magnolia has been brewing their beers in a small space directly below the restaurant, but they’ve recently expanded to...
104 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA
This museum does so much more than tell you about Walt Disney's life—it reminds you of the struggles that all creatives face throughout their careers. The experience is unexpected, interactive, and current for kids and adults alike. The view onto...
CA-1, Bodega Bay, CA 94923, USA
Many car commercials have been filmed along this stretch of the iconic California road. The hairpin turns and switchbacks make it a wild ride for some, but the views to the west (the ocean) and the east (Northern California's inimitable green...
4050 Red Rock Loop Rd, Sedona, AZ 86336, USA
The red rocks around Sedona are a trekker's dream, and if you know where to go, you can jump in a creek as well. Just to the southwest of Sedona, check out Red Rocks State Park. Take a short hike then cool off with a swim below Cathedral Rock. (By...
126 Broadway, Matamata 3400, New Zealand
Welcome to Middle Earth in the South Pacific, and an ideal stop for traveling fans of the author J.R.R. Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie trilogies. Near the rural town of Matamata—itself a destination for its LOTR-inspired...
Via Capodimonte, 19a, 80131 Napoli NA, Italy
This summer Eddy Bourdages, 33, and his mother, Mireille Anderson, 57, made their first trip to Italy. “We wanted to open an authentic Neapolitan wood oven pizzeria, so we went to the source,” says Bourdages. Anderson has owned L’Odyssée Bistro &...
Campo San Giacometto, 122, 30125 Rialto, Venezia VE, Italy
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At the ground-floor wine bar, take in the view of the Grand Canal while enjoying such cicchetti as salumi and cheese. In the upstairs dining room, choose from a menu that features intriguing dishes, including cocoa fusilli with boar ragu. Campo...
Via Mangiavacchi, 37, 53026 Piennza SI, Italy
One of the most delicious towns in Tuscany - and most beautiful - is the charming Pienza. Situated between Montepulciano and Montalcino in the scenic Val d'Orcia, centuries-old Pienza is best known for its rich pecorino cheeses. Many feel that the...
Via Pignasecca, 80134 Napoli NA, Italy
La Pignasecca is renowned for its abundance of cheese, pastry, and fresh fish stalls. As you shop, don’t miss snacking on the biscuits (tarrale) from Panificio Vincenzo Coppola. Open daily, Via Pignasecca. Read Tom Downey's "Tailor Made in Naples...
Via dei Chiavari, 34, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
One of Rome's best bakeries and among the city's most historic institutions, Antico Forno Roscioli is a family-run business. Depending on the time of day, you might find patriarch Marco or his son Pierluigi hard at work. There are a variety of...
Via della Meloria, 43, 00136 Roma RM, Italy
Gabriele Bonci's famous pizza-by-the-slice joint serves some of the best pizza in town. The slow-leavened dough is made from organic stoneground flour, and toppings change throughout the day. Pizzarium also sells excellent bread and supplì (fried...
Via Pardo, 29, 95131 Catania CT, Italy
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Make a meal of fresh sea urchin at Osteria Antica Marina among the bustle of the fishmongers in Catania. This appeared in the August/September 2013 issue. Image courtesy of Osteria Antica Marina
Viale Cavalleggeri D'Aosta, 84, 80124 Napoli NA, Italy
Pescheria Mattiucci is a fish store by day that transforms itself into a small standing-room-only restaurant a few nights of the week. Mattiucci is an old family operation, but this place is the brainchild of a young son, Luigi Mattiucci. Luigi...
