eat, drink, and be merry.

October 4, 2010 8:46 AM

in san francisco visiting newly transplanted friends. to which restaurant should we go to celebrate my birthday?

open to any kind of cuisine. we're a half-dozen professional women (single and coupled) in our early to late 30s who previously met for dinners and drinks a couple of times a week and appreciate good food and good restaurants.

posted by violetk to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

Spruce! So delicious. But it's pricey.
posted by prefpara at 9:17 AM on October 4, 2010

Could you narrow this down by price range and neighborhood?

Some of the better places I've been to recently :
Bix Financial district, American, ~60$ a person. Good bar.
Brazen Head Marina, Steakhouse, 40-60 a person.
Wayfare Tavern Financial District, American (Tyler Florence's SF place), 60$+ a person. Pretty new.
posted by spatula at 9:17 AM on October 4, 2010

Response by poster: neighborhood doesn't matter.

entrees around ≤$30
posted by violetk at 9:29 AM on October 4, 2010

town hall you'll need a reservation there
posted by anya32 at 9:34 AM on October 4, 2010

nopa. Excellent food; excellent cocktails; excellent wine list. Excellent service.
posted by rtha at 10:04 AM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

My favorite new place is LoLo on 22nd Street. Turkish-Mexican, supposedly but everything we had there was a revelation and completely delicious.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 10:51 AM on October 4, 2010

Best answer: nopa is an excellent choice but you'll want a reservation at least a week in advance, and probably more.

Perbacco in the financial district is excellent, esp. if you're into charcuterie.
posted by eugenen at 11:02 AM on October 4, 2010

I'd second Nopa and Perbacco both. Have done each with a group and it works well. Perbacco will be slightly easier than Nopa to get into. If they are newly transplanted and into food - a trip to Zuni would also be excellent. It is a shrine to the beginning of San Francisco foodie culture - and still damn good. Town Hall also does groups well.
posted by Wolfie at 11:27 AM on October 4, 2010

Some of the places I've eaten and loved: Dosa, Water+Flour, Foreign Cinema, Zuni, Town Hall, Charanga.
posted by JenMarie at 1:15 PM on October 4, 2010

Oops, Flour+Water.
posted by JenMarie at 1:16 PM on October 4, 2010

You are absolutely going to need a reservation for Flour+Water, especially for a group. Even Steve Jobs couldn't get a table (as a walk-in). It's a teeny place. I hear it's delicious. But I haven't been able to get in either (walking in as a duo, 5:30 pm on a Wednesday or something, and we were told it would be a two-hour wait! We went elsewhere.)
posted by rtha at 2:44 PM on October 4, 2010

Best answer: Beretta! awesome fancy drinks, great food, cool atmosphere inside.
posted by I like to eat meat at 5:53 PM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

rtha is absolutely correct, you will need reservations for Flour+Water, especialy a group. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. I think it took at least two weeks for my group of five to get a table, and my cousin's boyfriend is a chef there (I don't think that actually helped at all, see above story re: Steve Jobs). But I still think about the delicious array of items I tried that night.

Happy Birthday!
posted by JenMarie at 11:26 PM on October 4, 2010

Response by poster: thanks everyone! beretta last night—delish! and perbacco tonight for my birthday. one of ladies actually loves both so she was very excited.
posted by violetk at 8:39 AM on October 5, 2010