I've seen the Bridge.

October 17, 2010 7:44 AM

Get Me Out Of My Travel Rut: My tour takes me to the beatific city of San Fransisco soon and while I visit about once a year, I usually end up going to same places/doing the same things. What's terribly new in SF? What are the fresh must-see shows, restaurants, nightspots, stores, or Things To Do. Ideally I'm looking for things/places that have opened within the year. Will have a car and able to make day trips out into the environs.

Basic info: Will be staying in Union Square, I enjoy biking, drinking, local food, men's apparel un-loud places and homosexual bonhomie

I've done tours of Sonoma and Marin County.

posted by The Whelk to travel & transportation (16 answers total)

jones just had its grand opening.

house of air may or may not be your kind of thing.

If "enjoy biking" means "big geek about bike infrastructure," you could take a ride in the new protected and green bike lanes on Market street and in the Wiggle.

Some newer restaurants are Una Pizza Napoletana, Zero Zero, Flour + Water (apparently I only follow pizza places?), Citizen Band, Wayfare Tavern, Prospect. Not sure they're all new in the last year.

People are trying to create a food truck culture here, and there are some interesting ones open. They are generally around, but gather at Fort Mason on Fridays and the Haight on Thursdays.

I highly recommend a newish ice cream shop in the dogpatch called "Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous."
posted by juliapangolin at 8:41 AM on October 17, 2010

The best meal we had in SF this summer was dinner at Sotto Mare.. Have you met Primalux and taken her personal tour of Alcatraz? I know that's very touristy, but she's great.
posted by raisingsand at 8:47 AM on October 17, 2010

Previously
posted by brainmouse at 9:17 AM on October 17, 2010

Not terribly new, but the Ferry Building now houses lots of interesting food vendors and food-related shops (kitchenware, kitchen antiques, etc).

It is mandatory that you let us know when you'll be here so we can have a meetup. You'll get all the local food and drinking you can handle, plus a reasonably good share of homosexual bonhomie. If you prefer your drinking venues to be un-loud, though, state your preference firmly. The default choices tend to be really loud.

Also, I enjoy shlepping out-of-town guests on walking tours and SF history is a bit of a hobby of mine. Since I'm unemployed (sigh), I'm available pretty much any time, so MeMail me if you want a personalized tour of Fog City.
posted by Quietgal at 9:36 AM on October 17, 2010

Prelinger Library. Not that new, but so worthwhile.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:51 AM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ugh, I love Outerlands, in the way Outer Sunset, as well as Trouble Coffee, which is down the block. Also like Farm:Table for coffee and snax. Nearer to Union Square!
posted by liketitanic at 10:01 AM on October 17, 2010

Hah, I was coming here to say Outerlands as well (my roommate cooks there; our kitchen is like a soup laboratory sometimes). Also, Sightglass and Commonwealth.

I think it says something that when people ask me what to do in San Francisco, all I (or any other resident it looks like!) can offer is food recommendations.

As far as newish places to get fancy drinks go, you might like Comstock or Bar Agricole.
posted by hototogisu at 10:23 AM on October 17, 2010

-Hop on the BART across the Bay to Oaktown and check out The Trappist. Awesome Belgian/Yurpeen beer in a congenial, small atmosphere. It's about 4 blocks from the 12th st BART station.

-Thursday night 6-10 is Nightlife @ the California Academy of Sciences in GGP. Cocktails, museum, aquarium, and a DJ. If I'm there, I'm usually working one of the private parties off in one of the side rooms, it's my buddies who are out on the floor working the cash bars.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:34 AM on October 17, 2010

Er, Nightlife
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:35 AM on October 17, 2010

The latest, newest, most exciting thing in town is the The Whelk Special Appearance Metafilter Meetup! Now in a new, quieter venue!

I can recommend the drinks at Comstock and Bar Agricole, also Hog & Rocks in the Mission. Nightlife is awesome -- we've done at least one meetup there.

Eater SF is a good website to learn about what's new in the world of restaurants and bars in SF. Also SFist.

The homosexual bonhomie moves about from place to place, but if you know when you'll be here, I'll see what I can recommend for you.
posted by gingerbeer at 1:02 PM on October 17, 2010

I thought this recent article on SFGate had some cool ideas.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 1:03 PM on October 17, 2010

Have you considered creating your own "tour" of places that tie in with a hobby or other interest of yours? I'm a crafting geek, so I like to check out interesting art stores, fabric stores and that kind of thing when I visit a big city. There's always something really cool that I could incorporate into my crafts that I wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise.
posted by wwartorff at 1:29 PM on October 17, 2010

I haven't been to Mission Chinese Food, but I understand it's similar to the project that used to be a pop-up restaurant at that location, Mission Street Food. Commonwealth, as linked above, is amazing -- the tastes are much more unusual and the decor much fancier than you usually find in that price range.

I like EAT Restaurant when it's at the Ambassador.

Can you elaborate on the type of homosexual bonhomie you're seeking? Should that be quiet as well?
posted by tantivy at 2:45 PM on October 17, 2010

The Exploratorium

It is a wonderful blend of science and art. In a beautiful setting, also.
posted by mbarryf at 5:43 AM on October 18, 2010

A selection of homosexual-type activities:

Peaches Christ's All About Evil

Queer Open Mic
Friday, October 22 · 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Modern Times Bookstore
888 Valencia

Bring Your Own Queer
posted by gingerbeer at 8:22 PM on October 18, 2010

Okay so I had a great time with the mini-meetup at Li Po and Zero Zero was yuppie but fun and sadly a lot of gingerbeer's great suggestions got rained out due to the awful weather, but this was all super helpful so, ups to y'alls.
posted by The Whelk at 10:47 PM on October 31, 2010