looks like a slice of heaven. For all the amazing food in SF and there’s a shitload Stella is the one must stop everytime, must bring a box back, must eat stuff there, take pictures at your own peril cuz the brownie or whatever will be gone before you put your phone away if you’re not fast. For my money a little stroll around chinatown and north beach with a lay down in the park is the move over any sit down joint. good luck getting to the top of coit tower!
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Lots of great suggestions. Just for future readers – since the OP has already come and gone: Sam’s Grill is excellent (or at least still was when I was last there a couple of years ago, and I doubt it’s changed). Not open at all on weekends, however. Tadich is open on Saturday just for dinner, but closed on Sunday.
Also, Liguria foccacia is fine, but if you want to go, go early, as they sell out. You can also get a great meatball sandwich made with that foccacia at Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe, 566 Columbus.
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Eat the things which are famous for that place.
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So, Tadich Grill was a rock solid tip. I went there three times since Wednesday.
Lunch: on my own, sand dabs (not on the menu??), two martinis. Perfect lunch. The fish was really good. Got talking to a couple next to me, they explained a bit about sand dabs and then we discussed the economic situation a bit.
Dinner: with two co workers. They were very impressed by the setting and the food. We all had steaks from the grill. Round of cocktails, two bottles of wine, and desserts.
Dinner: on my own. Cioppino. Wow, some of the best crab and prawns I’ve ever had.
The location is perfect from my hotel. Traveling within SF isn’t that easy (not many taxis around, buses crowded and unpleasant), so we walked mostly. Unfortunately I couldn’t try Sam’s Grill as they are closed on the weekends indeed. Did have a peek inside on Friday.
Will update a bit more later on. Today last day.
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A long time ago I read a newspaper article on Tadich; said a man ate there at the counter 5 lunches a week. He brought his own metal containers to take home leftovers. I’m happy you enjoyed Tadich. Try the broiled petrale sole. They will remove the bone when they serve it if you request. Once I had a terrible meal at Sam’s and never wanted to return. Guess a lot depends on the chef on duty but I’ve never had a bad meal at Tadich.
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I love the Tadich Grill! I mostly have the sand dabs and dip the excellent sourdough bread in the equally excellent tartar sauce.
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Sand dabs and martinis! Welcome to San Francisco!
“Back in the day” of the civilized business lunch, our choice was always abalone or sand dabs and martinis at Bardelli’s with its peacock window.
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Glad you enjoyed Tadich! I think of it every time I go to Perbacco, but never end up going.
Did you have to wait in line? I’m guessing it’s a shorter wait if you are looking for a seat for one.
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I’d forgotten about Bardelli’s!
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Have the Hangtown Fry while you’re at Tadich (presuming you like oysters). It’s rich, but it’s good. I think Sam’s serves it too, though I’ve never had their version.
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awww. poor new york city got its feelings hurt.
No one would confuse the big apple with sf. I use ‘the bay area’ ‘the bay’ ‘the city and county of’, and have used norcal and occasionally cali but you have to be referring to the whole state, and lumping the redneck farmers with the bluer than blue coasties just doesn’t happen much in my discourse. One often talks neighborhoods more than the whole city, similarly.
There are still cheaper eats in the city, but they aren’t cheap Like They Used To Be In The Old Days. Ten dollar lunch is now a cheap eat if it is a full 1000++ calories, like a solid super burrito. Too often i have a solid lunch but have to lay down two jeffersons (all in).
I could not tell you the cheap eats these days.
Solei is pretty good about not just reviewing expensive places, but one does miss dan leone.
Glad you liked Tadich. I haven’t eaten there three times in 30 years. Twice, if memory serves, liked it well, would recommend, but one has a lot of ground to cover.
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Kind of inevitable that thread drift started by one of my linguistic pet peeves (“San Fran”) would eventually land on another (use of the definite article before freeway numbers). 
Anyway, you are correct–that is a SoCal thing, an invasive weed in the garden of Bay Area language.
My apologies for fueling the “San Fran” and NYC thing…but it’s not exactly new. I can say to the NYers, if you come back do so during spring or summer to see the produce and the nice stuff like redwoods and the coast. That’s something that’s different from the East Coast.
Here’s a hint, from Mark Bittman, who has relocated to the Bay Area…it’s a low key affair over all. One of his first few columns after landing was about eating spring onions in someone’s backyard in Berkeley…and how low key it was. He was a bit taken and surprised.
We don’t hype much of anything…perhaps we know it’s pretty good, or California cool. So when we get the “what’s the very best, only the best” east coast thing, it’s a turn off. It’s all good…really it is. So come visit, chill and enjoy.
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Whoa, after skimming this thread, glad I missed it in real time. Reminds me of the old days of food boards.
$4 all in sounds like cheap eats to me!
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I’ve finally found some time to go over some of the other places I visited in SFO.
Fog Harbor Fish House (Pier 39): not my choice (we were a group of 9) but the view was really nice at sunset, the place was packed on a Wednesday evening with a good vibe (both locals and tourists), the cocktails good, and the service friendly. I had a whole steamed crab - probably not in season dungeness I guess. The flesh was tasty but not as thick and juicy as I would have liked. Great fries and other appetizers.
Barcha (Salesforce park): lunch, place was full on a Thursday around 1PM. Lots of office workers. What I liked is that you can choose a salad and then a protein of your choice. I had a fall salad with seared salmon which was very good.
Super Duper / In-N-Out: both really good chain burgers! And not that expensive, especially In-N-Out. Clear preference for Super Duper though.
Ferry Building: Saturday farmer’s market. Just wandering about, did not buy any food nor drinks. Nice place, some stands had a long waiting line.
Chase Center: watching the Warriors. Nice atmosphere, though I prefer MSG… Amazing margaritas though, had 3 or 4 of them… 
La Torta Gorda: the weather was good so I sat in the garden. Can’t remember what I had (I think the pulled pork) but it was good, though imho not worth the trek from my hotel taking the bus. Should have taken an uber or something. Nice area to walk around.
R&G Lounge: Chinatown. I started with ‘spicy clams’. I had thought these were just stir fried clams with chillies, but they were clams in a very soupy sauce instead. They were nice and spicy, but a bit of a shame of all the sauce which went to waste. Next up: bbq pork, very nice flavour, but small portion. And then I had the (off the menu) ho fan thick noodles. I really like these, they are a staple of the Cantonese cuisine… The portion was of course way too much for a single diner, so I took leftovers with me to the airport. All in all I liked R&G but they have a somewhat limited menu, I missed the option to get live fish and seafood (they only had live crab, lobster, and I believe bass). While walking away from R&G, I walked past a no-frills Chinese place called Hon’s Wun-Tun House which looked pretty good. A shame I couldn’t try it.
Original Joe’s: cocktails and the 49-ers at the bar on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Very good cocktails and great atmosphere, of course helped by the 49-ers winning.
Thanks everybody!
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Sounds and looks like you had a delicious time!
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