San Francisco is one of the most popular cities to visit in the U.S. – and not only because of the Golden Gate Bridge or its iconic Cable Cars, but also for its diverse food scene. From Mexican and Central American food to Chinese restaurants and authentic Italian cuisine – there is nothing you can’t get in San Francisco.
Since there are literally hundreds of restaurants you could go to, I’ve selected ten restaurants you shouldn’t miss on a visit to San Francisco. Of course there are dozens of others that are also worth visiting – so don’t see this as an ultimate guide, but rather as an ‘appetizer guide’ to get you started. This is the 2017 edition – 12 restaurants that are worth including in your San Francisco itinerary. Some of these restaurants have risen to fame in recent months or are brand new and buzz-worthy, others are all-time San Francisco classics, and then there are a couple of fine dining gems.
Without further ado: Twelve essential restaurants you need to visit in San Francisco:
1 BEST BURRITOS: LA TAQUERIA
The Mission District is a mecca for foodies – thanks to its large Latino population, you find a myriad of Mexican, Latin American and Central American eateries here, and to choose a place for a burrito can be overwhelming. I suggest La Taqueria, which was recently awarded the title America’s Best Burrito. Head there to find out if they deserve this recognition, but the continuously great reviews and long lines speak for themselves. What makes the burritos here special is the fact that they don’t have rice. Instead, the flour tortillas are filled with pinto beans, meat, and toppings that include salsa, guacamole and hot sauce.
By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girls
San Francisco Gay Travel Resources
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While the grape vines are settling in for a few months’ rest, Downtown Napa is definitely not. Napa’s vibrant downtown scene is hidden in plain sight in one of the world’s best wine regions. All you need is 48 hours, a girlfriend or two, sunglasses for day and a warm wrap for evening, plus a big appetite for fun, adventure and fantastic food, wine…and even craft beer.
The Napa Backstory
Start at Vermeil Wines owned by NFL Super Bowl winning coach Dick Vermeil. We had a personal welcome from the (female!) mayor, which was just too cool for school. Eleven years in the job and running for re-election unopposed, Mayor Jill Techel has seen Napa transformed to a city of 80,000. She points out that re-routing the river to create nature wetlands and re-building after an earthquake has a way of cementing people as well as things.
No kidding, everybody here seems to know — and genuinely like — each other.
Forget the car; take a stroll along historic Riverside Park or follow a section of the new Napa Valley Vine Trail on a bike. The river cuts a swathe through the middle of historic downtown that at times resembles the Seine more than Northern California.
Periodically we’ll feature one of our properties here to let our readers know about some great gay friendly places to stay:
The Castillo Inn is a five minute walk from the heart of San Francisco’s gay area, The Castro, at Market and Castro Streets, and just two blocks to major city transportation.
Our guest rooms share a bathroom. Three of our rooms have queen beds, and the fourth has a double bed. Our rooms are clean, quiet and comfortable.
Stays at the Castillo Inn B&B include a continental breakfast each morning, and in the common area, we have a a refrigerator, microwave and a telephone with a voice mail for guest use.
Wireless internet access is also available for your laptop, and we have a fax as well for business travelers to use.
Ask for parking. The Castillo Inn, is a non-smoking establishment.
The next time your travels bring you to San Francisco, come stay with us at Castillo Inn Bed & Breakfast.
This week I finally made it up to the famous Hollywood sign – a hike that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. After two failed attempts (traffic, cloudy skies), I found myself scrambling up the rocks to a small hill above and behind the actual sign, which me and my hiking buddy reached after about an hour’s walk, just in time for a brilliant sunset. You can’t get to the sign by car, the only way to get up, close and personal with these giant white letters that have become an American icon, is on foot or by horse, and you can’t get in front of the letters, only above them.
Funnily enough, the sign didn’t have any association with the movie industry when it was put up in 1923. Instead, it was supposed to promote local real estate during a time when the Hollywood Hills weren’t the prime real estate location that they are today. Back then it still read Hollywoodland. After years of deterioration, Hugh Hefner started a fundraiser to save the sign, and $250,000 were raised to restore the sign that had fallen into disrepair.
It used to be a bit tricky to get up to the sign until a few years ago, unless you were a local and knew your way around. The Trust For Public Land, that is in charge of protecting the sign and the surrounding lands, has made it much easier now to find the right paths and not get lost in the relatively remote and rugged southern side of Mount Lee, on which the sign is located.
One thing I loved about my trip to Sonoma Wine Country was seeing the vineyards during leaf changing season. I’d flown up from Los Angeles, the evergreen city with palm trees and summer weather even in December, and a short 90-minute flight later I found myself in fall weather again, just like in Seattle six weeks earlier.
I’d never seen grapevines with changing leaves – I am not sure I even knew they were changing colors! – and loved the bright red and yellow colors in each winery I visited and every vineyard I passed in my car.
The wine tastings I did were fantastic, too – at the Korbel Winery for example, where I sampled California champagnes, or Virginia Dare Winery, recently purchased by Francis Ford Coppola. I got to tour the wineries and see the entire production line from wine making to corking and labeling the bottles which was incredible, got to sample wines that aren’t available anywhere but directly at the winery, and learned so much about wine in those few short days that I feel inclined to do some further studying now.
This past week was one of the busiest travel weeks since returning from Italy in September – I admit it, I am exhausted. After a long weekend in L.A. (where I was amazed by the still oh-so sunny and warm weather!) I flew up to Santa Rosa in Sonoma Wine Country for a week of wine, art, good food and hiking.
One of the highlights of the week was an afternoon spent hiking in the Armstrong Redwoods. The Redwoods are home to the tallest trees in the world, which live to be 500-1,000 years old, grow to a diameter of 12-16 feet, and stand from 200-250 feet tall. Walking through the forest where these imposing structures were towering over me, with moss-covered trunks of fallen trees on the ground, made me feel like I had entered some fairy tale world.
I wouldn’t have been surprised had a fairy appeared in front of me, asking me to make a wish. Because of the height of the trees, barely any sun rays make their way through the branches, keeping the forest darker and in deeper shade than most other forests I’ve hiked through, which only added to the mystic aura.
Periodically we’ll feature one of our properties here to let our readers know about some great gay friendly places to stay:
La Dolce Vita Resort & Spa is an elegant, upscale, gay owned clothing optional resort in Palm Springs. We offer 28 guest rooms, accented with Italian touches, on just under an acre of land.
The Resort features cabanas where you can relax away from the heat of the desert, enjoy our two heated pools, soak away your cares in one of our two hot tubs, relax in our twelve man steam room, or work out in our outdoor exercise area. We foster a friendly, no attitude atmosphere.
Pamper yourself at our day spa with massages, facials, waxing and luxurious body treatments designed for men and performed only by male therapists.
The entire resort is clothing optional – enjoy the warmth of the Palm Springs sun on your naked skin.
The property is blanketed with micro misters, which spray a fine water mist into the air and cool the ambient temperature as much as ten degrees.
We also offer many opportunities for our guests to meet each other, including breakfast & social hours in the evening.
You can enjoy beautiful sunsets over the San Jacinto Mountains, and stroll through our gardens – fruit trees, palms, cacti, stone sculptures and fountains
Our gay resort is close to all the gay bars, restaurants, and shops in Palm Springs. Palm Springs hosts some of the largest gay events in the country, including Jeffrey Sanker’s White Party, Palm Springs Gay Pride and Palm Springs Gay Leather Pride.
Palm Springs has one of the largest gay and lesbian populations per capita in the country, and is also one of the top 2 destinations for gay travel.
We also offer free wifi internet access, and a computer internet station for guest use. There’s a safe in each room that’s big enough to hold a laptop computer.
Each of our rooms has AVEDA bath products for gay men who expect the best, as well as spa bath robes.
By the end of the evening, as you stare up at the stars, you’ll have arrived at La Dolce Vita, “The Sweet Life”.
Periodically we’ll feature one of our properties here to let our readers know about some great gay friendly places to stay:
Tea Garden Lodge has over 25 comfortable rooms, private beach access, centrally located a block away from the casinos and Heavenly Gondola, walking distance to shops and restaurants and friendly staff!
While it would surely raise eyebrows to deem dinner at Oakland’s Commis a bargain, it’s more than fair to call Chef James Shyabout’s elegant tasting menus a Michelin Stargain. Twinkling with two of the French tiremaker’s honorifics as of 2016, Oakland’s serene, cerebral seven-year-old culinary jewel box offers prix fixe adventures of eight ingenious small courses (plus a few more bonus bites sprinkled throughout the meal) for $125.
While that’s six times what you’ll spend for a satisfying steak dinner elsewhere in Oakland (more on that later), it’s a remarkable price compared to a constellation of other Michelin-winning prix fixes in the Bay Area: $398 at San Francisco’s Saison, $330 at Napa Valley’s Meadowood, $310 at the French Laundry in Yountville, and $235 at Manresa in Silicon Valley. (Prior to going out on his own, Shyabout cooked at the latter, as well as Spain’s legendary elBulli and England’s Fat Duck.)
Along with housing rates, the cost of opening and sustaining a business in the San Francisco environs have skyrocketed in recent years, to such an extent that, along with young, adventurous eaters, ambitious, eclectic chefs like Shyabout have rooted themselves in more affordable Oakland.
Many Chicagoans choose to move to Los Angeles in California and it is easy to see why. There is plenty of sunshine and a moderate climate to enjoy in gay L.A. The grid layout of the city makes it easy to navigate but traffic needs to always be taken into consideration. Public transportation is continually in the works and ride sharing with Uber has turned into a popular option.
People tend to be LGBT-friendly, thanks to a long history of political figures and activists. One National Gay & Lesbian Archives houses more than 2 million items in its archives celebrating that history. Early editions of Outlines, published by Windy City Times’ Tracy Baim, were found along with a multitude of others.
The country’s first gay church, the Metropolitan Community Church, and first gay synagogue, Beth Chayim Chadashim, both began in gay L.A. Out & About Tours provides a walking tour to see many LGBT historical landmarks and learn about the pioneers of the gay community.