Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Make a Date with Dining
In January and mid-June, dozens of fine restaurants around town try to drum
up further appreciation and goodwill by participating in the weeklong mass price-
cutting known as
Dine About Town
(www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/dineabouttown)
,
during which a three-course meal is marked down to $22 at lunch or $32 at din-
ner. Not stone-cold cheap, but less expensive than you'd usually pay, and at
name-checked places you might not otherwise find affordable to visit.
Reservations are essential, so plan ahead.
$$
One of the city's best-known and busiest houses for dim sum,
Yank Sing
(49
Stevenson St., at Ecker;
%
415/541
-
4949; www.yanksing.com; Mon-Fri
11am-3pm, Sat-Sun 10am-4pm; AE, MC, V)
isn't located in Chinatown, but in
SoMa. (The second of two locations is at the Rincon Center at Spear and
Mission.) Busy since the late 1950s, this dining room has all the decor élan of a
hotel dining room, but with some 100 items from which to choose—the menus
call it “deem sum”—it's tough to leave hungry. There are much cheaper dim-sum
places in town, but for an upscale lunch (and never dinner—it's closed by then),
this is a safe choice.
THE TENDERLOIN
Located and priced for quick-casual bites before the theatre or during Union
Square romps, the Tenderloin's personality leans toward ethnic foods ranging
from low-down hash-slingers to mid-priced niche kitchens angling for young din-
ers. It's one of the more affordable neighborhoods for dining within the tourist
zone.
$
It's just one homey room with nine tables and a few seats at the counter, which
accounts for why
Dottie's True Blue Café
555
9
(522 Jones St., at Geary;
%
415/885
-
2767; Wed-Mon 7:30am-3pm; MC, V)
is perennially busy. Lines can
start forming as early as 7am, with people peering in the front window at the
lucky diners inside. Most of the dishes are breakfast classics, supplemented by gor-
geous, fresh home-baked breads (the jalapeño cornbread with chipotle jelly—
divine!). For non-eggy types, it also does a few sandwiches and other dishes.
Coffee is generously topped up as long as you're seated (and it's good coffee, too,
not diner water), and the maple syrup is real, not some Aunt Jemima fake. Come
on weekdays or at around 2pm if you don't want to wait an hour; otherwise, the
queues can ruin an otherwise heavenly food experience.
$
The flavorful Pakistani-Indian place
Shalimar
5
(532 Jones St., at O'Farrell;
%
415/928
-
0333; www.shalimarsf.com; daily noon-midnight; cash only)
is a
popular neighborhood hangout that most visitors pass by without noticing. On
my most recent visit, I was the only non-Asian in attendance. “No substitutions
to fit the local tastes” is one of the establishment's culinary vows, and the integrity
