Best of the Bay: Local picks for San Francisco and beyond

August 30, 2007

The San Francisco Bay Guardian has announced the winners of their annual Best of the Bay Awards, including Editors’ Picks and the Readers’ Poll for the best places to eat, drink, and shop, both in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, this year’s picks are dedicated to "the fantastic, far-out pleasures of the Bay."

Here we offer a sampling of recommendations that are within easy walking distance of one or more of our San Francisco hostels (plus a couple of picks for travelers visiting the Marin Headlands Hostel and the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel).

For the full list of awards and many more recommendations from SFBG staff and readers, visit sfbg.com/bob/2007.

SAN FRANCISCO: EATS

BEST VIETNAMESE SANDWICH (Readers’ Poll)
Saigon Sandwiches, 560 Larkin, (415) 474-5698
2 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel
8 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel

• Philly has the cheesesteak, Chicago has the hot dog–but they don’t know what they’re missing. San Franciscans get to stuff their faces with marinated pork, barbecue chicken, or tofu banh mi from Saigon Sandwiches–and all for under three bucks.

BEST TAQUERIA (Readers’ Poll)
Can-Cun Taqueria, 2288 Mission, (415) 252-9560; 3211 Mission, (415) 550-1414; 1003 Market, (415) 864-6773
4 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel
6 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• It’s the Evander Holyfield of taquerías; other burritos keep lining up, but Can-Cun just keeps knocking ‘em down. Regardless of where our readers’ burrito loyalties lie, they can’t resist the perfectly seasoned meat, beans, and rice concoction that the folks at Can-Cun lovingly wrap in a soft, slightly seared tortilla.

BEST TURKISH RESTAURANT (Readers’ Poll)
A la Turca, 869 Geary, (415) 345-1011
2 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel
6 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel

• Whether you go with the lamb or the doner, the meat at cozy little Tenderloin spot A la Turca is always perfectly flavored, tender, and as authentic as anything you’d find in Turkey (or Germany, depending on your reference point). But our readers know that the only true test of a Turkish restaurant is the bread–and this place nails it.

BEST SUBTERRANEAN SUSHI (Editor’s Pick)
Ryoko Sushi, 619 Taylor, (415) 775-1028
2 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel
6 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• Neither too swanky nor too trendy, Ryoko Sushi is located in a divey little basement whose presence is mainly signaled by a strip of battered blue carpet descending down a steep stairwell. But this secret hole of a sushi bar has some of the freshest and most consistently well-presented sushi in town (definitely try the toro). And night owls take heed: rolls are served until 2 a.m. The attractive young staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and a DJ spins groovy lounge beats, served up fresh with a killer selection of sake cocktails, beer, and a surprisingly varied and high-quality wine list. From 6 p.m. on, Ryoko is generally filled with nigiri-hungry adventurers, sitting either at the mood-lit sushi bar or in large booths that feel like they’re tucked into the back of a cave. Traditional Japanese dishes like gyoza and saba shioyaki rock the taste buds too.

SAN FRANCISCO: DRINKS

BEST HAPPY HOUR (Readers’ Poll)
Jade, 650 Gough, (415) 869-1900
8 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• Two-buck drinks in a trilevel bar with a waterfall? Oh readers, you are so classy. Happy hour at Jade always pulls in the best-dressed nine-to-fivers in town, and it wins yet again for the best early-evening cocktails around.

BEST WINES BY THE GLASS (Readers’ Poll)
Hidden Vine, 620 Post, (415) 674-3567
2 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel
6 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• "Great wine–no pretense." That’s the formula by which Hidden Vine in Nob Hill operates. The staff here are redefining wine culture by dissolving the snoot factor, making it safe for the vinophile in all of us to shine.

BEST SWANKY BAR (Readers’ Poll)
Bourbon and Branch, 501 Jones
2 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel
3 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• A library in a bar? How very San Francisco. Our readers like to work out their highbrow at the Bourbon and Branch. Just ring the bell and whisper the secret password (hint: almost scuba backward), and you’re swooped away to the X-rated subtext of a Sherlock Holmes tale, full of expensive drinks, a sultry decor, and mirrored (ahem) tables for your amusement.

SAN FRANCISCO: SHOPPING

BEST SPECIALTY BOOKSELLER (Readers’ Poll)
Field Books, 1419 Polk, (415) 673-2027
7 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• From Sufism to the cult of The Secret, Fields Books has our readers’ spiritual needs covered. The Polk Street favorite has been selling books, candles, and knickknacks and hosting in-store events with enlightened authors since 1932.

BEST KILIMS, LAPIZ, AND ZERBAGHALIES (Editor’s Pick)
Afghan Treasures, 976 Market, (415) 202-0193
4 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel
6 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• The news coming out of Afghanistan seems so dire lately that it’s heartening to be able to walk into Afghan Treasures and touch base with some of the wonderful things that ancient, oft-beleaguered country produces. The cozy, colorful, family-owned business near the grittier end of the Civic Center offers an exquisite selection of woven kilims (prayer rugs), intricate lapiz jewelry, wood carvings, traditional wall hangings, pipes, furniture, incense, handmade clothing from Kabul and Ghazni, and musical instruments like zerbaghalies and dutaars from Heart–all at affordable (read: not with the usual stiff markup for imports) prices. Stop by and revel in the heavy reds and bright oaks that abound here. You’ll make the nice proprietors happy, you’ll probably come home with some primo authentic imported goods, and you’ll solve all the problems of the world. Well, at least the first two.

BEST BRUSH WITH THE LITERARY UNTOWARD (Editor’s Pick)
Kayo Books, 814 Post, (415) 749-0554
4 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel
4 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel

• The country’s paperback industry had long been peddling tales of vice, narcotics, and prurient sexuality by 1967, some of them published pseudonymously, the best ones written by folks such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson. Then the Summer of Love came along and opened a new wellspring of material (gays, hallucinogenic drugs, cults, swingers) with which to alarm and titillate "decent" folk. Happiness Bastard, The Sensual Sunset Strip, and Copsuckers are some of the juicer ’60s selections available at pulp emporium Kayo Books, whose hundreds of other titles range in subject matter from Catholic Guilt (atop the Gay and Lesbian - Rare section, no less) to Sleaze and Hobos and Trains. Whether your kick is sapphic sisters, alien overlords, white-slavery rings, home-brewed aphrodisiac recipes, or grizzled shamuses, you’re bound to find an affordable fix (or pick up a few new bad habits) amid Kayo’s massive floor-to-ceiling shelves.

SAN FRANCISCO: ENTERTAINMENT/NIGHTLIFE

BEST POST-MOHAWK THREE-CHORD THROWDOWN (Editor’s Pick)
Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, (415) 923-0923
5 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel
8 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel

• While the rest of the city lies comatose after a weekend of partying, Monday nights thrash and shout at the Hemlock Tavern, where the cream of the punk scene packs the joint for the Punk Rock Sideshow. DJs Tragic and the Duchess of Hazard spin slabs of outrage louder, shorter, and faster for an enthusiastic, heavily tattooed crowd that tosses back pints of PBR in less time than it takes the Circle Jerks to get through "Red Tape." Throw in grainy skate and rock videos projected on the Hemlock’s walls, a bevy of legendary musical rebels from San Francisco’s past, and the occasional band kicking off festivities with an earsplitting three-chord set in the back room, and you have the best way to start the week since the bastards knocked down that legendary ruckus room the I-Beam.

BEST DRAG QUEEN BUFFET (Editor’s Pick)
Harry Denton’s Starlight Room, 450 Powell, (415) 395-8595
2 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel
8 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel

• This is a very gender-illusive city, yet there aren’t that many drag events during the day. Why? Because drag queens need their beauty sleep and take too damn long to get ready. Luckily, legendary club impresario Harry Denton puts in a firm wake-up call to the old-school queens and we mere mortals who can’t get enough of them–or a good Sunday brunch buffet. Our very own Ryan Seacrest in a dress, Donna Sachet, hosts Sunday’s a Drag each week at the Starlight Room high atop the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, complete with hot omelets, sliced-to-order roast beef, and a musical extravaganza that’ll knock your Sunday shoes off. Three ethereally coiffed drag performers put on the razzle-dazzle while you refill your plates, with Finocchio’s-style comedy, lip sync, and other routines for each of the two 45-minute seatings and shows. The $30 price includes the entertainment, buffet, and an unbeatable view of the city. The first show begins at noon; the second is not until 2:30 p.m., for those queens getting the usual late start.

BEST HOT ZONE FOR T-GIRLS (Editor’s Pick)
Divas Nightclub and Bar, 1081 Post, (415) 474-3482
4 blocks from the San Francisco City Center Hostel
8 blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel

• The scrappy Tenderloin neighborhood has long been a mecca for trans folk; a 1966 riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, then a gathering place for t-girls and street hustlers, was the first known instance of collective queer resistance to antitrans oppression. Fast-forward 40 years, walk a few blocks from where Compton’s once stood, and you’ll find a bevy of gorgeous transgender ladies carving out a space for themselves at Divas Nightclub and Bar. And this time you’re invited–provided you tip well. The sassy t-girls at this three-story club will beckon you to the bar, sweet-talk you for a drink, and lead you to the dance floor in record time. Come for the gorgeous bartenders in skintight sequined cat suits, the "naughty schoolgirl" pole dancers on the mirrored second floor, and the exotic sight of baseball cap-wearing tranny chasers from the burbs.

BEST THEATER COMPANY (Readers’ Poll)
Bay Area Theater Sports, Fort Mason Center, Bldg. B, Marina at Laguna, (415) 474-8935
Near the San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel

• That troupe of irreverent tricksters BATS Improv has entered its second decade of interactive fun with no signs of slowing down. If screaming things from your seat, watching people make fools of themselves, and laughing until your guts hurt sounds like a great time to you–and it does to our readers–haul ass to see these perennial Bests.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian’s editors and readers also have a recommendations for destinations outside the city itself. Hostellers headed to the Marin Headlands or Pigeon Point Lighthouse hostels, take note!

PESCADERO

BEST PIE WITH A PURPOSE (Editors’ Pick)
Pie Ranch, 2080 Hwy. 1, Pescadero, (650) 879-0971
Mission Pie, 2901 Mission, San Francisco, (415) 282-4PIE
Near the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel

• A few miles south of the Pescadero Road turnoff on Highway 1, there’s a teensy organic-produce stand. You’ve probably sped by it without a second glance–it’s pretty indistinguishable from other such goodie niches. But this stand sells delicious produce from nearby Pie Ranch, a co-op in partnership with Mission High School that’s intended to introduce urban youths to the joys and challenges of rural life through hands-on experience. The ranch produces free-range chicken eggs, wheat, and several organic fruits and vegetables - perfect pie ingredients. Don’t worry if you’ve missed the stand on the San Mateo coast, though–the ranch also operates an outlet in the Mission called Mission Pie. Exquisite organic desserts abound (the banana cream pie in particular has gained quite a local reputation), and the students behind the counter can tell you with full confidence how these desserts got from field to table; they’ve participated in every step of the journey.

MARIN HEADLANDS

BEST PLACE TO SEE THE STARS (Readers’ Poll)
Marin Headlands in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Near the Marin Headlands Hostel

• The Marin Headlands aren’t some cheesy vista spot. They’re a full-fledged camping experience. Our readers love to sip wine and ponder existence as they watch the fog eat the city, then lie back and watch the stars put on a show just for them. Cosmic.

For many more recommendations from SFBG staff and readers, visit sfbg.com/bob/2007.