There's good news, and there's bad news. The bad news is, those who in the past few years took advantage of the dip in tourism and the economy and found cheaper and more readily available hotels and restaurants in San Francisco will discover that the desperate days are behind the City by the Bay. On the bright side, the city is much more exciting because of it. Hotels are hopping, swank new restaurants are opening faster than the maitre d's can say, "I'm sorry, we only have a table available at 5:30 or 9" and new construction along the continually evolving mecca of the Embarcadero promises more reason to walk along the bayfront promenade. Yes, San Francisco's swinging, so if you're headed here anytime soon, check out the latest happenings below to make sure you get the most out of your trip.
Where to Stay
If you're looking for wonderfully cheap, attractive, and clean accommodations and don't mind being in the middle of the city and simultaneously in the middle of nowhere, rush to book a room at Hotel Carlton (1075 Sutter St., San Francisco, 94109, tel. 800-922-7586 or 415-673-0242; www.jdvhospitality.com). Joie de Vivre hotel group is behind the 163-room 1927 hotel revamped in May 2004 in "global vintage" décor. The interior is wonderful with travel photographs from the American Himalayan Foundation, tribal figurines, Oriental rugs, a vibrant sari-like color scheme, and imported hand-painted Moroccan tables and cool Lucite-beaded table lamps in guest rooms. Outside the neighborhood is drab, but it's only a seven-block walk to Union Square and with doubles starting at a mere $119, you can splurge for a taxi with the money saved.
Where to Dine
Finally! The Cliff House (1090 Point Lobos, tel. 415/386-3330, www.cliffhouse.com) reopens in its newly renovated glory in October 2004. Completely redone to the tune of $19 million, the 1909 building's new look is less like a ho-hum box balancing on the cliffs overlooking Ocean Beach and famed Seal Rock and more like a respectable neo-classical landmark. Yes, it's still a tourist destination, and yes, the point is still to kick it with great ocean views through picture windows, but there may be new reason to make the trek to the city's western edge. The new Sutro Wing houses three new outdoor observation decks and the two-story mostly seafood restaurant Sutro's, which of course offers stunning panoramic ocean views and is open for lunch and dinner daily. Though it's too early to review, I'm hoping they take the food to visit-worthy levels with his emphasis on organically-grown products. (Previously I've skipped all but the gluttonous and now again available Sunday all-you-can-eat Champagne brunch in the Terrace Room, which is a family favorite for special occasions -- especially with those floor-to-ceiling ocean views.) The 1909 structure also offers seaside noshing in its newly renovated casual Cliff House Bistro where guests can sip spiked coffees at a zinc bar and grab omelet breakfasts and casual lunch and dinner daily.
Alas, just when the Frommer's San Francisco 2005 guide announces the wonders of a world-class dinner at Charles Nob Hill, the restaurant closed. But there are other new high-end spots where you can blow the bank and your calorie count. Michael Mina, 335 Powell St. (tel. 415/397-9222), is the town's hottest opening of summer 2004. In the space that has long been the Compass Rose tearoom in the Westin St. Francis, chef Michael Mina, who presided over the prestigious kitchen of Aqua, redefines price-fixed dining within an elegant and decidedly formal cream-on-cream room. Here you'll have to fork over $78 for the three-course menu. But before you gasp in horror at the steep price, consider this: each course arrives on a Mina-designed modular Royal Doulton china showcasing three variations of the dish with three sides to match. That's six different preparations per dish or a total of 18 different flavors over the course of an evening! It's a bit fussy, and for someone like me who prefers to order a few things that sound good and eat lots of bites of them, it's not ideal dining. But it is an edible case study on food matching and preparation variation and will be a wonder to anyone who enjoys sampling lots of things, from seared diver scallops prepared in three variations -- with lemon osetra caviar, yellow corn and summer truffles and smoked tomato and mail lobster -- and paired with three different "chilled salads" in tiny glasses to crispy pork loin done with risotto, as pulled pork with apple ravioli, and as barbecue with a corn fritter. Some dishes hit, some miss, but in all cases it's a very swank affair with dark woods, leather lounge chairs, light hues, an incredible wine list by Raj Parr, and a very "it-place-of-the-moment" vibe.
Another famous local chef George Morrone, who also hailed from Aqua as well as the Fifth Floor, antes up with his new restaurant Tartare, 550 Washington St. (tel. 415/434-3100). Far smaller, very cozy, and rather masculine and men's club-like, the interior is straight up sexy with its intimating arched basket-weave ceiling, tan faux-ostrich skin banquettes, and mood light a la backlighting and round and red polka-dot votives. The menu features -- surprise, surprise -- tartare. But we're not just talking raw beef. Here you can find tartare of fish, beef, ostrich, buffalo, and vegetable as well as cooked items. And Morrone is trying lots of new things here. Some of them work -- like the carpaccio of buffalo sirloin with morels and sherry vinegar, garlic and parsley bisque with black mussel flan, or cream of corn with gingered spare ribs -- and others don't (think the Thai influenced roasted poussin "Tom Kha Kai" or king salmon tartare with banana curry in a halved coconut). But Morrone also offers old favorites like tuna and foie gras and bone-in sirloin with malt vinegar and duck fat French fries. Prices aren't cheap. Entrees go from the mid $20s and up and if you're considering this for your one blow-the-bank meal, I'd skip it and head to Gary Danko or Fleur de Lys. But if you're into adventure and have the budget, Tartare is pure, raw fun.
My personal favorite recent opening is Bocadillos, 710 Montgomery St. (tel. 415/982-2622). The latest addition from Piperade chef and owner Gerald Hirigoyen is flat-out fabulous if you're in the mood for tapas. Hirigoyen celebrates his Basque roots with outstanding calamari with creamy tomato-and-garlic romesco sauce, scallops "mole cortado" with sherry and orange, caramelized quail, sautéed hot peppers, tuna carpaccio, decadent foie gras sushi rolls, and oh-my-god-is-this-good warm chocolate cake with sautéed bananas. In fact, there are so many tasty snacks on this menu you might find yourself returning to this small, casual Financial District space with orange-painted brick walls to pull up a chair at the wine bar, tall tables, or centerpiece "community table" to snack your way to heaven -- especially since prices range from $3 to $12 per plate.
Finally, if you've heard the buzz on Daniel Patterson's Frisson, 244 Jackson Street (tel. 415/956-3004), here are my two cents: Skip the food and come only if you are looking for the latest lively bar scene. The menu is creative, expensive (smallish plates at $16 to $10 a pop), and for the most part unmemorable (think bland goat milk panna cotta, tuna on lemon-black pepper gelée, and venison loin) and the service is worse than amateur. But the ambiance is something to behold. With a circular centerpiece dining area with backlight multicolored holes in the ceiling it looks like Star Trek's transporter room -- that is if Star Trek had way-cool curved couch seats. The bar is packed with the young and the beautiful that sip mojito martinis as the DJ spins mellow grooves and perhaps slink into the dining area, as it is open very late. But if you want to be part of the scene here, hurry up. The "it" crowd is fickle and in San Francisco such highly designed and trendy restaurants tend to have a short lifespan.
Shopping
Sake lovers take note. You'll definitely want to stop by True Sake, 560 Hayes St., (tel. 415/355-9555), a shop dedicated solely to sake. Amid sea grass flooring, colorful backlit displays, and a so-hip Hayes Valley location are more than 140 varieties ranging from an $8 300ml bottle of Ohyama to an $180 720ml bottle of Kotsuziami Rojohanaari -- which, incidentally owner Beau Timken, whose on hand to describe each wine, says is available at no other retail store in the U.S.
Nightlife
Thinking of dropping by a wine bar? Don't head to Hayes & Vine. Sadly, the Hayes Valley drinking spot shut its doors.
Nearby Wine Country
Wine Country continues to grow faster than its famed Cabernet grapes. If you think you've already done it all, read on and rethink your itinerary.
Napa Valley's hottest new luxury resort is my new favorite. Calistoga Ranch, 580 Lommel Rd., Calistoga (tel. 707/254-2800) may cost more than $525 per night, but if you really want to do Napa in the best of rural-luxury, the 46 freestanding cottages packed with every conceivable amenity (including fireplaces, outdoor patios along a wooded area, and cushy outdoor furnishings) are the place to be. The resort, tucked into 157 pristine acres in a well-hidden canyon, features a giant swimming pool, gym, spa with natural thermal pool, and breathtakingly beautiful private restaurant with stunning views of the property's Lake Lommel, all of which feel romantically rustic and quiet even though the resort is perpetually booked to near maximum capacity.
New on the food front is downtown Napa's latest addition, Pilar, 807 Main St., Napa (tel. 707/252-4474), where husband-and-wife chefs Pilar Sanchez and Didier Lenders serve exceptionally stellar and unadulterated seasonal cuisine. Prices are somewhat high to dine within the streamlined, compact, and muted putty green dining room accented with modern stainless silver touches (think $19 to $27 per entrée). But you won't be disappointed, especially if you order the sublime butter lettuce salad with Maytag blue cheese, roasted Fuji apples, and a light balsamic dressing and their Alaskan halibut perched on a pillow of fluffy, lavender-colored Peruvian mashed potatoes surrounded by wedges of orange and grapefruit sprinkled with basil.
Across town in rural Carneros is the bargain restaurant of the year -- The Boon Fly Café, 4048 Sonoma Highway, Napa (tel. 707/299-4900). I'm not a fan of the overpriced and creepy luxury trailer-park-like Carneros Inn in which it resides, but I have nothing but good things to say about its gourmet roadhouse. The slick and inviting interior is modern barn style complete with a corrugated metal water-shed-like pizza oven and light, airy, surroundings with dark wood tables and floors. The food similarly balances rustic and chic with fancy renditions of comfort classics like killer beer-battered onion rings, thin-crust pizza, great cobb salad, omelets, pancakes, and roasted half chicken with bacon, roasted potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and chicken stock and white wine reduction. With prices topping out in the mid teens, it's almost cheaper to eat here than dine at home. An added bonus: If you're passing by and in a hurry they offer tasty to-go items like donut holes and breakfast sandwiches.
In previous editions of Frommer's I've sent folks to Darioush's, 4240 Silverado Trail, Napa (tel. 707/257-2345), famed "double wide" for tastes of their yummy Bourdeaux-style estate wines. But now I'm thrilled to point visitors not to another French chateau or Tuscan villa but to Napa's coolest new winery and visitor center, which features grand Persian architecture, complete with 18-foot freestanding columns, travertine stone, and outdoor fountains. Owners Darioush and Shahpar Khaledi, who came from Persia to Southern California in the late 70s, made money in supermarkets, and set out to create their dream winery finally unveiled it this September. Check it out from 10:30am to 5pm daily.
Also new on the scene is the new facial cottage at Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs, 1507 Lincoln Ave, Calistoga (tel. 707/942-4102). With curtained windows, a private bath, centerpiece treatment bed, homemade facial products and excellent esthetician on hand, it's a far cry from the lame and too-light usual resort facial. This one really digs deep and refreshes all at once and in complete and comfy privacy.
Sonoma
Garden lovers should pull over for a $9 gander at the latest downtown Sonoma addition, the Cornerstone Festival of Gardens, 23570 Arnold Drive, Sonoma (tel. 707/933-3010; children under 12 are free). Modeled in part after the International Garden festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire in France's Loire Valley and the Grand Metis in Quebec, Canada, the nine-acre property is the first gallery-style garden exhibit in the United States and includes a series of 15 ever-changing gardens designed by famed landscape architects and designers. The gardens are truly spectacular. If you get inspired, you can load up on loot here that will help your own garden grow -- from furniture and gifts to plants, garden art, and books. The gardens are opened Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 5pm, Monday noon to 4pm.