Visiting San Francisco for the first time - need to know best NY Style Chinese, & pizza and must see places. (live in, trees)

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by mini_cute

I second that. If you can make the trip, head to Wine Country for a day- Sonoma County is the best imo (Napa Valley is another, but I think Sonoma is better), and the town of Healdsburg there has an awesome little downtown. Beautiful! In fact, some early Italian immigrants back in the day from Tuscany said Sonoma County reminded them of Tuscany. There is some foliage there but it won't be like the East Coast. The leaves do change color but it has a different look- I guess you can call it West Coast foliage.

Well, here is a link to a video on Sonoma County to give you a better idea. I think right now it's harvest time there so they will be having some cool events at different wineries. Fine dining is excellent there too. Book reservations in advance and check with the wineries if you need to reserve for tours around their estates (some of them have some pretty magnificent grounds). Wine tasting itself is usually just walk in.

Sonoma County Video:

Weekend Window to Sonoma Wine Country - YouTube

Top Picks:

Madrona Manor restaurant (for fine dining, one michelin star)
Jordan Vineyard & Winery
J Winery
Bella Vineyard & Wine Caves

mini cute, you sure know your stuff, I've heard lots of good things about Madrona, and I've heard great things about Bella Vineyard. I also love Sonoma County, sitting in a restaurant in Sonoma Plaza (Town Square) eating and drinking wine, is one of my versions of heaven on earth (My other is sitting in Angelino's Italian Restaurant in Sausalito, eating italian food and drinking wine).

Top Things to Do in Sonoma Valley

I also love V Sattui in St Helena (I think it's Napa County), great picnic area to eat food and drink great wine.

Napa Tasting Room, Napa Valley Winery & Wine Shop

[sera]

As an old timer, is Lefty O'Douls still there on Geary; used to enjoy the great sandwiches
before going to a show at the Curren Theatre.

The Palace Hotel, fine dining for lunch and a feeling of Old San Francisco; what about
the De Young Museum, Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park ?

Understand the Ferry Building has good restaurants ?

[sera]

Muir Woods for redwoods ?

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by sera

As an old timer, is Lefty O'Douls still there on Geary; used to enjoy the great sandwiches
before going to a show at the Curren Theatre.

The Palace Hotel, fine dining for lunch and a feeling of Old San Francisco; what about
the De Young Museum, Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park ?

Understand the Ferry Building has good restaurants ?

At the Ferry Building, I love that burger joint Gott's Roadside. Originally in St Helena (Highway 29) near Napa. I go there everytime I visit San Francisco.

[mr bolo]

yes, Lefty O'Doul's is still in business on Geary since 1958

Welcome to the Lefty O'Doul's Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge in San Francisco, CA 94102 - Lefty O'Douls Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

You won't really see any fall foliage unless you head way east towards the Sierra- SF is Coastal California, not the East Coast.

Dude, you live in Oakland! I took the pic below in Rockridge a couple of Autumns ago. Compared to SF there is quite a lot of seasonal foliage and flowers growing in gardens in Oakland. Part of it is that Oakland houses actually have front yards, but I guess the climate is just different enough to promote deciduous trees and daffodils and lilacs and tulips and so on. You can see those things in Golden Gate Park in SF but I think it's pretty rare to see them on the street in random peoples' front yards or gardens in SF. I don't know what the foliage/flower deal is in other Bay Area cities though, I'd imagine it's similar to Oakland's in other East Bay cities.

In any event Oakland isn't going to have the same kind of wild foliage as somewhere like New England, but if you absolutely have to see some red leaves, take BART to Rockridge, get off, and walk down a street like Shafter or Manila or Hudson.

[04kL4nD]

Yes, there are trees that turn colors.

Is is like visiting Upstate NY? No

[rah]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Dude, you live in Oakland! I took the pic below in Rockridge a couple of Autumns ago. Compared to SF there is quite a lot of seasonal foliage and flowers growing in gardens in Oakland. Part of it is that Oakland houses actually have front yards, but I guess the climate is just different enough to promote deciduous trees and daffodils and lilacs and tulips and so on.

No, the climate difference between SF and Oakland is really not that big. Certainly not to the point that Oakland can support seasonal foliage but SF cannot (lol). There are deciduous trees that change color, and daffodils, and lilacs, and tulips, and so on in SF too. And there are plenty of front yards and street trees in SF as well (though not as many as Oakland). That said, neither city has fall foliage even close to the amount you'd see on the east coast, seeing as they are coastal cities in CA and have Mediterranean climates.

[04kL4nD]

Yeah.

I've had the whole NorCal/SoCal palm tree argument with people on this forum before, and it's kind of like this one. Are there deciduous trees in SF/Oakland? Yeah, but they aren't nearly as ubiquitous as on the east coast.

[mayorhaggar]

Look, someone asked about foliage (not the #1 thing I'd advise coming to the Bay Area to see) and I gave an answer. Again, Oakland is not rural Massachussetts, as I said. But there's a pretty big difference between SF and Oakland in terms of everyday plants. I lived in SF for 6 years and when I moved to Oakland it was really noticeable and I enjoyed seeing all the plants on the lawns of Rockridge as I walked to and from BART. SF is mostly ficus trees and some cherry trees. That's just from what I saw of living in the Bay Area for about 8 years. You guys don't need to get all huffy.