Visiting San Francisco for the first time - need to know best NY Style Chinese, & pizza and must see places. (Walnut Creek: appointed, hotels)

[fallgirl]

Visiting San Francisco - What would be the places you would visit that are a must see. Also where is the best place to see the redwoods? Would like to know where the best NY style pizza and Chinese food are. Also best regular bakery and best Italian bakery. Also what areas that are not safe would you stay away from?
Thanks,
Fallgirl

[mr bolo]

Tony's Pizza Napoletana

Tony's Pizza Napoletana- Location

[mayorhaggar]

a) easiest place to "see redwoods" is either in a little section of Golden Gate Park (I can't remember the name) or in the gated garden on the side of the Transamerica Building (you can't get in unless you work there I guess). Or you could go to Muir Woods for a proper redwood forest, though it's pretty small. But tour buses should get you there.
b) SF is not NYC. But there are some good NYC style pizza places here and there. My favorite in SF is Arinell's in the Mission. Escape from New York has a lot of locations and is pretty reliably decent though it's not true NYC style. Marcello's on Castro is pretty good.
c) For Chinese, honestly most places in SF are not that great, too mushy and flavorless. Hunan Homes is reliably good and their weekday lunch specials are crazy cheap, like $6 for a big meal. House of Nanking is around the corner and is very good but gets real crowded. For cheap lunch fare, New Ming's on Mission is really great but is mainly for office workers eating lunch on weekdays.
d) There's lots of decent cafes in North Beach, could get pastries there. I dunno about bakeries though. There's a couple of old school Italian delis in the Mission like Lucca Ravioli but they have funny hours, but they should have some bakery stuff. There's an old school Italian bakery on Mission, Dianda's, check that one out. It's a bit out of the way but if you want Italian pastries and can't find what you want in North Beach but for some reason expect old school Italian pastries in San Francisco, you could go there.

Areas to stay away from, well, mainly the Tenderloin since it's near a lot of tourist sights and hotels, and mid-Market, like around 6th and Market. The Mission is pretty seedy on or east of Mission but it gets less seedy the further south you go from 18th Street.

[Chava61]

I always like to recommend the Cable Car Museum as it is small and neat to see the actually cables running while reading the history of SF world famous cable cars.

[gone down south]

Why would you come to SF and look for NY style food?

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by gone down south

Why would you come to SF and look for NY style food?

I agree! Forget about NY cuisine and try some of the local specialties. Have some dungeness crab, some sourdough bread and California wine. Try some clam chowder in a hallowed-out sourdough bread bowl . While at Fisherman's Wharf visit Welcome To Boudin Bakery for fresh baked sourdough.

In North Beach, visit Molinari Delicatessen for a sandwich. They make their own salame, coppa, prosciutto, etc. Molinari Delicatessen - North Beach/Telegraph Hill - San Francisco, CA

[fallgirl]

Originally Posted by gone down south

Why would you come to SF and look for NY style food?

It just to explain a "type" or style of the cooking. Of course I want to try all of the local flavors of San Francisco.

[04kL4nD]

Well why not try SAN FRANCISCAN style food?

I never understand why people go to a foreign location and look for an emulation of some place else's style.

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by fallgirl

It just to explain a "type" or style of the cooking. Of course I want to try all of the local flavors of San Francisco.

Hi fallgirl,

Being a native NY'er who was lucky enough to live in the Bay Area for 7 years (1999-2006), one thing I found sorely lacking was GREAT pizza. You'd be hard pressed to find GREAT NY style pizza in SF. In fact, get that and most Italian food out of your mind when it comes to NY style Italian food. That being said, you can find really good Chinese food in SF, and most other kinds of food (where SF lacks in overall pizza and Italian food greatness, you will never find a good Mexican restaurant in NY, in SF, that is not a problem).

I really enjoyed Chinese food in SF, especially these two:

R&G Lounge (631 Kearny Street)-Highest rated Chinese food in SF as far as Zagat's guide. I found the waiter's and staff kinda rude, but I went there for a buddy's going away party (he was moving back to Taiwan), and he loved R&G Lounge, he ordered everthing in Chinese, and the Salt and Pepper Crab and honey Walnut Shrimp were amazing.

Great Hunan (531 Jackson Street)- Crappy decor, the staff has ZERO personality, but I really loved the food. The Honey Walnut Shrimp is awesome, as well as there Sweet and Sour Chicken (totally different from the usual red sauce people are used to).

Most of my favorite Italian restaurants I found where I lived in Walnut Creek, I was highly disappointed with Italian Food in the North Beach area (SF's version of NY's Little Italy), especially compared to NY Italian food.

[415_s2k]

I'm from Boston and lived in NYC; IMHO, SF has better Chinese overall.

I take it you mean that you're looking for good, more Americanized/familiar-style Chinese? There's a good amount of that in SF. If you want to go to Chinatown, R&G Lounge is a good place. Service at pretty much any Chinese place is going to be very authentically Chinese ("what you want?" "uh-huh. uh-huh." "yeah." <--- if you're lucky). You can also try Empress Of China; decor is a bit old/lame, but food is pretty good and it's got a nice view. I like Snow Garden; low on the decor end, but good portions, food is tasty, it's cheap, and the owner is probably the most genial and attentive in Chinatown.