Thanks....But No Thanks (San Francisco, Oakland: eat, wealthy, vacation)

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Finper

He was giving his opinion and he knew it would offend all you libs that's not being a troll. Don't be so sensitive,... aren't you late for some protest???

If it's done in bad faith, it's a troll comment. If you come armed with a flame thrower with the intention of using it, don't be surprised if ya get singed.

[drive carephilly]

I moved here about 2.5 years ago. I've been in the east bay, in the same neighborhood, the entire time. In general, I love my neighborhood, it's a great place to live but I feel like that's in spite of the region, not because of it.

I moved here from overseas but I spent most of my life on the east coast. NYC, NJ, Philly, NC. The longer I live in the Bay Area the less I like it.

I'm not especially enamored of the weather (it never gets warm for more than a day or two). The scenery is nice but, I mean, if you're an adult who has ever left California you know that there is lots of great scenery in this big country of ours.

The food scene is good but I don't think it's better than any of its peer cities. It's a little different but not necessarily better . . . it's also really expensive to try to enjoy it on the reg. Again, if you're an adult who has ever been farther east than Salt Lake City you know that other big cities also have great restaurants. I feel like, more than any other place I've lived, its culinary chops rest on non-native cuisine. Scratch the surface and there's not much soul to it in a way that's very similar to the food scene in DC. Also, as with most other things here, the scene seems heavily geared towards people in their mid-20s to mid-30s, especially in the East Bay, and that can be really alienating/off-putting sometimes.

I have never lived anywhere that seems more full of it when it comes to its politics. Growing up on the east coast a lot of things that people (literally) wear on their sleeves here are more or less just part of the culture there and have been since I was a kid in the 80s. There's no real public debate about these things. Someone says, "oh, yeah, we should fix that" and then people argue about how best to do it. Vermont, Mass, and NJ were the first states to legalize same-sex marriage after civil-unions and same-sex benefits had already been the norm in those states for years. CA citizens voted against it in a referendum. Most states on the east coast had banned the death penalty at least a decade ago even though none of them had actually used it for decades anyway. People here not only voted to keep it but doubled down on it. Seriously? The homelessness, though. Go to Boston, with a homeless population of about 7,000 and 97.5% of them are in shelters and on some sort of path to stability. In NYC, where the homeless population is more than double that of the Bay Area, the shelter rate is 75%. Philly has a similar shelter rate. Here the shelter rate is an appalling 5%. Don't give me some BS about the weather. You either care about it or you don't. Broke-a** Baltimore does more about homelessness than this place and this is the richest metro area in the world. And people will drone on about gentrification and the high housing prices but then they'll do their best to make damned certain that the current 125,000 unit housing shortage continues to grow - because math doesn't agree with their ideology. But hey, weed is legal, so I guess everything is cool. Don't even get me started on the big money in the initiative & referendum racket. Talk about astro-turfing . . .

There's also this obsession with weirdness here that I think really sums things up for a lot of outsiders. In a place like NYC there's a tolerance of and sometimes even a celebration of eccentricity for the talent it sometimes precedes. Here there seems to be a celebration of weirdness for its own sake - regardless of talent. The best way I can put it is, a dude is on a street corner in NYC. He's juggling pet rats. The NY'er walks up, takes a look, and says "this guy is a terrible juggler" and moves on because there's nothing to see there. Here, the same terrible rat juggler is on the corner and "oh, it's so cool, this guy is juggling rats", and people bring out chairs, start a drum circle, and dance around the rat juggler. Then all of the sudden, this no-talent rat juggler is locally famous, but he can never go south of Millbrae, north of Portland, or east of Burning Man because the rest of the world "can't appreciate his art."

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

The homelessness, though. Go to Boston, with a homeless population of about 7,000 and 97.5% of them are in shelters and on some sort of path to stability. "

The extremely high levels of untreated mental illness,alcoholism and drug addiction in the homeless population makes the idea that 97.5% are on the path to stability laughable

California cuisine is world renowned with Alice waters' chez panisse ( Berkeley) ,French laundry (napa)and Daniel Patterson(SAN Francisco,Oakland) obtaining iconic status.

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

The extremely high levels of untreated mental illness,alcoholism and drug addiction in the homeless population makes the idea that 97.5% are on the path to stability laughable

Well then you don't understand what path or stability means. Seriously though, stop making excuses and stop pretending that this place is so enlightened or progressive. The 3rd world shanty towns underneath every overpass suggest otherwise.

California cuisine is world renowned with Alice waters' chez panisse ( Berkeley) ,French laundry (napa)and Daniel Patterson(SAN Francisco,Oakland) obtaining iconic status.

. . . and this is a great example of what I'm talking about. Have you every left the Bay Area? Has it been to visit another city? Do you think that New York or DC or even tiny friggin' Charleston doesn't have iconic restaurants? Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia was the best French restaurant in the US for 40 years. Give me a break with this stuff. It's a metro area of 8.1 million. If it didn't have some good restaurants something would be seriously wrong.

And here's the important distinction. Saying that other places are also good isn't saying that they're better. But all the superlative talk here let's people slip into this type of comfort where they think they don't need to try to keep improving.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

Well then you don't understand what path or stability means. Seriously though, stop making excuses and stop pretending that this place is so enlightened or progressive. The 3rd world shanty towns underneath every overpass suggest otherwise.




. . . and this is a great example of what I'm talking about. Have you every left the Bay Area? Has it been to visit another city? Do you think that New York or DC or even tiny friggin' Charleston doesn't have iconic restaurants? Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia was the best French restaurant in the US for 40 years. Give me a break with this stuff. It's a metro area of 8.1 million. If it didn't have some good restaurants something would be seriously wrong.

And here's the important distinction. Saying that other places are also good isn't saying that they're better. But all the superlative talk here let's people slip into this type of comfort where they think they don't need to try to keep improving.

Who cares if it's not better? Why should it be better? Par with the other top places you list is plenty good enough. That's all we need. Have you tried dining in Seattle? I rest my case.

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

Well then you don't understand what path or stability means. Seriously though, stop making excuses and stop pretending that this place is so enlightened or progressive. The 3rd world shanty towns underneath every overpass suggest otherwise.




. . . and this is a great example of what I'm talking about. Have you every left the Bay Area? Has it been to visit another city? Do you think that New York or DC or even tiny friggin' Charleston doesn't have iconic restaurants? Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia was the best French restaurant in the US for 40 years. Give me a break with this stuff. It's a metro area of 8.1 million. If it didn't have some good restaurants something would be seriously wrong.

And here's the important distinction. Saying that other places are also good isn't saying that they're better. But all the superlative talk here let's people slip into this type of comfort where they think they don't need to try to keep improving.

I spent a few years helping these folks.
Tell me what is a path or stability for a homeless schizophrenic meth addict not on their medication with violent impulse control issues and a criminal record.
This is what's out there. I saw it everyday. Why do you think that homeless person you pass on the corner is having a conversation with him or herself ?

I'm a traditionalist and go by the Michelin rankings. These are the 3 star Michelin restaurants in the USA.

New York and the Bay Area have the most Atlanta ,Philadelphia and charleston have none.

Location Restaurant Head chef Year of award
Chicago Alinea Grant Achatz 2011[66]
Chicago Grace Curtis Duffy 2015[67]
New York City Jean Georges Mark LaPico 2006[68]
New York City Le Bernardin Eric Ripert 2006[68]
New York City Per Se Thomas Keller 2006[68]
New York City Masa Masa Takayama 2009[69]
New York City Eleven Madison Park Daniel Humm 2012[70]
New York City Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare César Ramírez 2012[70]
Yountville, California The French Laundry Thomas Keller 2007[71]
St. Helena, California The Restaurant at Meadowood Christopher Kostow 2011[72]
San Francisco Benu Corey Lee 2015[73][74]
San Francisco Saison Joshua Skenes 2015[73][75]
Los Gatos, California Manresa David Kinch 2016[76]
San Francisco Quince Michael Tusk 2017[77]

Fine dining is Paris,Japan,New York ,Bay Area at least for people whose job is knowing about these type of things

[sav858]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

I'm a traditionalist and go by the Michelin rankings. These are the 3 star Michelin restaurants in the USA.

New York and the Bay Area have the most Atlanta ,Philadelphia and charleston have none.
s

That's simply because Michelin doesn't rate restaurants in those cities and have guides for them. It's rather limited and certainly isn't the end all, be all for restaurant ratings.

[Finper]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

I spent a few years helping these folks.
Tell me what is a path or stability for a homeless schizophrenic meth addict not on their medication with violent impulse control issues and a criminal record.
This is what's out there. I saw it everyday. Why do you think that homeless person you pass on the corner is having a conversation with him or herself ?

I'm a traditionalist and go by the Michelin rankings. These are the 3 star Michelin restaurants in the USA.

New York and the Bay Area have the most Atlanta ,Philadelphia and charleston have none.

Location Restaurant Head chef Year of award
Chicago Alinea Grant Achatz 2011[66]
Chicago Grace Curtis Duffy 2015[67]
New York City Jean Georges Mark LaPico 2006[68]
New York City Le Bernardin Eric Ripert 2006[68]
New York City Per Se Thomas Keller 2006[68]
New York City Masa Masa Takayama 2009[69]
New York City Eleven Madison Park Daniel Humm 2012[70]
New York City Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare César Ramírez 2012[70]
Yountville, California The French Laundry Thomas Keller 2007[71]
St. Helena, California The Restaurant at Meadowood Christopher Kostow 2011[72]
San Francisco Benu Corey Lee 2015[73][74]
San Francisco Saison Joshua Skenes 2015[73][75]
Los Gatos, California Manresa David Kinch 2016[76]
San Francisco Quince Michael Tusk 2017[77]

Fine dining is Paris,Japan,New York ,Bay Area at least for people whose job is knowing about these type of things

geez can you be any more SF snobby elitist??? I don't think so....

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by Finper

geez can you be any more SF snobby elitist??? I don't think so....

I have to make a ridiculous amount of money to have my lifestyle in the Bay Area.it is the same in Paris,NYC,London,Boston, Hong Kong etc.All great areas that suck if you don't make what I consider a significant income.

Don't hate the player. Hate the game,son.

[Finper]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

I have to make a ridiculous amount of money to have my lifestyle in the Bay Area.it is the same in Paris,NYC,London,Boston, Hong Kong etc.All great areas that suck if you don't make what I consider a significant income.

Don't hate the player. Hate the game,son.

and still the snobbery continues... Greg op I bet you can't get out of N Ca fast enough. And I'm a daughter not a son