San Francisco Restaurant

My wife and I will be spending a week in San Francisco next month, and
would like to splurge on one fine meal.

Is there any consensus on what the best restaurant in town is? If so,
which is it? Or if there are several contenders for that "best" title,
which are they?

--
Ken Blake
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On 2007-06-23 11:03:07 -0400, Ken Blake
said:

My wife and I will be spending a week in San Francisco next month, and
would like to splurge on one fine meal.

Is there any consensus on what the best restaurant in town is? If so,
which is it? Or if there are several contenders for that "best" title,
which are they?

Well, of course I don't live there. But I would be very surprised if
there were general agreement on a "best" restaurant in a city or met
area the size of San Francisco. It might depend on your tastes, too:
Chinese? Italian? French? Australo-New Guinean? Tongan? Serb?

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 12:40:06 -0400, sechumlib
wrote:

On 2007-06-23 11:03:07 -0400, Ken Blake
said:

My wife and I will be spending a week in San Francisco next month, and
would like to splurge on one fine meal.

Is there any consensus on what the best restaurant in town is? If so,
which is it? Or if there are several contenders for that "best" title,
which are they?

Well, of course I don't live there. But I would be very surprised if
there were general agreement on a "best" restaurant in a city or met
area the size of San Francisco.



Certainly, I don't expect everyone to agree. Nevertheless, there is
often fairly general agreement among the newspaper and magazine
reviewers in a city of, if not *the* best, at least the handful of
contenders for that title.

As a single example, I remember a time not too many years ago, when
there was a pretty wide consensus that Lutece was the best restaurant
in New York City.

And considering a broader area than San Francisco, there's a fairly
large consensus that the French Laundry is the best restaurant in the
whole country.


It might depend on your tastes, too:
Chinese? Italian? French? Australo-New Guinean? Tongan? Serb?



Certainly tastes vary. I wasn't particularly looking for anyone's
personal opinion here, but rather trying to find out of there was
fairly broad consensus, especially among the reviewers in the city.
And as I said, it doesn't have to be a single restaurant--the top half
dozen or so to choose from would be fine.

--
Ken Blake
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On Jun 23, 8:03 am, Ken Blake
wrote:
My wife and I will be spending a week in San Francisco next month, and
would like to splurge on one fine meal.

Is there any consensus on what the best restaurant in town is? If so,
which is it? Or if there are several contenders for that "best" title,
which are they?

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup


well, as you said, French Laundry. It's in the greater Bay Area.
There are several inside the city that's vying for the "best" title.
I would go to chowhound.com and ask this question at the Bay Area
group.

On 2007-06-23 13:09:21 -0400, Ken Blake
said:

Certainly tastes vary. I wasn't particularly looking for anyone's
personal opinion here, but rather trying to find out of there was
fairly broad consensus, especially among the reviewers in the city.
And as I said, it doesn't have to be a single restaurant--the top half
dozen or so to choose from would be fine.

OK, so you just want to be able to say you ate at the "best restaurant"
in SF. Type of food, quality of food, other factors that I consider
important and substantive are of no interest to you; it's just prestige.

"sechumlib" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-23 13:09:21 -0400, Ken Blake
said:

Certainly tastes vary. I wasn't particularly looking for
anyone's
personal opinion here, but rather trying to find out of there
was
fairly broad consensus, especially among the reviewers in the
city.
And as I said, it doesn't have to be a single restaurant--the
top half
dozen or so to choose from would be fine.

OK, so you just want to be able to say you ate at the "best
restaurant" in SF. Type of food, quality of food, other
factors that I consider important and substantive are of no
interest to you; it's just prestige.


So what! I think it's a harmless ambition :-) I suppose you
could look for the highest rated restaurants in Zagat or
Michelin; not that I personally completely agree but they would
be good.

It may be sour grapes, given that I don't think I could have
the patience to try to make a reservation at the French Laundry,
but I don't think the food would be all that healthy and the
bill would have my Scottish forebears spinning in their graves.
That's also true, even if it's easier to get reservations, at
the other reputed contender for the US best restaurant: the one
that calls itself "The Inn at Little Washington".



--
Jim Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:31:35 -0400, sechumlib
wrote:

On 2007-06-23 13:09:21 -0400, Ken Blake
said:

Certainly tastes vary. I wasn't particularly looking for anyone's
personal opinion here, but rather trying to find out of there was
fairly broad consensus, especially among the reviewers in the city.
And as I said, it doesn't have to be a single restaurant--the top half
dozen or so to choose from would be fine.

OK, so you just want to be able to say you ate at the "best restaurant"
in SF. Type of food, quality of food, other factors that I consider
important and substantive are of no interest to you; it's just prestige.


People like you amaze me. You know nothing about me, what I want to
do, or why I want to do it. Yet you feel justified in making
wild-assed accusations that are based on nothing but your own mistaken
guesses.

If you don't know the answer or aren't interested in helping, that's
fine.

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:17:21 -0000, PeterL wrote:

On Jun 23, 8:03 am, Ken Blake
wrote:
My wife and I will be spending a week in San Francisco next month, and
would like to splurge on one fine meal.

Is there any consensus on what the best restaurant in town is? If so,
which is it? Or if there are several contenders for that "best" title,
which are they?

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup


well, as you said, French Laundry. It's in the greater Bay Area.


Yes, I know. But it's outside of town, and I won't have a car to get
there. Moreover I understand that it's *extremely* difficult to get a
reservation. I was looking for a good choice in town.


There are several inside the city that's vying for the "best" title.
I would go to chowhound.com and ask this question at the Bay Area
group.



Thanks, I wasn't familiar with chowhound.com, but I'll do as you
suggest.

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 08:03:07 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:


My wife and I will be spending a week in San Francisco next month, and
would like to splurge on one fine meal.

Is there any consensus on what the best restaurant in town is? If so,
which is it? Or if there are several contenders for that "best" title,
which are they?

I'm going to be visit the planet earth pretty soon and was wondering if
anybody could tell me what the very best spot on the planet was. Nothing
in particular, just 'best'.

And I don't want it to be hotter than the south pole; I'm particular that way.

On 6/23/2007 8:03 AM Ken Blake jumped down, turned around, and wrote:

Is there any consensus on what the best restaurant in town is?

No. C'mon, get real. Restaurants and taste in food are highly
subjective. You might get lists, but even then people will quibble
endlessly. Part o' the fun, no?

If so,
which is it? Or if there are several contenders for that "best" title,
which are they?

One contender: Gary Danko. But if you're looking for a list of
several, you don't need a bunch of argumentative Usenet types to
compose a list; just go to
http://www.bestofsanfrancisco.net/restaurants.htm (yep, Danko's there)
for a typical listing.

Personally, although I liked Gary Danko (the missus took me there for
my big five-oh, after I'd taken her to the Inn at Little Washington
for hers), I also like the places along Belden Place, just 'cause.
http://www.bestofsanfrancisco.net/restaurants.htm
We liked Plouf (shellfish) and B44 (Spanish), especially when the
weather is good for al-fresco dining. Plouf also may appear on some
best-of lists, but is hardly a pull-out-the-stops high-end kinda place.
--
dgs