dhuey

The variety and high quality of the restaurants here rank very high among the reasons I love living here. I not sure even NYC is as good as here on that -- at least for those of us who favor East/South Asian and Mexican/Caribbean.

mjm

NY wins on deli, bakery, and pizza by a massive margin but for everything else I favor the Bay Area for sure.

dhuey

True. Plenty of good Italian/pizza restaurants here, but only typical for a big metro area.

PWMTrav

I generally agree that Italian in the Bay Area is just okay, but in its defense, it's a matter of expectations and taste. I say this as (to reveal my biases) someone who is from the northeast, first-generation of Italian parents, and I defend the hell out of Italian-American food as great in its own right while I also prefer some specific regional Italian to it. California-Italian is different. Italian as a broad category of food has commonalities around local (usually seasonal) ingredients, and simpler traditional techniques that really aren't all that far apart. In CA, pretty much anything you want can be a local ingredient, which CA-Italian takes full advantage of - but you also get more French and American technique. The Bay Area is also pretty removed from any significant Italian immigration, so a lot of it isn't made by Italians. I suppose that some people think <ethnic food> not made by <people of that ethnicity> is bad, I personally think it's led to California-Italian as distinct from its Northeast counterpart, sticking to the principles of locality (where CA is unbeatable, everything from meat and produce, to seafood, and imho the best wines in the world), while drifting a bit on technique and simplicity. I really do think it's great.

Don't get me wrong, some of it isn't amazing, and in SF there's plenty of high end places that are doing it just okay (e.g. if you're deciding between Octavia and Flour+Water and have pasta in mind, I'd pick F+W 10 out of 10 times). There are also some great regional Italian places, although some closed during the pandemic. But I gotta end my rambling here

On pizza, I think SF is great if you're into Neapolitan style. There are also at least one Roman-style and NY-style worth visiting as well, but those categories are lacking otherwise. Can't speak to the broader bay area as I never left SF for pizza.

dhuey

Zachary's (Chicago-style) over here in the East Bay is some of the best pizza I've ever had, but of course such things are matters of personal preferences.

Eastbay1K

Well, I spent several hours today in SF. Lovely. Anywhere I was (W Hotel, up to Union Sq., Yerba Buena Gardens, even over to 6th @ Market) things were in decent shape. Not too much urban blight present, at least not today, the weather was magnificent, the tourists are out, waiting in a block-long line for the cable car, stores had foot traffic, all in all, it was great to see. The only tragedy is that when I made the trek to 6th and Market, I learned that Tu Lan is no longer open on Saturday. I have been looking forward to the lunch I did not get to have for a few days, nor the dinner I was expecting (from additional take out of a lemon/beef salad I was going to order). And then that old Bee Gees song, Tragedy, started playing in my head. Make it go away. Please.

I stopped for a tri tip sandwich at Buckhorn. Not bad. I took AC Transit home - the NL to the 72R. Better than BART. Well, except that one must change buses in the heart of Anarchyville, near 20th and Broadway. I had to cross the street and wait about 5 minutes. Somehow, although first I was afraid, I was petrified, I lived.

DELee

Well there's at least no need to fear AH or PW's Porsche driver to run you over.

David

travelinmanS

It’s delicious but it’s also like dropping a 10 pound kettle ball directly into your stomach! I like Pizzaiolo on Telegraph near 51st for some delicious pizza in Oakland and as much as I’m ashamed to admit it, I always order at least one King Arthur Supreme from Round Table every time I’m back.

PWMTrav

I'll have to give that a go next time I'm down. See if it's better than Windy City Pie up here in Seattle. With any luck, they're both good.

dhuey

I've set a once-per-month Zachary's maximum. It is indeed quite the calorie bomb. And it's so good that I often eat past the point when I'm no longer hungry.

Eastbay1K

Little Star (and The Star) for deep dish over Zachary's any day. And I am unanimous in that! But this is like a Coke v Pepsi thing.

KathyWdrf

And Little Star has given rise to a local chain called Blue Line Pizza. Most of the nine branches are on the Peninsula, from Daly City to Campbell and Los Gatos (also in Levi's Stadium & SAP Center), but one is in Danville. I've enjoyed the pizza at the Daly City location, though I haven't eaten there since before the pandemic.

Eastbay1K

What happened is The Little Star partners split, and as part of the arrangement, anything already called Little Star could keep its name, and one side calls any new restaurants The Star and the other side calls any new restaurants Blue Line.

squeakr

We went a couple of times just before the pandemic and thought it was quite good. I didn't know about the Little star connection.

squeakr

There's a lot of drift but I'm really enjoying the conversations here - old timers and new timers and visitors. If any visitors need specific information about restaurants, hotels or anything else please feel free to start a new thread.

squeakr

Mod SFO