I’m often asked for restaurant recommendations in San Francisco. I’m compiling that list here to make it easier to share with friends. I’ll update it as a I remember more or things change.

Restaurant recommendations

• Chow (try the smiling noodles)
• Chez Maman (french)
• Squat and Gobble (great omelettes — recommend Haight/Fillmore location)
• Herbivore (vegetarian)
• Stable Cafe
• Ramblas (tapas) closed
• Poquito (tapas)
• Poleng Lounge (filipino) closed

Mexican

• El Farrolito (quesadilla)
• El Metate (veggie burrito)

Asian

• Osha (thai, 5 locations)
• Big Lantern (chinese including to-order Dim Sum)
• R&G Lounge (chinese, authentic cantonese)
• Citrus Club (cheap asian noodles, huge portions)
• Zao closed
• E&O Lounge (homemade spiced ginger beer; pickled mango)

Burmese

• Burma Superstar (long wait)
• Burmese Kitchen (cheap and really tasty)

Pizza

• Pauline’s (thin crust, fancy/sit-down/with wine)
• Little Star (deep dish)
• Mythic Pizza (takeout)

Bars

• Monk’s Kettle (huge beer selection, great food)
• Homestead
• Shotwell’s
• City Beer (most a beer store, with some seating)

Italian

• Pasta Pomodoro (small chain but tasty)
• Poesia
• Incanto (fancy)

Ice cream

• Humphry Slocombe (hipster ice cream, interesting flavours)
• Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous (house made treats)
• Mitchell’s (old-school)
• Bi-Rite (by duboce park, silly long lines, too many hipsters, not worth it)

Last month, NOI published a tip of the day called “Give a compliment sandwich.”

Gross.

I think that’s bad advice, and wrote the following reply (which has since been removed from their site, along with the other comments).

I hate compliment sandwiches. They give me indigestion. As soon as I receive an email (or a phone call) that begins with an unsolicited, unrelated compliment, it immediately sets my bullshit detector to high. I know I’m about to get his with a compliment sandwich.

if you need to tell me something, have enough respect for me that you won’t waste my time by forcing me to read a bunch of nonsense designed to make you feel better about yourself.

Mark Suster wrote a great piece called “Why I’d Rather Err on the Side of Direct Feedback Than Pleasantries.”

Read his other posts:

1. Don’t be a Grin Fucker.
2. Don’t Sweep Feedback Under the Rug.

Lastly, read Kelly Williams Brown’s “Say what is on your mind without eight layers of filter.”

Never, “for the sake of peace and quiet,” deny your own experience or convictions
—Dag Hammarskjold