SAN FRANCISCO -- If one had the ability to encapsulate the magic and charm of a dozen or more cities from around the world into one city, that city would just have to be San Francisco.

This city is truly an American national treasure as it epitomizes the heart and soul of so many great and interesting cities of the world.

London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, New Orleans, Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam -- much of their allure and charm comes alive in San Francisco.

San Francisco is a unique city unto itself, with its spectacular Golden Gate Bridge and seaside mountain setting, but it is also an international cosmopolitan city encompassing many aspects of cities around the world.

Built on a history of welcoming immigrants, San Francisco has its Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, Koreatown, Japantown, Germantown, Alcatraz Island, cable cars, etc., all combining with a temperate climate and unique streets to make the city such a magical place that more than 150 movies and many TV shows have been shot here.

One must never go through life without spending at least a few days in this city of cities.

I have had the good fortune of visiting San Francisco several times over the years and it ranks No. 1 on my list of favorite cities throughout the world.

Because of its huge international popularity San Francisco has attracted millions to its core over the years and living here can be an expensive proposition.

But one can visit for a few days and see all the major sites without breaking the bank.

My wife, Emilia, and I had the pleasure of spending about a week in the Golden Gate City in August 2009 and we had an enjoyable time and spent only a few hundred dollars in the process.

We began our visit by spending three nights in the city’s most notorious district, The Tenderloin.

The Tenderloin section is sort of a cross between New York’s Harlem and Los Angeles’ Barrio ghetto, a diverse community rife with crime and violence just a few blocks off the city’s bustling downtown Market Street area. Here you can witness the drama of the city’s lower class denizens dealing in everything from drugs to prostitution to oddball street characters to street fighting. The area earned its Tenderloin nickname because it was such a tough neighborhood that police officers received extra pay for working in the area -- a little tenderloin in their paychecks.

Some 30,000 people live in its approximate 20-square block area, many of them in preserved hotels which still retain a lot of charm.

We stayed in one such hotel, The Renoir at 45 McAllister St. This turn of the century 10-story brick boutique hotel sits amid a sea of seediness but is seemingly immune to its surroundings. The hotel offers a safe oasis from its environment and provides good lodging at decent rates. And, our windows provided us a view to a nightly assortment of street action.

The 135 comfortable guest rooms (standard, deluxe, and view rooms, and suites) offer color television with complimentary cable service, AM/FM clock radio, direct dial telephone, ironing boards, in-room safe and private bath-shower combination with hair dryers. Wireless high speed internet access (fee). Non-smoking rooms only. Rates run from about $120 to $180 per day. We had zero problems there and never felt imperiled coming and going.

Tenderloin hotels charge anywhere from $20-$30 a day to park your vehicle, but if you walk a block or two you can find fenced parking areas and/or garages that will let you park for $8 to $15 a day.

And, it’s a lot of fun using the city’s public transportation system -- subway, cablecars, streetcars, buses, cabs -- to get around. It’s a lot cheaper and safer (you avoid driving in the crazy downtown traffic) and the systems operate 24-hours a day.

You may contact The Renoir Hotel at e-mail: www.renoir hotel.com

We later sampled a couple of other housing areas in the San Francisco area, spending time at the Inn Above Tide in Sausalito and the Queen Anne Hotel, 1590 Sutter St., in the downtown area.

The Inn Above Tide….what can you say about this place that can accurately portray its beauty and location?

Truly one of the world‘s best hotel locations, this hotel sits right on the bay a mile or two past the east end of Golden Gate Bridge in the quaint village town of Sausalito. As the renown Frommer’s Guide said, "Every room affords an unparalleled panorama of San Francisco Bay, including a postcard-quality vista of the city glimmering in the distance."

At The Inn Above Tide, all 29 rooms and suites face San Francisco Bay and as the name implies, are directly over the water with sweeping views of the San Francisco city skyline, Alcatraz, Angel Island and Marin. From your teak furnished private deck, you can watch the ever-changing enthralling play of light and sea life against an unforgettable backdrop.

Every guestroom at The Inn Above Tide is a welcoming sanctuary of comfort. Throughout this intimate hotel, guests note special touches and discreet attention to detail that is the hallmark of gracious hospitality.

This is the only hotel I have ever stayed in that provides complimentary binoculars in each guest room. And with such spectacular views, the bincs come in handy, especially when viewing the San Francisco skyline at night.

The hotel provides many other complimentary amenities, including propertywide high speed wireless internet access, expanded continental breakfast, evening wine and cheese reception, fireplaces and private decks overlooking panoramic Bay views (most rooms), oversized deep soaking tubs, flat screen TV’s with premium selection, DVD players and generous in-house library of films, stereos with CD/iPod docks, direct 2-line phones with data port and private voicemail, morning newspaper delivery, evening turndown service, overnight shoeshine, concierge service, 24-hour coffee and tea service, McRoskey Airflex hand-crafted mattresses, plush robes and slippers, luxurious imported linens, Bvlgari toiletries, bottled water, current magazines, in-room 24-hour fax and copy service, entirely non-smoking property.

Intimately connected to the village of Sausalito, yet magically separate due to its bay front setting, The Inn Above Tide is a minute’s stroll to Sausalito's galleries, restaurants and shops as well as the ferry to San Francisco's many attractions.

All this does not come cheap, rooms running from about $305 to about $1,000 per day. But even so, these rates are comparable to several other ritzier downtown San Francisco hotels and, because of the Inn Above Tide’s unique location and superior services, is not overpriced at all.

You may contact The Inn Above Tide at 30 El Portal, Sausalito, CA 94965, phone 800-893-8433, 415-332-9535, fax 415-332-6714, or online www.innabovetide.com


The Queen Anne Hotel is in a charming residential neighborhood, away from the bustling business district but still close to all the action. You can wrap yourself in the splendid comforts of a finely detailed Victorian bed and breakfast hotel and spacious guest rooms and suites, and delight in several inviting amenities. The hotel offers impressive event space for weddings, celebrations, meetings, conferences and corporate retreats.

Nestled amongst the grand Pacific Heights Victorians, the Queen Anne’s central location is perfect for visiting sights around town and offers one of the city’s most prestigious addresses. Downtown San Francisco is at your beck and call, convenient for visits to Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz Island Ferry Boats, The Ferry Building, Ghirardelli Square, and the vibrant North Beach district, which are all less than two miles from the hotel.
The hotel has been restored with authentic antiques and art and features modern amenities. Guests enjoy complimentary daily breakfast in a lovely Salon and take complimentary afternoon tea and sherry in the Parlor. Free high-speed wireless service is available and some rooms come with mini-refrigerators, marble wet bars and fireplaces.

Each of the unique guest rooms is individually furnished with heirloom Victorian antiques and is flooded with light and air from floor-to-ceiling windows, plus features luxurious bathrooms with toiletries, hair dryers, iron and ironing board, large screen TV, and telephones with voicemail.

Queen Anne suites offer top-of-the-line amenities including a sleeper sofa, TV and VCR, mini-refrigerator, and in-room coffee maker. San Francisco suite lodging at the Queen Anne Hotel includes a choice of Junior Suites, One Bedroom Suites, Two Bedroom Suites or the unique and romantic Honeymoon Garden Suite. The Honeymoon Suite offers a truly singular experience with two fireplaces and a sitting area ensconced in a lush atmosphere of trees, plants, and decorative birds. The Queen Anne offers four levels of suites: Victorian (most economical), Deluxe, Superior and Suites. Rates range from about $110 to $350 per day, with numerous package options available.

Again, public transportation runs by the front of the hotel numerous times daily.

You may contact the Queen Anne at 1590 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA., 94109, internet www.queeneanne.com, email: [email protected] phone reservations at 800-227-3970, general info at 415-441-2828 or fax at 415-775-5212.

Dining in San Francisco offers seemingly infinite choices.

With more than a thousand restaurants in the downtown area alone, one is never far from a quality eatery.

Emilia and I did not seek out four or five star restaurants, but we found several that offer great food, good atmosphere and reasonable prices.

We opted for uniqueness and originality to start with, dining at the EspetuS Restaurant, 1686 Market St.

EspetuS is San Francisco’s very first Rodizio Style restaurant. Waiters dressed as Gauchos move about the room offering customers to select from a variety of beef, chicken, lamb, etc., skewers. Customers get their meat sliced off directly from the skewers, as much as they want.

Patrons augment the varieties of meat with an all-you-can-eat salad and vegetable bar. Each table is given a little round two-color wheel device in which diners can indicate they are ready for more meat by turning the wheel to a green color. Until they signal for more meat service customers keep the color device on red.

The concept is simple, serve the meat straight from the fire on which it was cooked so that the flavor, temperature, and texture is perfect.

In the Brazilian language, EspetuS means skewer. In a traditional churrascaria (shoo-ras-ka-ria), meat is cooked on skewers over an open fire, and brought straight to the table where it is carved directly on to your plate. For one set price, diners experience one or all of numerous cuts of meat, continuously served until they are finished eating.

EspetuS is a meat-lovers paradise and is conveniently located near the west end of the city’s busiest and most varied shopping streets, Market St.

And, with a passing parade of people on Market Street there is no telling what strange and/or interesting thing you might see out your windows. For example, while dining there my wife and I saw a huge bicycle event take place, with thousands of bikers pedaling by, apparently in some kind of charity event. We were shocked to see a topless female biker chugging along, but then came a bottomless man on a bike and moments later a fully nude man biking along. None seemed to earn even a second glass as the police-escorted bike event moved along. Only in San Francisco!

We ventured next to The Urban Tavern at 333 O'Farrell St., and found it to be directly connected to the Union Square Hilton Hotel.

The restaurant can be accessed directly from the hotel lobby, the attached parking garage or from O’Farrell Street. One nice thing about this arrangement was that the restaurant customers get free parking at the Hilton parking garage, with an elevator straight to the restaurant.

The restaurant is a former sports bar that has been revamped into a chic restaurant and bar that provides great dating atmosphere -- and fine food.

Chefs Patrick Kehler, Laurent Manrique and restaurateurs Chris Condy and Donna Scala have jointed their ideas to create a very sleek and entertaining eatery.

The restaurant’s menu focuses on Mediterranean fare typically served in small inns and cafes in Southern France. Appetizers include cazuela (clams and chorizo with fingerling potatoes and piquillo peppers) and duck prosciutto salad with melon, endive and pink peppercorn vinaigrette. Hearty casseroles like chicken bouillabaisse style and beef daube are served in rustic cast-iron cookware. Grilled meats and fish are served with a choice of sauce or vinaigrette.

Sommelier Adam Betts devised a wine list highlighting Old World grapes.
The restaurant menu offers several exciting and interesting items.

Also on the appetizers list, for example, is French onion soup with cave-aged Gruyere crouton, butter lettuce salad with shaved radish sourdough croutons, Little Neck clams, BBQ shrimp and watermelon salad.

Entrees also include such things as Anchor Steam Battered Cod, Chickpea Fries, Spicy Aioli, Roasted Petaluma Chicken with warm fingerling potato salad, artichokes, roasted lemon vinaigrette.

I tried the braised beef short ribs with red wine, potato puree, peas and carrots with fresh horseradish. It was beautifully prepared and delicious -- with the potato puree a unique and tasty addition.

Prices are quite moderate, considering the fantastic atmosphere. Appetizers range from about $9-13, entrees from $14-26 and desserts $9. There is a full bar.

The restaurant’s décor is eye-catching, including a colorful, full-size horse sculpture made from recycled tractor, motorcycle and car parts.

We ventured out to try the Home on Market Restaurant, 2100 Market at Church Street in the Castro District, and were delighted to find not only great food, but generous portions at quite moderate prices.

This restaurant features classic comfort food, but prepared in a way that not only pleases the palate but the eye as well.

Home chefs, led by Jim Wimborough, seamlessly blend gourmet intricacies with a comfort menu, amazing value and the casualness for which Home Restaurant is well-known.

Some of the Home Restaurant’s more highly-lauded dishes include several pastry creations, grilled mahi with sweet corn and mava beans, sweet pea ravioli with mint, cornflake fried chicken breast and macaroni-and-cheese labeled by some as the "Best in the West," melt-in-your-mouth pot roast and Home's killer banana bread pudding and strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.

The casual, chic décor matches the restaurant's comfort food theme: An outdoor, covered patio warmed by a roaring fireplace is an interesting dining option.

Diners at the Home Restaurant can get themselves an outstanding dinner and still get change back from a 20-dollar bill.

We next tried a little French place, 4 Mint Plaza, across from the Union Square/Westfield Shopping Center.
Chez Papa Restaurant, with its colorful red chair seats, offers customers a real feel of South of France dining.

The atmosphere is warm, friendly, and boisterous, much like the temperament of the people of Provence. The food is simple, unpretentious, and most importantly authentic.

The wine is an integral part of the meal and the conviviality of sharing life.
The team at Chez Papa is almost entirely French and specifically from southern France and makes no pretension of being a fancy-schmantzy fine dining restaurant.

The restaurant has won several city honors as being among the best in San Francisco and reviews include these excerpts:

"...Chez Papa is the quintessentially San Francisco take on the French bistro...dishes are innovative interpretations of bistro classics...you'll be saying oui, oui, oui all the way home." San Francisco Magazine.

"You know you're in the right place when you look up from your plate to Alice Waters, the mother of California cuisine, at the next table." The Washington Post.

"Chez Papa has sucked the buzz from every other bustling restaurant in San Francisco since it opened..." Wine & Spirits Magazine.

San Francisco Chronicle: "[Chez Papa] is chic, it's francais, and the food? Fantastique. The joint's been jumping since the day it opened...the Provencal menu may be the best of the French revolution that's taken place in San Francisco dining over the past year."

And prices are far from being outrageous, entrees running mostly under $40.

We could not leave San Francisco without trying at least one seafood restaurant, so we ventured down to the Fisherman’s Wharf docks area and landed at the Franciscan Restaurant.

And what a delight it was.

Located right at Pier 43 1/2, the center of the wharf action, The Franciscan not only has great food, but the panoramic view is one of the best in San Francisco. The restaurant is right on the water, with views of San Francisco Bay that include Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate Bridge and much more. And, you are right next to the docks area where hundreds of lovable sea otters cavort daily.

When you get a Franciscan menu you are also getting a cook book. The restaurant has incorporated not just your normal menu data, but has included color photos of dozens of dishes, along with information on how each is prepared -- a guidebook so customers can take the basics and formulate to their own tastes.

The restaurant features many levels of tables, so all diners are afforded a nice view of the bay. The red leather booths and blown glass fixtures highlight the large circular window panes, providing a relaxed and pleasing atmosphere.

The service is fantastic and the food is wonderfully prepared. If you have several people in your group, food can be served in larger platters and offered up family style.

I tried Dungeness crab cakes, crab alfredo and the clam chowder and found them to be delightful. My wife tried the smoked salmon carpaccio (with capers, onions and avocado) and was very happy with it. We tried a strawberry banana sundae to end the meal and it was yummy.

The restaurant includes steaks and pastas on its menu for those not into seafood.

Franciscan entrée prices are mostly in the $20-$30 range, running up into the $40s -- reasonable by San Francisco standards.

We wanted to check out a number of tours available to San Francisco visitors, but I, unfortunately, suffered a little foot problem and could not go on tours that required much walking.

But we did go on a Red and White sunset boat tour and found that very interesting. The tour starts at Pier 43 1/2 and lasts several hours and takes passengers over to the Sausalito area and all in and around the bay. A great look at Alcatraz Island, Angel Island, Treasure Island and other bay shore areas and takes passengers under Golden Gate Bridge coming and going. The tour starts in daylight and as night falls along the way, passengers get some beautiful views of the city at night. Light sandwiches and drinks are provided. For info: www.redandwhite.com or 415-673-2900.


We also took the movie tour, riding in a van which visits dozens of San Francisco locales where famous movies were shot (Vertigo, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Presido, Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Princess Diaries, etc.). The van includes movie screens, which show clips from the movies while the van is at the actual filming scene. Passengers are also given insights on each of the movies featured on the tour. For info: www.sanfranciscomovietours.com or toll-free 877-258-2587.

For more specific information about the hundreds of things to see and do in San Francisco and much more (including hotels, restaurants, etc.) contact the San Francisco Visitors Bureau at www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com or
Visitor Information Center
900 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102-2804
Voice: 415-391-2000
Fax: 415-362-7323

(some information in this report provided by the locales reviewed)

This story was published on 26 Aug 2009.