SF Eats and Drinks

I have multiple food and drink lists for SF, and some Aussie friends pointed out to me that I don't have a "go-to" SF list to share, so here goes...

San Francisco is a foodie town. A little obnoxious at times, but we have amazing quality and diversity of food and love to critique, recommend and post every delicious, unique, food porn-worthy dish that we come across. There's Michelin-stars to hole-in-the-walls with phenomenal food, so will try to give some context for each.

I write this list for visitors who have a limited number of SF meals and drinks to experience. Includes both corporate/work-appropriate restaurants as well as casual places.

SF has more micro-neighborhoods than a 7x7 mile city should merit. Here's one view of SF neighborhood stereotypes (funny and pretty accurate). I will try to stick to the names in the map here.

Pro-tip: Download the Yelp app (also a website). Reviews are user generated so take or leave those, but it's the best resource for restaurant information in the Bay Area.

Check out SFEater's 38 Essential SF Restaurants, which gets updated every few months with the latest foodie recs.

My Favorites
This list crosses many genres but here's my top list...

• Spruce (Presidio Heights) - food is phenomenal (Michelin one star), bartenders fantastic and one of the few white linen, men-in-jacket fancy restaurants in SF. I love sitting at the bar (burger off of bar menu). Definitely get the beignet for dessert.
• State Bird Provisions (Western Addition/Fillmore) - it's the hot spot in town now. Reservations go 60 days in advance, but you can walk in day-of if you show up right when it opens (literally, people taskrabbit to wait in line). But it's worth it, hard to describe but California/Asian fusion dim sum. Get their eponymous signature dish and definitely get as many small dishes as you can eat off of their carts. Four people is optimal for this, hard for big group. Their new outpost next door, The Progress, is also wonderful if you can get a res.
• Lolinda (Mission) - Argentinean steakhouse and Latin tapas in a trendy former club with great, rich food and fantastic cocktails. Rooftop bar El Techo is nice before or after.
• Kokkari (FiDi) - standard on the SF lists, Kokkari has fantastic Mediterranean, huge brick oven with whole animal specials, extensive wine list. It's in my top two Mediterranean/Greek (other is Evvia in Palo Alto, very similar). Right in FiDi so it's filled with work dinners during the week.
• Burma Love (Mission) - outpost of the better known Burma Superstar, but I love this casual Burmese restaurant and bar on Valencia and Duboce. Signature tea leaf salad and samosa soup are phenomenal, as are most of their extensive menu. No reservations, so prime hours might be tough for a group.
• Beretta (Mission) - wonderful Italian on Valencia at 23rd with fantastic cocktails and wonderful food. Their menu is always changing but always a great experience. Love their small dishes like eggplant caponatina and walnut bread with buratta and truffle oil, and great pizzas. You can call an hour before to be put on the list, or otherwise be prepared to wait 
• NOPA (Western Addition) - New American over on Divisadero, phenomenal food and cocktails, get reservations in advance

Asian
There is fantastic Asian food, particularly as you go away from the center of SF in Sunset and Richmond, because, well, that's where all of the Asians live (same with the South Bay... I actually think the Asian food in San Jose is better than SF). These tend to be more casual so they may be less work meal appropriate.

• Basil Canteen (SoMa) - this is my favorite Thai place though it's a dark horse in the SF Thai polls. I love the space, an old warehouse with exposed brick, looks super Brooklyn trendy, but they have legit Thai food and I think it's one of the best here. There's not much else in this immediate neighborhood, but I highly recommend going down the block to Bar Agricole for amazing cocktails before or after a meal at Basil Canteen. 
• Kin Khao (Union Square) - close #2 for amazing Thai.
• Dosa (2 locations - Mission, Western Addition/Japantown) - fantastic South Indian place, and quite nice. This could be ok for corporate.
• Lers Roi Thai (3 locations, but the Tenderloin one has best food. Mission is great as it's in the middle of a lot of bars, and Hayes Valley meh) - great authentic Thai but in a nice but casual environment.
• Burma Superstar (Richmond) - really popular Burmese place. Also try B Star, which is nearby with not nearly the wait, and Burma Love on Duboce/Valencia.
• PPQ Dungeness Island (Richmond) - CRABS! They give you bibs but wear clothes that you can get dirty. Also fantastic non-crab Vietnamese dishes.
• Cafe Bunn Mi (Inner Richmond) - casual Vietnamese and delicious banh mi sandwiches, recommend the crispy duck!

Japanese
This is my list of real Japanese places (aka run by Japanese people). There are very good Japanese places in SF, but if you come from somewhere with good Japanese food and you only had a few meals here, I'd go with other cuisine. If you don't

• Sakana (Tenderloin) and Kiji (Noe Valley) have good sushi
• Eiji (Castro), Izakaya Roku (Upper Market) and Kappou Gomi (Richmond) are good izakayas (small dishes)
• Ramen Yamadaya (Pac Heights/Japantown) or Ken Ken (Mission) for ramen
• Maruya (Mission) for high end Japanese

Mediterranean/Middle Eastern

• Kokkari (FiDi)
• Zare at Fly Trap (SoMa)
• Aziza (Richmond)
• Saha (Tenderloin)

Italian

• Beretta (Mission)
• A16 (Marina) and SPQR (Pac Heights)
• Flour + Water (Mission)
• Zero Zero (SoMa)

Mexican
Like the Asian food, there are a handful of fancy Mexican places and then the really really good $7 meal holes in the Mission. El Castillito is my go-to burrito place on Church (Upper Market, Mission). Ones below are sit down spots.

• La Urbana (Western Addition) - a new trendy Mexican fusion place with interesting cocktails
• Tacolicious (3 locations - Mission, Marina, North Beach)
• Mamacita (Marina)

Other Cuisines

• Limon Rotissarie (Mission) - I'm partial to the Limon on Valencia/16th, though there's Van Ness too. Great Latin but definitely get their chicken
• Beso (Castro) - Spanish/tapas
• Locanda (Mission) - Californian, great cockails

Someone else's expense account

• Benu (SoMa) - really innovative New American. If you want to be aggressive, the 18-course tasting menu is worth the arm and leg.
• Maruya (Mission) - Japanese
• Saison (SoMa) - New American
• Gary Danko (North Beach) - New American
• Hakkasan (SoMa) - Chinese
• Campton Place (Civic Center/Union Sq) - really fancy Indian fusion in the Taj Hotel, the food is beautiful and the service is out of this world (or at least this country, is it truly exceptional).

Near Union Square
Most of the big hotels are in and around Union Square. Here are some options within walking distance.

• Lunch - Kin Khao (Thai) in Parc 55 hotel
• Small dinners - Aveline (Modern/New American) is my new favorite, in the Warwick Hotel, great cocktails (though Top Chef Casey Thompsen just left...), Millenium (veg), Lers Roi Thai (Thai), Sakana (Japanese)
• Work/group dinners - Bluestem Brasserie (New American), Amber India (Indian), Morton's (steak), Tropisueno (Mexican)
• Expense account - Campton Place (fusion Indian), Farallon (seafood), Hakkasan (Cantonese)
• Bars - Hopwater Distribution (beer), Burritt Room (cocktails), Press Club (wine bar), Bourbon & Branch (cocktails, but for smaller group/reservation), Mikkeller Bar (gastropub), Golden Gate Tap Room (sports bar), Rickhouse (cocktail/whiskey)

Near Moscone
Here are a few lunch spots near Moscone if you want something besides conference food...

• Tin Vietnamese Cuisine is on Howard between 5th and 6th, good pho and other Vietnamese dishes, pretty fast for lunch
• Samovar Tea Lounge is in Yerba Buena, great healthy tea sets and a la carte dishes
• Spice Kit is a little further down Howard at 1st. I call it the Asian Chipotle - fast food, made to order bowls and wraps but with pork belly and fried lotus root chips. My favorite is the ssam wrap with Korean short rib and kimchi rice in a rice paper wrap (like a massive spring roll).

For Views

• La Mar (FiDi) - Peruvian and seafood, on Embarcadero
• Cliff House (Seacliff) - seafood/American place on the western cliffs over the Pacific by Sutro Baths and Lands End
• Greens (Marina) - vegetarian dining with beautiful views of the Marina and Golden Gate Bridge

Veggie Friendly

• Greens (Marina) 
• Samovar Tea Lounge (3 locations - Yerba Buena, Hayes Valley, Castro) - one of my favorites when I just want to feel good after a meal. Great teas and tea sets, veggie friendly though their smoked salmon is amazing.
• Gracias Madre (Mission) - vegan Mexican
• Saha (Civic Center) - Arabic fusion food and it's not purely vegetarian but they have a great veggie dishes and a three course veggie prix fixe for $35 that is delicious and filling
• Millenium - sadly the Civic Center location closed and moved to Oakland, would is worth the trip to a every innovative and delicious vegan restaurant for business travelers who are sick of heavy American food
• See this great GitHub list of SF vegetarian restaurants

Brunch

• Mission Beach Cafe (Mission) - best ever. Go at 8:45AM to put your name down so you are in the first seating when it opens at 9AM. Otherwise it can be anywhere from 30-90 minute wait. Four Barrel Coffee is two blocks away for coffee drinkers
• Foreign Cinema (Mission) - like Mission Beach Cafe, go early to sit or make a reservation, lovely brunch or other meals
• Plow (Potrero Hill) - another place with a line, but delicious brunch. I'm obsessed with their potatoes.

Ice Cream

SFers also are religious about their ice cream. I am less so, and there are better lists but here are some places to try

• Bi-Rite (Mission) - kitty corner from the NE corner of Dolores Park. Salted caramel, yum! There's a line for the cones that wraps around the block, but cut to the front to get soft serve or go for a pint, you'll eat it!
• Mitchell's (Bernal Heights)
• Humphrey Slocombe (Mission)
• Smitten (Hayes Valley) - made to order liquid-nitrogen formed ice cream that is actually delicious (and founded by my classmate :) 

Beer
Craft microbrews are hipster cool and the state must consume like 80% of the beer industry's hops. We like our beers hoppy and you'll see India Pale Ales and Double IPAs dominate taps in the city.

• Toronado (Lower Haight)
• Monk's Kettle (Mission)
• Hopwater Distribution (Civic Center)
• Southern Pacific Brew (Mission)
• Mikkeller Bar (Civic Center)
• 21st Amendment (SoMa)

Here is also a handy SF beer map and pub crawl recommendation.

Cocktails
Great "mixology" programs across the city, here are some of my favorites.

• Bourbon & Branch (Civic Center) - this is THE cocktail bar in SF. It's a "speakeasy" so you need a password to get in the door. Recommend getting a reservation online, or if you want to just check it out, say "books" to get in the library, though it can get packed
• Burritt Room (Civic Center)
• Rickhouse (Civic Center)
• Alembic (Upper Haight)
• Trick Dog (Mission)
• Armory Bar (Mission) - a little risque for work engagements, as it's related to the Armory across the street, home to Kink.com. But the bar is a great lounge with fantastic mixed drinks and subtle reference to its namesake in the artwork on the wall.

Here's my Yelp cocktail list.

You may notice "Wine" is missing as a category. I haven't found wine bars that I love, and any decent restaurant or bar in SF has good wine. If you can get out of the city for half a day, go to the source - here's the Napa and Sonoma post.

Etc.
Off the Grid is a fun way to experience the SF food scene - the food truck festival happens weekly and you can usually locate the individual trucks on Twitter

#fatkidsaturday - if you have a Saturday afternoon to eat and drink your way through a neighborhood, try this out. We've only done it for Haight-Ashbury so far, but hope to add more!

All of my Yelp reviews - http://aki-eats.yelp.com

Favorite global restaurant list on Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/akiwee/favorite-restaurants/

More on visit recommendations for San Francisco and the Bay Area

Sonoma & Napa

One of the best things about living in the Bay Area is that it is an easy drive from two of the best wine regions in the world. I am not a wine connoisseur by any means, but I've had a lot of fun up there and have a few favorites and tips...

Sonoma or Napa?

I pose this question up front to be transparent about my bias towards Sonoma... 

At the level that I am able to appreciate wine (not high), Sonoma and Napa both have fantastic wineries. Napa is the better known of the

two, with more of the famous names, large tastings rooms and organized tours. For the same reason, Napa also is more commercial (tourist) and expensive (tasting fees). Generally speaking, Sonoma wineries are more laid back, tasting rooms more intimate, and better value.

If you have two days to explore the area, it is worth spending a day in each. I would stick to one or the other, as Napa and Sonoma are deceptively close on a map, but are really two valleys that, for all intensive purposes, connect at the southern end.

Trip Planning

Exploring wine country can be a day trip or a getaway. Wineries are open between 10-11am and close anytime from 4-6pm. It's good to sketch a route and mark wineries that you are particularly interested in, especially so you can make appointments at ones that require them. Time at each winery can be 20 min to an hour, depending on the tastings and your group. Some may have free or for fee tours and events, as well as food and pairings.

One nice way to do the wine tasting trip is to leave SF by 8:30-9am, park cars near your dinner location, and hire a car for six hours so everyone can enjoy the tasting. A few designated drivers can sober up at dinner and make the drive home. There are great restaurants to choose from in both downtown Napa and Sonoma, and most take OpenTable reservations. Here's a short Yelp list for restaurants I like in the area and a nice Sosh list on Wine Country to dos. Oxbow Market is a fun Napa center with food and food related establishments in town, and Oakville Grocery is a good stop for sandwiches/picnic stuff.

Alternatively, get a car from SF and back and everyone can enjoy a few tastings!

A few places for car services

Wine Country Limo is SF based and reasonably priced (ask for a cash discount too)
415-312-3773

Terrific Tours is Petaluma-based (so could work well with the "meet up north to save a few hours" plan)
707-658-2748

Katie at Sonoma Sterling Limo
1-707-542-5444

Five Emerald Limo is another SF-based service. Simple pricing from SF - 8 person limo for $100 an hour or for 8+ people an SUV stretch for $150/hr (as of Oct 2015)
415-812-1757

*Note: We loved Bridget and Jancy who used to drive for Private Limo Service, but have had poor interactions with the company in the past few years... would love to know where those drivers went!

For an overnight stay, look at VRBO for house rentals or AirBNB. There's the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn if you're looking to splurge.

These are two great maps for wineries.

Sonoma map

Napa map

Sonoma Wineries

These are mostly in or north of Healdsburg, on the northern (and farther) end of Sonoma Valley, but my favorite area if you can make the trek.

• Kokomo - my favorite, super chill, delicious wine, and conveniently located in the same old fruit packing lot as five other wineries. Briget actually introduced me to this one last Thanksgiving when I was with my family. It was the first time I went through a tasting and wanted to get every wine, so I joined their wine club, and now get to go to super fun wine pick up parties twice a year!
• Ram's Gate - luxurious, beautiful and relatively close to SF, which makes it a good first/last stop (or a place to leave your cars). Gets super busy so might want reservation. More for setting than wine though.
• Dutcher Crossing - recent find, also joined wine club. This is about as far north as you can go.
• Beautiful grounds, great wine, and a picnic area
• Bella Vineyard - a beautiful, small winery up in the hills
• Papapietro-Perry - known for their Pinot Noirs, Papapietro only has reds. In the same location as Kokomo
• Quivira Vineyards - great picnic area
• Francis Ford Coppola - huge and Disney-like but in a good way. Their restaurant Rustic is delicious and worth a lunch stop.
• Sbragia Family Vineyards - gorgeous views and outdoor space and nice wine
• Truett Hurst - great outdoor patio and gardens with a fun band, though might be a better 'later in day' stop for the wine...
• Ferrari Carano - beautifully landscaped grounds and garden, uber touristy and Napa-y

South of Healdsburg and closer to SF

• Acorn Winery
• Hop Kiln
• Kunde

Here's one fun wine route from Santa Rosa to Healdsburg and back for Barrel Tasting weekend!

Napa Wineries

• Bouchaine - south Napa - this is my other wine club. Small winery, delicious chardonnays and pinots, beautiful patio and picnic area, and also one of furthest south (45 min from SF)
• Elizabeth Spencer - Rutherford - amazing wine, expensive, but totally worth it
• V Sattui - Rutherford - great picnic spot, lunch BBQ on weekends
• Louis Martini - St Helena - another nice patio spot. Call about picnic
• Franciscan - Rutherford, yum
• Mumm - Rutherford - sparkling wine
• Domaine Chandon - Yountville - sparkling wine
• Peju
• St. Supery - open later
• Artesa - south Napa - beautiful grounds and art
• Domaine Carneros - south Napa - sparkling wine

Please post your favorite wineries in the comments! I'm always looking for new ones :)

Bay Area Golf

Here are some of my favorite golf courses in the Bay Area.

Stanford Golf Course - clearly I'm biased, but this is my 'home' course here and I love it. It is not an easy course, starting with the first tee over Junipero Serra Road for par 5, and it is long, but it is beautiful with diverse holes, well-kept and fun. Not cheap, costs $100 for alums, $110 guests, but a nice treat.

Rating: from the Blacks 76.3/137 6231 yards, for ladies on Blues 71.5/129 5401 yards
http://golfcourse.stanford.edu/

The Ranch - I love this course despite the dozen-plus balls I lose every time I play. The holes are carved in the hills of South San Jose so there's a ton of elevation and almost feels like links since you have to hit from patch to patch to stay on the fairway (which doesn't happen much...) Absolutely beautiful and full views of the Bay Area from the highest holes. Mandatory cart.

Rating: Whites 73.9/142, Red 68.6/123
http://www.theranchgc.com/

Crystal Springs - this Burlingame course hugs the resevoir along the Santa Cruz mountains that you can see from 280. Decent elevation but walkable, and just beautiful between the morning fog and sunny skies in the afternoon. $65ish

Ratings: Whites 76.0/134 6212 yards, Red 72.1/126 5580 yards
http://www.playcrystalsprings.com/

Shoreline - Mountain View's course is a great value and the nicest public course I've played. Can get a bit windy in the afternoons, as you can tell from some of the trees that grow sideways. $35ish

Rating: Whites 74.6/130, Red (ladies) 70.7/120
http://www.ci.mtnview.ca.us/city_hall/comm_services/shoreline_golf_links/

Cinnabar Hills - Cinnabar is a great 27-hole course in San Jose. Each nine falls into "Lake", "Mountain", or "Canyon" and you play a combo of two. The names are somewhat indicative of the terrain, though for example the lake is only part of a few of the Lake course holes.

Rating: depends on which combination of holes played. Cinnabar (equivalent to whites) ranges 76-76.5/140-141, Oak (ladies) 68.9-69.1/118-122
http://www.cinnabarhills.com/

Presidio - Deep in the Presidio in north San Francisco, the course, like the city, was beautiful and foggy when I played. The park itself is lush and beautiful, but the views of the city are stunning.

Rating: White 76.5/130, Red 73.5/125
http://www.presidiogolf.com/

Palo Alto Hills CC - It was such a treat to play at this beautiful country club course. The club is off of Page Mill Road about a mile west of 280. A lot of elevation, as the name suggests, and I definitely needed the cart, though one cart for four is a doable option too. Truly panoramic views of the whole Bay and not only amazing nature but homes in these hills. To give you a sense of how nice, you can see John Chamber's house from 16th hole. Palo Alto Hills is a private club, members and guests only.

Rating: Green (three trees) 75.6/142, Gold (one tree) 70.0/128
http://www.pahgcc.com/club/scripts/section/section.asp?GRP=11011&NS=GP

Wish List
These are the courses that I would like to play at some time in my golf life (but requires $ and/or friends in high places...)
- Pebble Beach :)
- Olympic Club
- The Preserve
- Half Moon Bay Ritz
- San Francisco GC

*Check out GolfNow.com for great deals on last minute tee times. It's kind of like OpenTable for golf. http://www.golfnow.com/sanfrancisco

San Francisco / Bay Area

*I haven't been a tourist here in a long time, but here's a post based on an email I put together for my brother's best friend who asked for summer San Francisco visit recommendations...

FYI summer is cold in SF. As Mark Twain is famously misquoted, "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" (apparently he never said that). The rest of the Bay Area though, Peninsula and South Bay, Marin and Napa/Sonoma Counties up north, are all wonderful and sunny and summer-like.

Big picture, you probably want to think about what you want to do on the weekend… everywhere is crowded on the weekends in the summer, but wine country is probably less pleasant with a lot of people. Just make sure you check with the wineries about what days are off (a lot of them have Monday or Tuesday as their day off). Same with Muir Woods or Point Reyes, better without a lot of people.

San Francisco
It’s probably easiest to stay closer to downtown and the touristy areas, lots of more options. There is a new chain of trendy “W”-like hotels that are reasonable priced, they’re at www.jdvhotels.com. Clift is another boutique hotel. Probably want to stay away from anything near Moscone (big convention center), not too close to Union Square but around is fairly central.

I hear Alcatraz is pretty cool (again would avoid on weekend), and probably worth walking around Fisherman’s Wharf. You can drive down Lombard St (the zigzag road). Walk around the Castro and Haight area, fun shops, more east village-y. The Mission has the great Mexican food (actually all around) and fun shops and bars. Go up to Pacific Street, highest point of that side of city and great views. If you want to be healthy, go for a run on the Embarcadero or over by the Marina along Crissy Field, really pretty and great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Blazing Saddles is a bike company, all around SF, and you can rent bikes for the day. I would take one day and bike over the Golden Gate over to Marin County (other side of the bridge) and down the hill to Sausalito and Tiburon, which are super cute towns there (kind of like waterfront Darien ish). Great place called Sam’s which is really popular for day time boozing, a lot of SFers will take the morning ferry on a weekend day and hang out on their patio all day. Town has nice restaurants and shops too. There’s a ferry that goes back to SF so you don’t have to climb the hill back to the bridge and SF

Eating and Drinking
San Francisco and the Bay Area are fantastic for eating and drinking. There's a great range of dining options, from food trucks to Michelin stars, and every ethnic cuisine out there. SF has great fine dining, the Mission is known for best Mexican, and I think the South Bay has the best Asian.

Look at Yelp for dining options, it's very robust here. This is my SF favorites eats post, and all of my Yelp reviews are here.

Here's a quick list of places for cocktails by location. I haven't been to all of these, but here's the SF Cocktails Yelp list.
• Bourbon and branch, Rye – Civic Center/Tenderloin
• Rickhouse, Burritt Room – Union Sq
• Comstock Saloon, 15 Romolo – both near Columbus Ave/N Beach
• Prospect, Bar Agricole – SOMA, nicer bars
• Maven, Blackbird, Churchill, Alembic – Lower and Upper Haight
• Armory Bar, Elixir, Locanda, El Techo – Mission, Armory is a little risque but my new favorite

Here's a good list of places to get beer.

Wine Country
Napa and Sonoma are actually kind of far apart and a little different, so you can pick one or other, or you can spend one day in each (though I think two days of wine tasting might be a bit much). Napa is the more famous of the two, with more wineries and more recognizable wineries. Pretty easy to get around but probably more commercialized and slightly more expensive. Sonoma has some cute downtown areas and good wineries that are more chill, but harder to get around since it's more spread out. Here is a Sonoma & Napa post with more details

I highly recommend that you get a car to take you guys around for a day. You can either drive up that morning, check in and have the car meet you, then spend night there, or come up in afternoon, have a nice evening, booze all next day, and spend night (I would do latter if expenses work out).

I think there is a range of nice hotels (Fairmont in Sonoma) to more bed and breakfast types that are in downtown Napa and Sonoma, which would put you closer to the restaurants and stuff.

You can also rent a house if you have more people, or just want the option to cook for more than one night stay. http://www.vrbo.com/ is a good search site for rentals.

Two car services I'd recommend that I've used.

Sona Bedrosian at Private Limousine Service
1-866-866-7788
1-707-843-4114

Katie at Sonoma Sterling Limo
1-707-542-5444
Btw you can also do wine or cheese tasting locally. The Cheese School of San Francisco is one in SF

Other stuff
Definitely plan some hikes, there’s great nature in the Bay Area. Muir Woods is a park with redwoods in Marin County. Bunch of parks and hikes though

Here are some sites I’ve collected through the years
http://www.parks.ca.gov/parkindex/
http://kevingong.com/Hiking/index.html
http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Bay%20Area.html

Muir Woods is great, that’s the redwoods. Nice hikes in there, and there’s a great little bar in the middle of it, should definitely stop to get a beer there. The NPS sites are pretty good for finding parks and hikes.

Another favorite of mine is Point Reyes. Even if you don't love oysters, but it is super fun to bring a picnic, wine/champagne and chill out with raw or grilled oysters for an afternoon. You want to get charcoal too (or buy some there). Bring cards or board game, really a lazy time. These are the two places. Hog Island you need a reservation, virtually impossible on weekends, and Tomales Bay is first come for picnic tables. Here's a NY Times article on Point Reyes being the next Martha's Vineyard.

You’ll have to pack a lunch for half of the hikes, and for Point Reyes. Also wine if you want. Blue Fog in Pacific Heights (north end of SF) has great sandwiches

All across the Bay Area is awesome golf. Here are my favorites.

Finally, depending on when you are coming, you might be able to catch the weird SF events… Bay to Breakers just happened (half marathon with naked people and beer floats…) and Urban Iditarod was a few weeks ago (people are the dogs, shopping carts with kegs are the sled, path is, well the streets of SF). There are some great street festivals and stuff in the summer. Here’s a SF site for official events. Being the home for the company, Yelp is pretty big out here too.