How to Savor San Francisco

Eat Your Heart Out

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Bix
56 Gold St.
Looks like a 1930s supper club, serves live music seven nights a week. Don’t miss the martinis, steak tartare, and caviar potato pillows.

Nopa
560 Divisadero St.
Just a few blocks from USF, Nopa offers super-fresh and local “organic wood-fired cuisine.”

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Original Joe's
601 Union St. or 11 Glenwood Ave., Daly City
Let co-owners John Duggan ’63, Marie Duggan ’68, Elena Duggan ’95, and John A. Duggan ’96 bring you Italian American classics. The North Beach location is always busy; its Westlake counterpart allows you to enjoy a leisurely meal.

Pacific Cafe
7000 Geary Blvd.
Reservations don’t exist here, so show up prepared for a wait, check out the specials on the chalkboard, and enjoy the complimentary wine that flows until you’re seated.

Spark Social
601 Mission Bay Boulevard North
This outdoor space owned by Carlos Muela ’09 features a rotation of different food trucks, a beer and wine garden, fire pits (make your own s’mores), live music, and picnic tables.

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Take a Sip

The Ramp
855 Terry Francois Blvd.
This former boat ramp and bait shop now serves up drinks, food, and live music. Great spot to enjoy the bay views before walking to a Giants or Warriors game.

The Riptide
3639 Taraval St.
Way out by the sand dunes at Ocean Beach sits a little dive bar called The Riptide, with a wood-burning fireplace, knotty pine paneling, live music, open mic nights, and weekly trivia.

Specs' Twelve Alder Museum Café
12 William Saroyan Pl.
This North Beach institution has attracted iconoclasts, tourists, and locals — including Thelonious Monk and Herb Caen — since 1968.

Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar
950 Mason St.
Sometimes a tourist attraction really is for everyone, and this tiki bar has been a mainstay since 1945 at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill, where the band plays on a floating island in the middle of the pool — until the thunder cracks and the rain falls.

Trick Dog Bar
3010 20th St.
This neighborhood bar, co-owned by Josh Harris ’05, is known for its cocktails and solid food offerings (a good burger, a tasty kale salad).

Make A Tonga Room Mai Tai At Home

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1 Oz. Light Rum
1 Oz. Dark Rum
2 Oz. Fresh Squeezed Pineapple Juice
1/2 Oz. Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
1/2 Oz. Orgeat (Almond Simple Syrup)
Two Dashes Orange Bitters
Float Of Bacardi 151

Combine first six ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice, and shake. Strain and pour over ice into a tiki glass. Top with float of Bacardi 151 and garnish with pineapple, cherry, and tiny umbrella.

Get Moving

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Glen Canyon Park
Bosworth Street and O’Shaughnessy Blvd.
Did you know there’s a canyon in the city with 3.7 miles of hiking trails? Just south of Twin Peaks, the canyon features a creek that rushes after winter rains and a wildflower bloom each spring.

Kabuki Springs & Spa
1750 Geary Blvd.
Get a spa pass so you can move from a cold pool to a hot pool to a steam room to a sauna in the tradition of Japanese sentos, or public bathhouses.

Presidio Tunnel Tops
210 Lincoln Blvd.
This 14-acre wonderland looks out over San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge with walking paths, food trucks, picnic areas, and a two-acre playground for kids.

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Salesforce Park
425 Mission St.
Ride a gondola up to the garden in the sky. This downtown rooftop oasis has 600 trees, 16,000 plants, play equipment, and a terrace café.

Yoga on the Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral
1100 California St.
Do yoga beneath soaring stained-glass windows as you listen to live music inside San Francisco’s French Gothic cathedral.

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Take in a Show

Club Fugazi
678 Green St.
Catch “Dear San Francisco,” a live revue described as an acrobatic “90-minute joyride through our City by the Bay’s busts and booms.”

The Independent
628 Divisadero St.
You don’t have to venture far from the Hilltop to see up-and-coming indie bands plus acts like Green Day, Phoenix, and John Legend.

Lakehouse Jazz
Stow Lake Boathouse
Take in a live show at the boathouse in Golden Gate Park. Wine and beer are sold there, and you can bring your own food.

SFJazz Center
201 Franklin St.
Music studio, performance venue, and school, the center hosts national jazz performers as well as local musicians and crossover artists like Van Morrison.

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Secret Improv Society
533 Sutter St.
Show up ready to get involved, because this is not your traditional comedy show.

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Treat Yourself

Caffe Trieste
601 Vallejo St.
Berets aren’t required at this North Beach coffee house that was home to the Beats in the 1960s.

Hometown Creamery
1290 Ninth Ave.
Co-owner Adar Halil JD ’14 serves ice cream flavors like “Unity,” New York–style cheesecake-flavored ice cream with West Coast berries and southern cornbread.

Matcha Café Maiko
1581 Webster St.
This Japantown café owned by Chris Chin ’01 offers matcha soft serve, shaved ice, frappes, and parfaits, plus tea, lattes, and matcha tea floats.

Matching Half
1799 McAllister St.
This place a few blocks from the Hilltop is a great way to begin a day of exploration in the city, with tasty breakfast sandwiches, strong coffee, and free Wi-Fi.

Ocean Plant
800 Great Hwy.
Part general store, part café, and all welcoming. Treat yourself to an It’s-It affogato and watch the waves.