Where to Dine About Town?

Yes, Gentle Reader, it's that most Wonderful Time of the Year once again! Dine About Town is upon us and my surgical strike on The City's Epicurean Centre starts tomorrow – but I'm getting ahead of myself...

For those with little or no memory retention, Dine About Town is a citywide promotion to get people to go out to eat. It's the winner of my Bang For You Buck Foodie Award and lasts JUN 1-15. This year it features 127 restaurants offering 3-course prix-fixe menu for lunch ($21.95) and dinner ($34.95). Pricewise, it generally amounts to a “free” app or dessert and some places will have bonus/prestige menus where you can add another course or wine pairings at a discounted price as well. Also, AmEx has a promo where if you use your card 3 times at participating restaurants you'll get a $15 credit. But enough marketing schpeil, if you want that go to their website :p The REAL question is WHERE to go to Dine About Town.

Okay, at first glance, the list can seem a bit imposing. You see 127 restaurants BUT how many do you recognize? Where to start? If you're a true foodie you really only recognize a few truly outstanding restaurants and if you're not really into the SF dining scene your eyes probably glaze over as you try an process random names that you THINK you might recognize (but aren't really sure).

First off, what is it that you want? Do you want to try a cuisine you've never experienced? Do you want to maximize your bang for the buck and go to a place you'd normally only go to for a special occasion on the cheap? Or do you want to try a place you've been curious/heard good things about, so this would make it a perfect time to go? So make sure know what you're looking for because (say it with me) Knowing Is Half The Battle. Personally, I've gone for ALL these reasons. In fact, some of my fave go-to places in The City (One Market, Chez Papa Resto, Jeanty at Jack's) are all places I first tried as part of Dine About Town.

For the TRUE foodie, you can whittle nearly 100 names off the list right off the bat (sorry, San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau). Of the 100+ restaurants participating, only 50 merit mentions in the Michelin Guide (And, yes, I went through the ENTIRE 2009 Michelin Guide. ZAGAT too). And, of those, only ONE received a Michelin Star: One Market. If there's one area where the aforementioned Bureau really needs some work on the promotion, it's getting the higher end places to participate. I'm not saying Aqua and Coi should let people eat for $35, but BOTH L.A. And Vegas have FAR more Michelin starred restaurants participate in their Dine About events, despite having fewer Michelin starred restaurants to work with. So step it up!

Okay, so besides One Market, what other places should you be looking at? Well, if you go by the ZAGAT , you can add Absinthe, Ana Mandara, Big 4, Foreign Cinema, Fringale, Scoma's, Spruce, Town Hall and Yoshi's to your Hit List. Likewise, aziza, Chez Papa Resto, Foreign Cinema, Spruce and Yoshi's join One Market as the only places on Michael Bauer's list of Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants. But before you get TOO excited, Absinthe and Spruce are ONLY participating for lunch so, like I said, for the TRUE foodie, the options are limited.

That being said, there are till more than enough excellent eateries to fill your culinary dance card over the next 2 weeks. I start tomorrow with lunch in The City with The Hottie at XYZ. It's a perfect multitasker: Counts as the x-tremely hard to fill 'X' in my A-Z (that was a pun – get it? x-treme...nvm), is literally just down the street from where The Hottie works and is a place I've wanted to check out for a while now. If you'd like my humble (but deadly accurate) opinon on where to go, I think One Market, Chez Papa Resto, Luce, LarkCreek Steak and Jeanty at Jack's are all great downtown options. None of those places have ever disappointed me nor anybody I've recommended them to. Obviously, Absinthe and Spruce are high value targets but, the 'Lunch Only' tag crimps the ability to eat there. And if you're looking for further dinner options, aziza, Foreign Cinema and Yoshi's are no brainers. Want to make up you own mind? Check out the list below. It's all the participating restaurants that are , , , or .

Also, keep in mind that to GET the prix-fixe menu, you might have to request it (it's not automatic at all places) and that many restaurants only offer said menu early in the week (i.e. M-Th), so check out the level of participation on the Dine About Town website before making reservations...

Absinthe: /
Ana Mandara: /
Americano:
Anchor & Hope:
ANZU:
Asia de Cuba:
Azie:
aziza: /
Bacar:
Big 4:
Cafe de la Presse:
Campton Place:
Chaya Brasseerie:
Chez Papa Resto: /
Circa:
Colibri: /
Cortez:
Crustacean:
1550 Hyde Cafe:
Fish & Farm:
Foreign Cinema: //
Fringale: /
Grand Cafe:
Isa:
Jeanty at Jack's:
LarkCreek Steak:
Le Colonial:
Luce:
luella:
Maverick:
Maya:
Mexico DF:
Namu: /
One Market: /
Paul K:
Plouf:
Poleng: /
Pres a Vi:
RNM: /
Salt House:
Scoma's
South Food + wine bar:
Spruce: //
Sutro's:
Tommy Toy's:
Town Hall: /
Universal Cafe: /
XYZ:
Yoshi's: //