Lived in the Bay Area for a few years. Do not miss the work culture, especially people around me graciously donating free extra work hours to companies worth billion/trillion dollars and expecting others to do the same.
How to enjoy SF
71–80 of 103 posts
Re: How to enjoy SF
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
The politics in particular are why SF is such a gross place. It shouldn’t matter whether you were born in the place you live or not, trans or not, white or not, or work for a FAANG or not. If you’re not originally from SF, and you work in tech, and don’t have some interesting combination of race, gender, and/or sexual preference, the incumbent residents will never forgive you for it. Unlike some parts of the US where…
Huh? The bay is the most racist place I’ve ever lived. For a supposedly “diverse” region everyone seems to self-segregate (compared to SoCal, for example). As for FAANG and what not, the hate is understandable. It’s like building McMansions in historical neighborhoods.
Tech, is the best part of the city, without it all you’d have is the views, and the trash culture you’re alluding to.
Nothing in California is historic. If you consider 100-250 years old historic, spend some time in Europe, Asia, or even the eastern US.
Re: How to enjoy SF
#73I loved the Bay Area when we lived there for the outdoors, the food, and the varied terrain, like this article outlines. But I hated the Bay Area for the people. Not that anyone was particularly nasty or mean, they were just flaky . The number of cancelled plans, far, far outnumbered the kept ones. I'm open to the idea it was just me, but I know we weren't the only people experiencing this – and I have a much easier…
I don’t think it’s just people in the Bay Area that are flaky, but rather Californians in general. I don’t really know what causes it, but I’m guilty of it myself, since I’ve lived here my entire life. Living in a place like SF where there’s a lot of options just exacerbates it.
Re: How to enjoy SF
#74On Chinese food: Historically the folks who settled in San Francisco came from different areas than those who settled in New York, so the food is different . However, a friend from LA pointed out that there just isn't as much of a restaurant culture in San Francisco as there is in LA. A mediocre Taiwanese restaurant in LA wouldn't survive, but nobody would bat an eye up here because the people that really care are mo…
I've been at maybe around 8 different Chinese dumpling restaurants in SF Every one of them had completely different dumplings than the others All of them were delicious For whatever reason SF has great Chinese dumplings, but like OP I have struggled to find good options for other Chinese cuisine (though I'm not a Chinese cuisine expert)
Historically the Chinese diaspora in San Francisco came from the southeast, which is why Cantonese was such a common language. The food largely followed that. If memory serves, NYC Chinese takeout tends to skew more towards Hunan because that's where folks were from.
Off the top of my head, the whole stretch of Taraval has a variety of Chinese restaurants focused on things other than dumplings. There's the Macau cafe, the HK bakery, the pancake place, the noodle place, the ice cream place, the Shandong place that does the pancakes. Old Mandarin (ex-Bib Gourmand) focuses on Islamic food, and their alum spawned a bunch of other restaurants including Beijing. But these are all more homey, neighborhood restaurants than you'd find in the Mission.
Honestly for something easy like mapo tofu I just make it at home. You can get all of the ingredients readily.
If you are willing to go outside the city and go with Chinese adjacent, there are a ton of options. Lion Dance Cafe (Malaysian) and Red Hot Chili Pepper (Indo-Chinese) come to mind.
Re: How to enjoy SF
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh? The bay is the most racist place I’ve ever lived. For a supposedly “diverse” region everyone seems to self-segregate (compared to SoCal, for example). As for FAANG and what not, the hate is understandable. It’s like building McMansions in historical neighborhoods.
Tech, is the best part of the city, without it all you’d have is the views, and the trash culture you’re alluding to. Nothing in California is historic. If you consider 100-250 years old historic, spend some time in Europe, Asia, or even the eastern US.
> If you consider 100-250 years old historic, spend some time in Europe, Asia, or even the eastern US.
Lame, judgy gatekeeping. When someone in CA calls something historic, you might, as not actually a robot, assume that there’s some context behind it, and not just sneeringly judge them because you have something slightly older at home in Europe.
But why argue with someone who’s so terrified to put their opinion on their actual username, and had to create a throw away just to rag on SF, right? It can’t be that you plan to say anything insightful.
Re: How to enjoy SF
#76I loved the Bay Area when we lived there for the outdoors, the food, and the varied terrain, like this article outlines. But I hated the Bay Area for the people. Not that anyone was particularly nasty or mean, they were just flaky . The number of cancelled plans, far, far outnumbered the kept ones. I'm open to the idea it was just me, but I know we weren't the only people experiencing this – and I have a much easier…
It wasn't just you. At least around 2013 it was a whole thing dubbed "the San Francisco yes": https://thebolditalic.com/what-s-up-with-the-san-francisco-y...
Re: How to enjoy SF
#77This post was written by Yitong on 17 Jun 2023 in New York, NY. Hmm
Reminds me of Seinfeld's "Yay NYC" tweet written in the Hamptons
Re: How to enjoy SF
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh? The bay is the most racist place I’ve ever lived. For a supposedly “diverse” region everyone seems to self-segregate (compared to SoCal, for example). As for FAANG and what not, the hate is understandable. It’s like building McMansions in historical neighborhoods.
Tech, is the best part of the city, without it all you’d have is the views, and the trash culture you’re alluding to. Nothing in California is historic. If you consider 100-250 years old historic, spend some time in Europe, Asia, or even the eastern US.
> Tech, is the best part of the city...
And not the byproduct of the Beat culture, Suicide Club, the large queer community, and all the countless artists from SFAI/CCAC?
I'm just gonna assume this throwaway account is trolling. Ask any longtime resident and they'll tell you the city took a dive when Ed Lee handed out those Twitter tax breaks for Mid-Market.
Re: How to enjoy SF
#79Food is the one thing I'll give SF and the bay area. I've never lived in NYC, but I can imagine it's the only place in the US that comes close. Things are just at another level there than anywhere else I've seen.
I have lived in both, SF food is amateur hour and its expensive in comparison to NYC. $4.50 for a slice of "pizza" that is really a panini open faced sandwich GTFOH.
IMO median food in NYC is much lower quality than what you can get in SF. It just is unhealthier and less fresh. Maybe for pizza or fine dining NYC is better but SF takeout just seems much more nourishing and higher quality. I’ve also been served really terrible food in NYC on several occasions, which has never happened in SF.
Re: How to enjoy SF
#80I have been on a mission to figure out why Mexican food falls off a cliff after going north of LA. Plenty of Mexicans, plenty of amazing produce and proteins, what happens after LA that says put rice in my burrito?? Exception: Best SF Mexican tacos is of course Taqueria Vallarta in the Mission.
My hypothesis is that the folks who make the best Mexican food in San Diego are unlikely to want to get on a flight and be more than driving distance from Tijuana.