23 Dec Tip #9: Just eat, and please eat well

Every time someone wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory, I felt a pain in my back. Every time someone said that In-N-Out Burger has the best burgers in the world, I lost five seconds of time on this earth.

The food in San Francisco is so amazing, so please: Don’t spend your time eating bad food.

I’ve been to so many good restaurants, cafees, take-away places, and bars in this city. Some have been really expensive, but most of the good restaurants I’ve been to have been cheap.

The house where I lived in San Francisco was located in the Sunset District, where there’s a large Asian community. Great Chinese food, Vietnamese food, Thai food, Japanese food – just great Asian food in general. I’ll miss the cheap, great dumplings the most – we have to pay good money for quality dumplings in Oslo, Norway.

The local food is amazing, where hip restaurants use amazing local ingredients to create contemporary American food. Outerlands quickly became a favorite, where their chicken dish is something to eat over and over again.

I’ve already mentioned the burritos in Mission in one blog post, but the Southern American inspired food in general is amazing. Tacos, ceviche, quesadillas and empanadas – eat them all.

I’ve found amazing Italian food, stunning sushi (try the fancy ones), eaten heartwarming soulfood, plowed my way through the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich in my life, sat down for several hours for several amazing multi-course meals, and just in general been happy about eating in San Francisco – and in San Diego, Seattle and Las Vegas.

I love cooking, but making a great meal by myself is expensive in San Francisco – good meat and fresh fruit and vegetables are expensive. So I’ve eaten out a lot. I did save up before the semester, but the extra cost has not been too big. And just too mention it: Even the food at school is great. Ike’s Place has mouth-dripping sandwiches that I’ve eaten at least once a week for four months.

So please, I beg you, don’t eat like a tourist for four months, and set aside some money for this amazing food city.

– Hans-Olav