Chinese New Year in the Rain and other San Francisco, CA General Tips

Favorite Thing: Chinese New Year is usually during February, normally the rainiest month of the year in San Francisco. Although there's a low chance of a heavy downpour on the Chinese New Year celebrations and parade, parade participants often plan for the worst by wearing clear plastic rain gear, having weather proof canopies where possible, and then the streets become overly crowded with umbrellas. Actually, along narrow Grant Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Chinatown, can be navigated without an umbrella much of the time because of the overhanging canopies of the shopkeepers. A hooded jacket is more practical than an umbrella for the street faire activities, but an umbrella will serve nicely to watch the parade, which goes along the broader avenue of Kearny Street.


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Favorite Thing: San Francisco is a food lover's paradise. The quality and competition among restaurants is so intense, that many restaurants have gala openings only to close down as the fad passes. The main trick is to get good service, extraordinary quality, and reasonable portions. Restaurants creating apparently artful but food wise stingy plates leave the patron feeling like a joke has been played on them. These are the restaurants that open up quickly for the tourist buck and then close down quickly when word gets around. Since reviews are so often stale, I recommend SFgate.com, which has timely updates, as well as a search engine by type of cusine and location in town. Just be careful to avoid finding a great restaurant out of town, as this database does include a few of these extra-Bay area restaurants too. This website also includes great uptodate articles about what else is happening around town in terms of food and entertainment.

http://www.sfgate.com/food


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