Chris & Pearl’s Second Half of 2006 Best of San Francisco

January 1^st not only marked the beginning of the new year, it also marked our 6 monthiversary. To celebrate the occasion, we’ve decided to create our very own “Chris & Pearl’s Second Half of 2006 Best of San Francisco” list to recap our favorite places (so far) in San Francisco. Here goes:

Best Indoor Festival: Green Festival – We’ve noticed that since the festival, we’ve been wearing a lot more green. Coincidence? Probably. See blog dated November 17, 2006.

Best Outdoor Festival: Power to the Peaceful – See blog dated September 10, 2006.

Best Concert: Bridge School Benefit Concert – The highlight of the year. See blog dated October 29, 2006.

Best Chinese Restaurant: House of Nanking – Cheap, fast and delicious. What more could you ask for?

Best Japanese Restaurant: Any of the ones in Kinetsu Mall, Japantown.

Best Sushi Restaurant: Hama-ko – Fresh fish daily with great recommendations from the owner/chef.

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant: Fattoush – Their phyllo dishes are the best.

Best Dim Sum: Yank Sing ­– Best Dim Sum in the Western Hemisphere.

Best Fish-n-Chips: The Chelsea Kitchen at The Edinburgh Castle. They’ll fry anything.

Best Brunch: Town’s End – It’s on Townsend Street. Get it?

Best Tapas Restaurant: Cha Cha Cha – If only for their strong sangrias.

Best Vegetarian Restaurant: Golden Era – Sister restaurant to Golden Lotus in Oakland.

Best New California Restaurant: Coco500 – Best fancy French fries ever.

Best Sandwiches: Crepes on Cole – An avocado in every sandwich.

Best Tea: Ten Ren Tea Shop – We’re hooked on their $60/pound Jasmine tea.

Best Bar: Thirsty Bear – Don’t miss their home-brewed vanilla beer. Yum.

Best Dive Bar: Zeitgeist – The Best place to get home-made tamales from the tamale lady, play a few holes on the Golden Tee arcade, and hang out with bikers…by the way a “biker bar” in San Francisco refers to bicyclists. Honorable mention goes to Edinburgh Castle where you have to pay extra for a clean glass.

Best Drag Show: AsiaSF – We went for the singing. Honest. See blog dated October 15, 2006.

Best Grocery: Safeway – We added this only as an excuse to mention that our Safeway is 100% powered by wind energy!

Best Farmer’s Market: Ferry Building – Our favorite Saturday morning destination. See blog dated September 2, 2006.

Best Bookstore: Citylights Bookstore – Old. Dirty. Disorganized. Perfect.

Best Magazine: Common Ground – Free, green, conscious.

Best Record Store: Amoeba Records – Everybody’s favorite record store.

Best Lecture: Naumann night: A Lecture on Bruce Naumann – Winner by default as this was the only lecture we attended.

Best Reading: David Sedaris – His stories about San Francisco and Japan cracked us up. He’s exactly the same in person as he is on the radio…same size, too.

Best Rendition of “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On”: 3 earthquakes in 4 days in mid-December – quite a titillating experience, Pearl was giddy with delight for days. Don’t worry folks, they were little.

We haven’t been to a taqueria in the Mission yet (I know, what is wrong with us?) but it’s on our list for 2007. For those of you who have visited or lived in the city, let us know what we should include on that 2007 list. Cheers!