Aug 04 2008

Michelin Red Guide 2008 San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country (Michelin Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country)

Published by at under Wine Books

The Michelin Guide to San Francisco 2008 is the latest title to be updated in a world-renowned series of hotel and restaurant guides. Each listing is recommended by Michelin's team of anonymous, independent inspectors based on a process that has stood the test of time. Michelin awards select restaurants stars for culinary excellence. The guide is organized by neighborhood and detailed descriptions of each listing provide the reader with a picture of everything from the ambience to the cuisine. This guide celebrates the culinary diversity San Francisco and is perfect for locals and visitors alike.

Customer Review: It makes your mouth water!

I visit the San Francisco area a couple of times a year (actually, I spend most of my time in the Wine Country, where I have family), and it's always great to have reliable recommendations for dining there. The Michelin San Francisco, Bay Area and Wine Country Guide has the imprimatur of the Michelin name, and I can vouch that its reviews of the dining establishments I've "vetted" myself (Spinnaker's, Brix, Kenwood, Cafe Citti, Wolf House) are absolutely spot-on, which makes me eager to try more of Michelin's recommendations. I might quibble about the exclusion of a few of my favorite places (particularly the superb Italian cuisine and cozy, old-California ambience of the Swiss Hotel in Sonoma, which I urge the Michelin raters--and whomever is reading this review--to consider), but in general this guide gives readers a cornucopia of excellent restaurants and hotels to choose from.

Customer Review: I'll sound like a cheapskate but...

the Michelin Guides in Europe, for the most part, are thousands of pages long (2,010 for France, 1,300 for Italy) and are similar in price to the individual guides for San Francisco/Napa, LA, and Las Vegas, none of which are more than 350 pages. I'd really like to see a combo California-Nevada guide. Come to think of it, an "East Coast" (Bos-Wash) guide would be great too. Geographically the populated part of California + the more populated parts of Nevada are about the same size, though only about 75% as populous, as France. The Northeast corridor is similar in population and even smaller geographically, so why not give us a comparable deal? I'd feel a lot better about shelling out the dough every year or two if the US guides had expanded coverage.

Anyway, the guide for San Francisco is well done and worth buying if you live there or get there often. The LA guide I found to be lacking in review quality and to some degree writing style. I don't know anything about Vegas restaurants.

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