In general in SF you can expect prices to be a bit higher than LA but also the food to be better. Delfina in the Mission is fun and not too expensive. It's right by Dolores Park, which is nice if you get lucky with the weather. You can also go grab some Bi-rite ice cream down the street, a fun local thing.

Mexican food in SF is weaksauce compared with LA, but the good news is there are a billion decent Salvadorian joints in the Mission where you can get some cheap pupusas. Always good.

More pricey but really good is Slanted Door at the Ferry Building. Really tasty Vietnamese fusion. Shaking Beef is their most famous dish. There's a more casual, cheaper, still really good version of the restaurant at the Westfield shopping center down the street (Market at Powell st. Station) called Out the Door. Doesn't have the beef dish but still excellent and an old standby for me and the wife.

There's a fancy farmers market at the ferry bldg on Saturday mornings that's got some good food stalls too. Outside in back there's amfancy-pants Mexican stall that makes good tamales and breakfast (the chilequiles are really good). You're paying rich person farmers market prices but it's very good.

If you feel like a truly epic meal there's Suppenkuche (German) in Hayes Valley. You will be full for a LONG time after eating there.

Avoid eating in the fishermans wharf area, all the restaurants suck (except for In n Out). Make the trek to the ferry building or North Beach instead. I can vouch for Steps of Rome in N.B., at least the cafe part. Fun place to kill a bottle of wine esp. if the weather holds out.

If you go to the GG park area there are a lot of options. On the north side of the park is the Richmond. There's a good Burmese place called Burma Superstar. Really unique, get the tea leaf salad. If you feel like a fancy French dinner there's Chapeau which we went to a few times and was always good. Might need reservations there though.

On the south side of the park (my old hood), Park Chow is a really good, unpretentious organic diner. Their desserts are really good, especially the cobbler. It can also be fun to grab a cheap sandwich from the Vietnamese sandwich shop, Irving Cafe, which is at Irving and 22nd or 23rd, and take it into the park for an easy picnic. I like their bam sandwiches personally.

If you end up in the East Bay it's a whole other world. By Berkeley there's a really good pizza joint called Jupiter. They have super fresh ingredients and also brew their own beer which is excellent. More in the north Berkeley area you have the cheese board for co-op pizza and Gregoire's, this teeny French takeout place. Super rich, super tasty food there. I don't know much in Oakland but should you find yourself there, Bakesale Betty's is good for lunch. They only have like three things on the menu, the main one being the fried chicken sandwich. It's huge and really decadent.