Ethnic Eats in SF Bay

[pontormo]

I am planning about a week long trip to the SF Bay Area. I am looking for very authentic/ethnic eats, Chinese (especially Dim Sum), Vietnamese (especially if they have good pho), Indian and Italian. I am open to just about anything, but am partial to independent/Mom and Pops and I stay away from all "chain" restaurants. Also, I will be visiting in very early March, and am not sure how comfortable it is to eat outside at that time of year, but if it is, info about places with outdoor seating would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[rworange]

I see from your profile you are new to Chowhound and probably from the East. A good place to start is to read this which would also have helpful hints for your home board
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/469166

Good for getting an early start. However in all that time lots can happen on the restaurant scene. That is good news because if you follow the board over the next couple of months you will learn about the local food scene ... what is the latest and greatest ... what has closed ... changes in chefs/cooks.

A good suggestion would be to sign up for the free SF Chow Digest ... which is also online here
http://www.chow.com/digest/tag/san+francisco+bay+area

If you sign up you can get a weekly email. Or check the Digest weekly on Friday when the SF edition comes out.

An easier search might be to do a search on the Places data base
http://www.chow.com/places/regions/1

As you scroll down there are categories by cuisine. Some restaurants have brief blurbs .. most dont. However, if you select a restaurant you can get linked reports and often the website. One stop you might consider is the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmers market. This is a good example of a place record with links to the website and reports
http://www.chow.com/places/16736

You can narrow down your searches ... not all records are completely filled in but searching on ... SF Outdoor... will give you these results ... which is a good example of restaurants with little comments attached
http://www.chow.com/search?search%5Bq...

The Bay Area is a big place. You can narrow your search down by city and in some cases neighborhood and price. It might not get everything ... it depends how much users fill out the place record ... but it should get you quite a bit. For example, search on ...

Berkeley Indian inexpensive
SF dim sum moderate

It is hard to say what March will be like. Some years it is nothing but rain. The weather is on the cool side but many outdoor patios have heat lamps.

Be sure to report back ... and on your home board. That gets us familiar with the type of food you like and also helps keep the info on the board fresh.

[Ruth Lafler]

Many outdoor patios have heat lamps because it can be cold at night any time of year. And I think it was last year that the hottest day of the year was in March. Best to read the weather report before you pack.

[pontormo]

thank you very much, everyone, for your suggestions. I have signed up for the SF newsletter, and will eagery await them. I can't wait to visit your city!

[Robert Lauriston]

Use the "search this board" feature to search for title:ethnic, title:"dim sum", title:vietnamese, title:outdoor, etc. For example:

http://www.chow.com/search?search[que...