The Bay Area has it all

-- Harry's Bar -- Located in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, Harry's Bar combines an intimate bar atmosphere bustling with people whether it's lunch or dinner. And the food is not only full of flavor, but also local and sustainable. While the portions may seem small, they leave you anything but hungry. Try the Kobe beef sliders, smoked ham sandwich and macaroni and cheese.

http://www.harrysbarsf.com/

-- Tropisueno -- Tropisueno is great Mexican restaurant near Yerba Buena Gardens that features beautiful ranch decor. The fresh tortilla chips are hard to resist. Their traditional Mexican menu features many favorites and whether it's their ceviche, tamales, chile verde or chicken with mole, it all satisfies the tastebuds.

http://tropisueno.com/

-- Legendary Palace -- This Chinese restaurant in Oakland is one of my top choices for dim sum. If you're not familiar with dim sum, it's served until mid-afternoon and consists of small plates. Legendary Palace has great versions of many of the traditional dim sum offerings - siu mai, har gau, char siu bau, fung zao, jin dui, lo bak go to name a few. Take someone who knows dim sum, if you don't, unless you're willing to just try things, since the staff mostly speaks Chinese.