My favorite journeys are culinary based: India, New York, Vietnam, Paris, Nova Scotia, Morocco, Jordan, New Orleans. San Francisco, the ravishing city by the bay, is tantalizing for a foodie -— tantalizing and maddening in equal measures.

That's because there is simply no way to visit all the cafes and markets, high-end restaurants and hole-in- the-walls, old favorites and newcomers that beckon. The quest to eat without wasting a forkful is all consuming.

Fortunately, I was headed to a city where I have a food-obsessed friend. With just four days, I wanted to make every bite count. So Bradley and I did a lot of emailing prior to my visit, poring over blogs, reading articles, consulting fellow travelers. He helped me narrow my choices.

A16

Bradley scored reservations at A16 in the fashionable Marina neighborhood for our first meal. This chic, inviting trattoria has received lots of national ink for its Campania cuisine. Neither of us is particularly knowledgeable about Italian wine, but we knew we wanted to drink a structured, complex, earthy red, so we left it to our waitress to select a carafe. The starter of local (Pt. Reyes) sardines, roasted and served with pine nuts, currants and arugula was a successful melding of briny, sweet and bitter. The salsiccia pizza, served piping hot from the wood-burning oven, was a delicious combination of housemade fennel sausage, red peppers, onions, chiles and two cheeses. For dessert, we polished off the chocolate tart with sea salt and extra virgin olive oil; sounds weird, tastes divine.

Pres a Vi

The following day we had a late lunch at Pres a Vi at the Presidio, once a military base and now a park within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In a tightly knit city like San Francisco, the Presidio is an oasis of green, with rolling hills and views of Pacific Ocean. Our table in the attractive "global" restaurant overlooked the domed Palace of Fine Arts. We each ordered flights of white wine (which were three generous glasses) and shared a beet and goat cheese salad and a flavorful flank iron steak prepared Korean style with spicy slaw.

The Palomar Hotel

Dinner was at Fifth Floor in The Palomar Hotel located south of Market. Chef Laurent Manrique's creative takes on the classics of southwestern France have kept it among the city's top tables. Recently refurbished with restrained dark woods, we ate in the attractive lounge (which serves a full menu). The self-serve "honor bar" offers a number of chilled wines and beer; I made my own hibiscus royale by dropping a glazed flower into a champagne flute, kissing it with a bit of ruby colored syrup and fizzing it with rosé champagne—beautiful and not too sweet. I followed that with a cocktail called the Lonsdale, which the bartender made with Junipero gin (made nearby in the 'hood) and muddled basil. Then it was a dizzying and delectable parade of plates paired with equally delectable wines: frogs legs with corn polenta and artichokes; incredibly moist poached chicken breast and thigh with caramelized cantaloupe and butter poached lobster; sour- sweet roasted loin of veal with a thyme-infused carrot purée and macaroni and sweetbread fricassee. The finale? An orange-infused olive oil cake with tangy sheep's milk sherbet.

North Beach

North Beach is known as the Italian neighborhood and I sampled its culinary heritage with a three-hour Local Tastes of the City tour. Owner/guide Tom Medin packs this walking tour with historical highlights and eclectic nibbles from local shopkeepers. Among my favorites: the XOXO Truffles (31 flavors including soy and vegan), the Liguria Bakery with feather-light mushroom focaccia and salumi from La Spiaggia. For lunch, Bradley and I hit the celebrated Yank Sing at the Rincon Center. Sipping jasmine tea and pointing at the goodies displayed on rolling carts, we tucked into imperial walnut salad with purple cabbage, jicama and honey roasted walnuts; baked seabass; snap peas in chili sauce; scallop in a bird's nest of taro; and delicate shrimp dumplings.

Will Hopscotch for Food

Food became a blur during my final hours as I tried to squeeze in a veritable United Nations of Restaurants, hopscotching across neighborhood in Bradley's Mini Cooper. In between meals, I slept at The Westin St. Francis, a venerable hotel in the city's shopping Mecca Union Square.

Nepal is not known for its food scene, but the momos, dumplings stuffed with ground buffalo, curry, ginger, onion and garlic and served in spicy tomato chutney, were delicious at Metro Kathmandu. Conversely, Tartine Bakery in the Mission District, is considred the city's best bakery, with a mouth-watering selection of French pastries and savories. The lines are constant, but the olive cake, gruyere and fresh herb roll and coconut cream tart were worth queuing up for. At Regalito Rosticeria, we enjoyed a cheery brunch of potatoes with chorizo and slow roasted, citrus-marinated pork.

My favorite and most memorable meal was at Shalimar, an Indian-Pakistani restaurant in the Tenderloin, which attracts a mix of blue collar workers, devout Muslims and food fanatics. The place has zero atmosphere -- it's lit like a doctor's office —- and you order at a counter from a newsprint menu. Dishes arrive in no particular order on mismatched, chipped plates. But, the food is spectacular and cheap (keep the paper napkins handy to mop your forehead and BYOB). We lapped up green lentils with cumin and coriander; grass fed lamb with ginger and garlic over onions; fluffy naan; Chicken Jalfrezi (which, according to the menu, can fortify a "Punjabi solider"), sautéed with tomatoes, peppers and onions, cinnamon and cloves; glistening gulab jaman Taj Mahal, doughy balls of milk, cream, nuts and crushed cardamom.

We saved Saturday for the historic Ferry Building Marketplace and weekly Farmer's Market. This food hall features more than 40 shops and restaurants including the Cowgirl Creamy where we purchased cocoa-dusted white cheese and Irish gouda; slurped lemon chicken noodles at Out the Door, the popular takeout arm of the famed Slanted Door Vietnamese restaurant; savored star anise-spiked tarragon grapefruit and pink peppercorn chocolates at Recchuiti Confections; and fondled some of the more than 50 varieties of 'shrooms at Far West Funghi. At one point, I looked up to see a bride and groom walking on the light-flooded, arched mezzanine, a photographer snapping pictures. They must have been foodies.

I capped off my whirlwind gastronomic tour with a rapid-fire ride on the newly launched RocketBoat. Dubbed a "blast on the bay," the sleek, open-air 70-foot boat has multiple daily departures from Pier 39 on the Embarcadero. The 30-minute, high-speed thrill ride—it engine sounds like an airplane taking off and it felt like a rollercoaster on the water—whizzes past lolling sea lions, zooms under the Bay Bridge, around Treasure Island and skirts Alcatraz, before zipping by AT & T Park.

There's time to catch your breath as the boat slows to take in the panorama of the San Francisco skyline. And, as ever, there's time to plan future culinary adventures in the city.