Where to Eat
Fine restaurants can be found in all the city's neighborhoods, and most still rely on fresh, local ingredients for their appeal rather than foams and liquid nitrogen. The city's eatery du jour is Myth, a California-French bistro with a New York vibe in North Beach; former mayor Willie Brown and producer George Lucas are regulars. The sleekly modern Ame, in the St. Regis, serves Japanese-inflected seafood dishes in a dining room that's neither deafeningly noisy nor so quiet that your own conversation will be overheard. The supremely elegant and convivial Boulevard, in the Financial District, has long been a favorite spot for wooing clients or celebrating hard-won deals. Former Google head chef Charlie Ayers swears by Bistro Elan, in Palo Alto, for its innovative menu by chef Ambjorn Lindskog, who had been a nuclear engineer before he donned a toque.

Where to See and Be Seen
Slide, an unmarked club near the Clift Hotel, is partially owned by Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams. Mighty and Vessel are two other nightclubs where Web 2.0 companies' finest, or at least most ambitious, can be found lounging about to thumping house music. Too old—or too proud—to subject yourself to the once-over by a bouncer? Coffee shops provide a more egalitarian mingling space. Ritual Coffee Roasters, in the Mission District, is practically a conference room for local dot-com employees, while venture capitalists mainline their caffeine at cozy Café Lo Cubano, in Laurel Heights.

Where to Close a Deal
In the Bay Area, mornings are the preferred time for deal making, and the godfather of all breakfast places is kitschy Buck's Restaurant, in Woodside, where Netscape was founded and PayPal got funded. San Francisco venture capitalists, meanwhile, flock to Town's End Restaurant and Bakery, with sweeping views of the bay from the lower part of the Embarcadero.

Local Codes
Don't joke about the dot-com crash unless your contact does first: You never know who might have had to pull the plug on a comatose start-up or who has seen a dream project get tarred and feathered with the same broad brush. And while the male denizens of San Francisco and Silicon Valley still tend to dress more casually for work than even business casual implies, that doesn't mean sloppy, and it doesn't mean that they won't throw a sport coat over that vintage T-shirt to meet a potential client or investor.

Airport Insider
Those arriving or departing from San Francisco International Airport during rush hour should consider taking the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train, which now stops inside the airport and will get you downtown in under half an hour. If you're stuck with a long delay, head for the airport's International Terminal, which has a 24-hour business center and some excellent eateries, including Ebisu, an outpost of a wildly popular sushi restaurant near Golden Gate Park.