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People in San Francisco like waiting in lines for food (a lot). Sometimes, that wait is worth it. While You Wait, SFist's guide for how to pass the time while trying to get into San Francisco's most ridiculously popular restaurants, is here to help.

Minimum wait time at San Tung for party of four, Wednesday, 7:00 PM: "For four people?! Who knows! [click]."

You know what’s great about San Francisco? People don’t just line up for Michelin-starred, famous-chef-run, potentially overrated hot spots. No, in this city, you can count on people to line up for less ostentatious spots, more often than not for one specific, cult food item. Like chicken wings.

I’m talking about San Tung, of course, the Inner Sunset Chinese restaurant that has gotten so known for their wings that they've been driven to open a second outpost in order to contain the hoards of chicken-loving patrons. What’s more, tourists have caught on to the Legend of the San Tung wings, making things even more crowded.

Our advice: show up at an off-hour, rather than a full-blown meal time. But should you find yourself with an undeniable hankering for San Tung wings circa 6 pm on a Saturday, you’ll be fighting through some crowds to get them.

If you get in, you will order the dry fried chicken wings. They’re saucy, much more so than the dry fried description would imply, but meaty, crisp, and brimming with flavor. San Tung has a $7 per person ordering minimum, so plan on ponying up for some noodles, or greens in garlic sauce, or similar. Or, just get another order of wings to go. You waited for them after all, and cold wings are delicious for breakfast.

Now, all you need to do is pass the time until your chicken wing dreams become a reality. Where to do it?

Hour One: Nopalito

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Hitting up the Inner Sunset location of Nopalito at the beginning of your wait may seem foolish, but showing up here any later will make you want to eat dinner at the noted restaurant. We can’t say enough good things about Nopalito’s flavorful, seasonal brand of high-end Mexican cuisine — the ceviche is divine, the carnitas even better, and don’t even get us started on their brunch dishes. Since you’re saving yourself for wings, limit yourself to an excellent mezcal cocktail and an order of totopes — the fresh-fried corn chips are doused in a bright, fresh tomato sauce and covered with a generous serving of queso fresco.

Nopalito, 1224 9th Avenue (beween Lincoln & Irving), 415-233-9966

Hour Two: The Little Shamrock

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As we learned with much-maligned Mission Chinese, board games are an important key to the restaurant waiting game. Get your Inner Sunset distraction on at The Little Shamrock, a classic Irish pub with pitchers of beer, a respectable cocktail selection, and the aforementioned games to keep you going. If you’re feeling particularly aggressive, you can opt for a rousing game of darts, too.

The Little Shamrock, 807 Lincoln Way (at 9th Avenue), 415-661-0060

Hour Three: Social Kitchen and Brewery

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Now that you’ve gotten all your rage out over an aggressive round of Monopoly, take a deep breath and head to Social Kitchen + Brewery for some filling, neighborhood-brewed beer. You’ll find a nice selection of appetizer-friendly snacks, too — just say no to the sriracha hot wings (because that’s just overkill), and try the brussels sprouts chips or mushroom empanadas instead. If you’re lucky, they might be having an in-house brewer event, too — try not to take your hanger out on the nice beer people.

Social Kitchen and Brewery, 1326 9th Avenue (at Irving), 415-681-0330

Hour Four… Wait, You Have to Wait Outside the Whole Time?: Yummy Yummy

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The problem with waiting at non-trendy, famous-chef-run restaurants? They don’t really care about making their waiting patrons happy. Or, they won’t be texting you when your table is ready, anyway. Which makes it pretty easy to get distracted by the wealth of food-drink-board games abound in the neighborhood (and completely forget about San Tung #2… crap). Lost your spot, and your motivation? No big deal. Head next door to Yummy Yummy, where you’ll delicious, steaming bowls of pho the size of a small child. Their beef broth is some of the best in the city — it’s balanced, flavorful, and delicate. Didn't you really want pho more than wings anyway? Yummy Yummy closes at 9 so plan your dinner, and waiting, accordingly.

Yummy Yummy, 1015 Irving (between 11th & 12th Avenues), 415-566-4722

Super Bowl Sunday is almost here. Though some of you are still sore from the 49ers NFC Championship Game loss, the game must go on. If you plan on watching the game, as you very well should, here are our favorite spots for wings. Failing that, we have a couple of other options as well.

Wing Wings
If the name didn't tip you off, Wing Wings in the Lower Haight has a pretty narrow menu focus, but they are totally serious about their chicken knuckles. With nine rubs or sauces to choose from, you can piece together an impressive spread from their takeout menu. (The traditional Buffalo style are a crowd pleaser, but the dry rub and the Angry Korean are also big winners.) Round out the feast with Old Bay-seasoned fries, macaroni salad and an order of fried Oyster mushrooms. Pro-tip: On big game days order around kickoff time and your goods will arrive, bike courier-delivered just before the half. — Andrew Dalton
422 Haight (between Webster & Fillmore)

Hot Sauce and Panko
One of several spots in the city focused on wings and only wings, this outpost in the Richmond is a wing-lover's dream. They offer a dozen varieties of expertly fried and coated wings, including sticky pepper with garlic, Kentucky-yaki (bourbon and terikyaki), Old Bay with Sriracha caramel, hot chili crunch (pictured), and the namesake Panko 2.0, which is drenched in tonkatsu sauce. The only other things they serve are fries, and a couple of sandwiches with fried chicken karaage (and one with fried cod). Do note that they keep slightly odd hours (noon to 6:30 Wed-Thur and Sat, noon to 7 on Friday, noon to 5:30 on Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday). But you can order wing delivery via Postmates, so that's nice. — Jay Barmann
1545 Clement Street (at 17th Avenue)

Kezar Pub
Long known for being one of the few places open early enough to catch live European soccer matches, Kezar's other claim to fame is their buffalo chicken wings. We're not sure what sort of mutant chickens they get their wings from, but they're simply massive. Burgers, garlic fries and other greasy items will help soak up the beer you're drinking by the pitcher, just remember to show up early (like real early) if you want a table. If things look too packed, try their sister bar Mad Dog in the Fog in the Lower Haight. — Andrew Dalton
770 Stanyan (at Waller)

Hi Tops
Among the many things that the Castro's popular, one-year-old sports bar does well are their tangy and spicy Buffalo wings. They come well drenched with house-made Buffalo sauce, which is not extremely spicy but super rich and dare we say complex, with a choice of ranch or blue cheese on the side. And as an added bonus, they come with some great pickled carrots and celery to cleanse the palate. — Jay Barmann
2247 Market (at Sanchez)

Giordano Bros.
You can get your wings BBQ or Buffalo style at this popular sports bar with Mission and North Beach outposts, but we'd recommend the nicely spicy Buffalo ones. The come dusted with some chives, all classy like, and blue cheese on the side. And you should note that you can ask for wing sauce on your sandwiches here for an additional 50 cents. — Jay Barmann
3108 - 16th Street (at Mission), and 303 Columbus (at Broadway)

And because wing aren't everything, Rose Garrett has a couple of other ideas...

The Phoenix
Though it's located in the heart of the buzzy Valencia strip, The Phoenix is no trendy johnny-come-lately, but rather a classic Irish pub with a solid sit-down menu and plenty of screens to catch the game. Shepherds pie, bangers and mash, and homemade Irish Colcannon with caramelized onion, kale, buttermilk mash and grilled Irish bacon join pub grub standbys like onion rings, spicy chicken wings and the Phoenix's signature Irish potato nachos. — Rose Garrett
811 Valencia (between 19th Street & Cunningham Place)

(Photo: Yelp)

The Taco Shop at Underdogs
Tacos may just be the chicken wings of the west, and The Taco Shop delivers them in appropriate fashion. A spinoff of Nick's Crispy Tacos, this menu has modern classics like baja fish tacos or carne asada served "Nick's way" with a grilled crispy corn tortilla wrapped in a soft tortilla with Monterey Jack cheese, pinto beans, pico de gallo and lots of guacamole. Pair that with a beer and stool at the bar to watch the game, and you've got a winning combo. — Rose Garrett
1824 Irving (at 19th Avenue)

Jay Barmann, Andrew Dalton, and Rose Garret contributed to this article.

After getting bounced last spring by the Detroit Red Wings for another second round playoff collapse, the refrain from the Sharks brass, coaches, and players during the off- and pre-season has been: consistency and resiliency. With twelve games under their belts in this young season, the San Jose Sharks currently sit atop the decidedly mediocre Pacific division, and unfortunately have shown many of the same problems that supposedly led to their playoff exit last year.

Case in point: they've been stomped by the Red Wings in both games they've played so far this year. Sharks fans have been denied a symbolic payback, and the Sharks brass can't be too happy with the way the team played against their Detroit playoff tormenters, either.

The only real consolation so far is that the Sharks have played an NHL-high number of games on the road, and are still a game above .500.

Photo by Jon Swenson of Sharkpage

Well. Um. *cough* Err. Yuck. This going to sting for a while.

The Sharks are going to have a lot to think about this off-season, as they once again collapsed in the playoffs after taking a series lead. They were 30 seconds away from a commanding 3-1 lead in Game 4, but then collectively lost their minds, with some stand-out individual mind-losing efforts as well. They not only allowed Robert Lang to tie the score with barely half a minute left in that game, but were dominated in the subsequent overtime.

They lost the game in OT thanks to an outstanding goal on the power-play by Wings defenseman Mathieu Schneider. With Craig Rivet in the box for a needless delay-of-game penalty thanks to a clearing attempt from the Sharks zone that went over the glass, which is now an automatic 2 minute penalty (I'm betting that will change over the off-season), Schneider gloved a weak clearing attempt right up center ice by normally reliable Scott Hannan. Schneider then dropped the puck to his stick, and launched a shot that deflected off a Sharks player and into the left-top corner of the net.

More stupidity followed in Game 5, with Nabokov literally giving away the game and the series with an attempt to play the puck at center ice with Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk bearing down on the loose puck. Nabby, for reasons still unclear to us, tried to clear the puck past Datsyuk, instead of away from him. Datsyuk blocked the clearing attempt with his body, corralled the loose puck, and calmly tapped it in the gaping net to break a tie-score.

By Ian, contributing

We're three games into the Sharks-Red Wings series, and so far it's been like watching a couple of dogs tussle in Duboce Park: it's competitive, but not exactly fun to watch. The Sharks got two quick goals in Game 1, then endured a Wings onslaught for the win, thanks to stellar goaltending from Evgeni Nabokov. In Game 2, the Sharks went for seconds, going up by two goals in the first period before going into a shell. But that second plate never is quite as good as the first, and Detroit dominated play, battled back to tie the score, and got a late goal by Pavel Datsyuk on a broken play for the win.

The Sharks decided to switch things up in Game 3 back at the Shark Tank. Sounds good right? Except their new game plan was to go down by a goal in the first after looking confused for long stretches of play that didn't involve Joe Thornton. For almost exactly 30 minutes, San Jose couldn't put a clean pass through the neutral zone, couldn't get much extended pressure, couldn't win a battle on the boards in their own zone, and just generally looked like they didn't know what they were doing. After they tied the score, the roles reversed, and the Sharks completely controlled play for the remaining 30 minutes.

Dominik Hasek, the Wings goalie, has looked beatable when the Sharks are able to work from the hash-marks in, leaving rebounds on the weak- side, and doing his trademark prone-flopping-around act. But unlike when the Dominator was in his prime, his reaction time is a tad slower, and he relies on the tight Detroit defense to clear off the rebounds and tie-up the Sharks shooters. When Ryan Clowe tied the game, he fluttered a weak shot just past the glove of a sprawling Hasek. In 1997, that's not a goal.

Photo courtesy of P.J. Swenson at Sharkspage

By Ian, contributing

Series Backstory
The hockey commentariat all think the Sharks-Wings series is going to be a good one, and most think the Sharks will win in 6 or 7 games. The Wings are dealing with injuries to Tomas Holmstrom, their tough, net-crashing shot-tipper, and D-man Frank Lebda, who was sucker- punched by Daymond Langkow in round 1, and is suffering from post- concussion symptoms. The Sharks are, miraculously, injury-free right now, although Jonathan Cheechoo isn't 100% after the knee-injury from Game 1 of the Nashville series.

By Ian, contributing

The Sharks dispatched the Mustard Men in 5 games, which makes the series seem a lot less close than it was. 3 of the games were decided by one goal, with Game 1 in double overtime. Even Game 2, the Predators 5-2 win, was not decided until late in the 3rd period. Nashville's undisciplined play (they led all playoff teams with almost 30 minutes of penalties per game) was their undoing, even though the Sharks power play was more or less ineffective, and often frankly ugly to watch. But it was one more way to wear down the Nashville defenders, and keep their skill players on the bench. Patrick Marleau again scored some big goals, and Joe Thornton took the first step toward erasing his playoff-choker reputation with dominating play and 6 points in the series.

Nashville wasn't the only team to distinguish itself with dirty play in this year's playoffs. The Calgary Flames managed to steal the spotlight by having their backup goalie come in to play lumberjack to the Detroit Red Wings Johan Franzen's, umm, old growth redwood late in Game 5 of their series (Franzen, fittingly, scored the series winner in Game 6). Then the Flames' Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow got in the act late in the game (cross-checking plus slashing and sucker-punching, respectively). Classy. Brad May of the Anaheim Ducks got a 3 game suspension for sucker-punching the back of Minnesota Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson (who is both emphatically not a pugilist, and happened to be Minnesota's best D man), which then caused a multi-player dust-up between the Ducks and Wild during the *pre-game skate* of Game 5 in their series.

By Ian, contributing

starts off with an argument between Knightbat and his teen sidekick, Nightbird, both of whom bear a blinding resemblance to another superhero duo (and we're not referring to Superhorse and Supermonkey). Like many a teen before him, Nightbird storms out -- NOBODY understands me! -- with Broken Wings' "You Crushed my Soul" playing on his iPod. His redemption comes in the form of a young, enthusiastic boy who dresses up as a butterfly for Halloween and then discovers he can fly (perhaps, it is hinted, because his absentee father is none other than that doofus, Superdupe). When the lads are attacked by patronizing Hipster Ghosts ("they come out when they sense something sincere might happen"), Nightbird leads an attack while Butterfly strips them of their powers through his sheer force of earnestness ("smile when you're happy!" he yells). And thus, the sidekick gets a sidekick. We love every moment of it.

After the jump: some more hipsters who could use some vanquishing; and some hobos who could use a shower, but decide not to.