What We Miss Most: San Francisco Bay Area Edition
If you’re the way we are here at Resy, you’ve been spending the past weeks thinking every day about your favorite restaurants. What do we miss most about them? What are we most looking forward to returning to, as they begin to fully reopen for dining? Yes, there’s plenty of takeout and delivery to enjoy, groceries and wine to buy, and lots of other ways to support the restaurants we love. But nothing beats the experience of being in a restaurant, enjoying the dishes you adore.
We’ve compiled a list of just some of our favorite things about dining in the Bay Area that we’re hoping to get back to soon.
- Zuni Cafe. Chicken and Bloody Marys.
- The bread, the light at Outerlands.
- Fish in chile oil at Old Mandarin Islamic. Also the “egg surface,” the lamb skewers, the cold noodles, the lamb riblets, and especially the group meals.
- A perfect, quiet breakfast at Boulettes Larder.
- The panoramic view of a bustling Market Street from Charmaine’s, paired with those Bon Vivant cocktails.
- Experiencing a revolutionary kind of fine dining at Pim Techamuanvivit’s Nari.
- Kuy teav phnom penh set to a retro Cambodian rock soundtrack at Nyum Bai.
- Radishes and butter at Al’s Place.
- A double order of sheng jian bao at China Live, just because.
- Burger, medium-rare, at the Nopa bar, at midnight, plus a glass of Beaujolais.
- That feeling when the Notify Resy comes through for Hina Yakitori or Ju-Ni.
- Watching the pizza show at Del Popolo.
- Sit-down breakfast at Dol Ho with the taro puffs and black-bean ribs.
- Revisiting an old friend at the reborn Aziza, trying to figure out what’s new and old in the remodeled space, and experiencing Mourad Lahlou’s Moroccan cooking all over again.
- Sardine chips at Rich Table.
- A quiet mid-afternoon spent with natural wine and Michael Tusk’s snacks at Verjus.
- The full Lers Ros experience, including but not limited to pad kra prow moo krob (pork belly stir-fried with basil) and nuer tod (sun-dried beef).
- Prubechu‘s crash course in the cultures of Guam and the Marianas Islands.
- The hearth at Christopher Kostow’s Charter Oak, and how it feels like that restaurant has become the town square of St. Helena.
- Dutch crunch barbecue pork buns at Mister Jiu’s.
- The sheer luck and subsequent joy of scoring two bar seats at Flour + Water.
- Piperade chef-owner Gerald Hirigoyen’s knack for helping you understand what rustic cuisine really means at his Basque destination.
- Taco trucks.
- Feeling like a VIP at ABV‘s upstairs bar, Over Proof.
- Marveling at the endless beautiful design touches at Rintaro, and then marveling at the food.
- The Coi tasting menu that changed the course of California cuisine.
- One of the window seats at Dear Inga.
- Getting shrimp tostadas from Mariscos La Costa on the way to Oakland Airport.
- The wings and nam tok beans at Kin Khao.
- How every visit to True Laurel starts with a patty melt and a cocktail, but then you always find a new dish to love, too.
- The comforting simplicity and filtered daytime light at Cafe Chez Panisse.
- The cocktails and perfect neighborhood vibes at Pearl 6101.
- All the Chartreuse and duck at the Morris.
- A nightcap at Linden Room after a memorable evening next door at Nightbird.
- A long power lunch at Mourad.
- The way that Petit Crenn puts on a Brittany dinner party every night.
- Aged meats at Birdsong. (The aged duck pot pie is a nice substitute in the interim, though!)
- Chabaa Thai‘s yum naen kao tod.
- The escapism of the room at Ippuku.
- The littles touches — and the pasta tasting menu — at SPQR.
- Cala‘s trout tostada; also anything from Tacos Cala.
- The flow of the produce-centric tasting menu at Lord Stanley. Also the onion petals.
- The energy of a slammed brunch at Brenda’s.
- Lazy afternoon cocktails and snacks at Elda.
- The sounds and smell of the charcoal broiler at Original Joe’s.
- The fruit bowl at Angler.
- The singularity and polish of an evening within the cozy confines of Acquerello.
- Japanese breakfast at Cassava.
- Pop tarts at Foreign Cinema.
- And last but not least, a scoop of ice cream from Mitchell’s.
