The April Hit List: Chez Panisse, Wahpepah’s Kitchen, Ernest

The godmother of California cuisine. Longtime champion of the locavore movement. The one and only Chez Panisse has finally reopened. The fires are lit for the first time in two years, but the deal is the same: Downstairs, you have the more formal restaurant, serving up a set menu of the season’s best. And upstairs, you have the cafe (click here to make a Resy for the cafe), where you’ll enjoy a slightly more casual setting with an a la carte menu featuring the same pristine produce. Plus, there’s pizza, too.

Ernest just celebrated its one-year anniversary  — congratulations to the team. It’s truly one of the best new restaurants to hit San Francisco, and all you need to do is pick the menu option of “Let The Kitchen Cook For You” to find out why. Other new delicious things to hit the menu in recent weeks include bluefin tuna with ponzu; barbecue pork neck with bahri dates and hot mustard; and for dessert, a banana shaved ice.

Come see what Crystal Wahpepah is cooking up at her Native American restaurant in Fruitvale, and why she is a James Beard finalist for the country’s top emerging chef. Blue corn waffles to start, then move to bison meatballs with berry sauce from the game section, and perhaps mushroom-pumpkin seed mole with oyster mushrooms and tortillas if you’re hungry. Acorn flour chocolate chip cookies for dessert? Yes, please.

If you’re unable to score a reservation at the popular Che Fico, try your luck downstairs at the Alimentari, where there’s lots of overlap in the menus and you can eat just as well. Don’t snooze on the braised puntarelle antipasti, which you could perhaps pair with a roasted leg of lamb secondi. More info on Che Fico Alimentari.

You don’t need us to tell you Mister Jiu’s is one of the best restaurants in San Francisco, and you don’t need the James Beard Foundation to tell you Brandon Jew is one of the Best Chefs in California. What you need to do is make a Resy and find out just why for yourself. Hint: Order everything from the dumplings, noodles, and rice section. You can’t go wrong.

Eating extra large, extra cheesy and super earthy mushroom pizza pies in the back patio in a literal rose garden on a sunny Sunday at Rose’s is a guaranteed good time, but you’d be lucky to be able to do so in their well-designed dining room, too. Add a salad to the mix and perhaps a budino for dessert and you’re in good shape.

Eating at this fine dining French-California restaurant is like stepping into another dimension, with its black-tinted windows and busy dining room. Get the tasting menu, or choose your own adventure and pick your own courses. But whatever you do: don’t, don’t snooze on the soufflé. It’s a classic for a reason.

At just five seats, Sushi Aoba might be the smallest sushi counter in The City, maybe even the Bay Area. What’s more: behind the counter is chef Sachio Kojima, who hails from Hokkaido, and has been doing sushi for over 40 years. This is a special omakase extravaganza, an experience worth the splurge if you can get a seat. More info on Sushi Aoba. 

Have you explored all the drinks at downtown Oakland’s cocktail hotspot Sobre Mesa yet? If not, what are you waiting for? The drinks aren’t gonna’ drink themselves. If you’re lucky, you might spot Top Chef alum Nelson German in action.

There may not be pizza at Sam’s Pizza & Burgers (618 Broadway), but that is a-okay: you’re here for the burger anyway. Get the Bourdain special, which comes with a large double cheese burger, steak fries, and a beer. It’s a big boy and is easily sharable, so grab a buddy and another brew and split it down the middle. No reservations.

Let’s say you just finished a big bowl of cioppino at Anchor Oyster Bar and you now need to satisfy your sweet tooth: head to Aegean Delights just down the street. This 10-month hybrid store/sweets shop has a long counter filled with literal Turkish delights as well as perhaps some of the best baklava in San Francisco, sourced from a bakery in San Jose. They’re flaky, filled with pistachio, and not too sweet. A true gem. More info on Aegean Delights.