The Resy Hit List: Where In San Francisco You’ll Want to Eat Right Now
There’s no question we hear more often: Where should I go eat? And while we at Resy know it’s an honor to be the friend who everyone asks for restaurant advice, we also know it’s a complicated task. That’s where the Resy Hit List comes in.
We’ve designed it to be your essential resource for dining in San Francisco and around the Bay Area: a monthly-updated (and now expanded!) guide to the restaurants that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Four Things In the Bay Area Not to Miss This Month
- Homie Night: Say HBD to the always awesome and vibey Snail Bar — they just turned three last month. In case you need an excuse to revisit, consider checking out one of their Homie Nights, where they fly out some of the best chefs around the world to collaborate on a meal with a special menu. This month on July 28 they have legendary Paris-based chef Akira Siguira, and next month they’re bringing in another chef from Paris, Aaron Rosenthal, a Clamato/Septime alum, to cook on Aug. 18.
- Bento Box Deluxe: Count on the talented chef Sylvan Mishima Brackett, aka Mr. Rintaro, to bust out the most beautifully composed bento boxes. Each set is portioned for two people and the contents will change with the seasons. Right now, he’s celebrating summer, so look for charcoal-grilled tsukune, grilled maitake mushrooms, steamed rapini asparagus and sugar snap peas, and more, artfully arranged in a bamboo husk box. These are available for pickup on weekends between 4 and 4:30 p.m.
- Celebrate The 4th of July: Unsure how we got to July so quickly, but we’re here. And that means this month we celebrate our nation’s 248th birthday. That calls for a celebratory beer. Consider popping over to Fieldwork Brewing: they’ve got nine locations in NorCal, but the OG is the taproom in West Berkeley. Here you can grab some pizza to go with your pilsner — the crispy cheesy crusted Detroit style square pizza, to be precise.
- Slurp on Some Oysters: There’s something magical about downing a bunch of beautiful bivalves. The plump little bellies. The oceanic liqueur. It’s one of life’s little culinary luxuries and is the perfect start to a meal. We of course love our beloved Polk St institution that is Swan Oyster Depot, but for something a little bit more new school, consider heading over to Popi’s in The Marina, where you can get other crudos and caviar to go with your oysters. Or there’s Little Shucker on Fillmore, where you’ll find large plates like whole roasted fish and Dungeness crab rolls.
New to the Hit List (July 2024)
Bar Jabroni, Besharam, Friends & Family, Lunette.
1. Kin Khao Union Square
Chef Pim Techamuanvivit’s wonderful Thai fare at her Michelin-starred Kin Khao never misses. The restaurant’s current chef de cuisine, Chef Adam Sproat, has been with the restaurant for most of its existence and is currently guiding the ship, making sure the Pretty Hot Wings live up to their fiery name, and the khao soi is creamy, coconutty and consistent. There’s really no wrong way to go here—this is one of those restaurants where you’re guaranteed a good time and a good meal no matter what you order. The only thing you’ll need to think about is if you want to go cocktails or wine to pair.
2. Hilda and Jesse North Beach
Hilda and Jesse in North Beach is on fire — a 2024 James Beard Semifinalist, and with a Bib Gourmand from Michelin. This fun restaurant, run by co-owners Richel Sillcocks and chef Kristina Liedags Compton, is rethinking the idea of luxury and fine dining. Check out the seasonally changing Chef’s Adventure menu: five-plus courses that start with bites (hello shrimp toastie!) before moving onto a small plate like hamachi with a bright citrus gelee, followed by a big meaty main like a pork schnitzel with mushroom curry. Consider finishing with a fat stack of pancakes as a supplement — they’re some of the best in the city.
3. Burdell Temescal
There’s no question Burdell was the restaurant opening of 2023 — Geoff Davis’s critically acclaimed comforting California soul-food restaurant received wide accolades, landing a spot on Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America list. Davis is going strong into 2024: The recent addition of rich rib-sticking braised oxtails with bone marrow will keep you warm through the winter, while you’ll want to quickly revisit the bar-only fried chicken sandwich, dusted with an umami powder and served on a seeded croissant. If general manager Omar White is there, ask him for his pairing of choice — he doubles as the restaurant’s beverage director.
4. DAYTRIP Temescal
A party restaurant? Sign us up. Stella Dennig and chef Finn Stern’s colorful and high energy space is rad, and their ever-changing menu of fermentation-driven fare is unique and unlike anything you’ve ever had. Gnocchi made is with parnsips in lieu of potatoes and is served with an oyster and ouzo cream topped with bright shiny pearls of trout roe that pop. Steak frites au poivre tartare? Clever. Don’t forget the celebrated celery salad and the miso butter pasta, of course. Unique. Interesting. Delicious. Daytrip is everything and more. Don’t forget to stock up on wine — the restaurant doubles as a bottle shop that specializes in low-intervention, minimal intervention, small producer wines, and sakes too.
5. Bar Jabroni Lower Haight
From the folks that brought you hoagie heaven aka Palm City, is this tiny, intimate wine bar disguised as a restaurant. Co-owner and wine professional Dennis Cantwell was the former wine director at Nopa, and he’s put together a nice list of by the glass and by the bottle offerings, everything from grower Champagne to nice natty (hello Matassa). To pair, chef Robert Hernandez (former chef de cuisine at Octavia) has created a menu that allows you to pop in for a few bites or stay a while and make a meal out of it all. Start light with oysters or crudos before moving to pastas made in-house like gnudi and fettuccine, and meaty mains — it’s always changing, and it’s always delicious.
6. Ernest Mission
Rich Table alum Chef Brandon Rice just might be a culinary genius. The globally-inspired food at his Mission restaurant consistently makes you say, “Wow I want to eat that.” (We promise we won’t judge if you’re talking to yourself at the table.) Whether it’s soft, pillowy mini-donuts dusted with seaweed powder to go with the caviar set, or luscious little cuts of bluefin tuna paired with a sukiyaki egg yolk to dip, or the ever changing seasonally topped fried rice set, his food just hits hard, dropping flavor bombs all night long. Go with the “let the kitchen cook for you” option, which is unreasonably good deal for the amount of food—you’ll be rolling home, happy and full.
7. Bar Gemini Mission District
There’s so much to love about Bar Gemini, the charming intimate little wine bar deep in the heart of The Mission. First: the vibe. They get the lighting right, especially at night, where it’s dark but not too dark. This makes for a real nice date night. Pull up to the counter or nab a wooden booth, order a glass or a carafe or a bottle, and grab some snacks prepared by the wonderful and talented chef Brandon Rice from nearby Ernest Restaurant (We LOVE the cacio e pepe deviled eggs — do not miss). Lately, they’ve been hosting a lot of different and interesting pop-ups, so keep an eye on their Instagram where they post their calendar to find the right one for you.
8. Sushi Salon Oakland
When it comes to sushi counters, the smaller the better. And with just eight seats, the intimate Sushi Salon is where we want our omakase experience. Chef Joji Nonaka is the real deal: he spent years at the famed Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo practicing the art of fish butchery before coming to the Bay Area to cook at various restaurants. The extra special thing here is the fish, sourced from a special “fish concierge” who selects special and rare types of fish rarely seen before, like cherry salmon and snake mackerel. It doesn’t stop there: Nonaka goes to great lengths in sourcing other ingredients, like vinegar from a 130+ year-old craft brewery in Kyoto and soy sauce prepared with traditional wood-fired methods.
9. Restaurant Chez Panisse Berkeley
If you haven’t visited the legendary 53-year-old farm-to-table champion and institution that is Chez Panisse in a minute, now would be a very good time. Our favorite time of the year there is that magical moment when spring becomes summer — the produce gets just so special, and you get the best of both worlds: all the asparagus, favas, and other green things, morel mushrooms (the superlative shroom in our humble opinion), with corn and tomatoes slowly trickling in. Seeing what the cooks and chefs whip up at the temple of produce is certainly a great way to see (and eat) the seasons.
10. Buddy The Mission
One of Esquire’s Best Bars in America in 2023 also happens to be a stunner. Sit at the counter and start with a fun vermouth-based cocktail—we’re partial to the House Campari Soda, a quaffable low-abv cocktail and nod to the legendary Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store in North Beach. Buddy’s version adds a bit of bitter amaro for balance. Order some snacks (those mushrooms!) or come on a Sunday and grab some creatively topped pies from pizza pop-up-in-residence Jules. Order a glass or bottle of something that suits your fancy—we’re partial to something bubbly to pair with pizza, like pét nat or Lambrusco—but you do you.
11. Friends and Family Uptown Oakland
Friends and Family in Oakland has always been one of our favorite bars — it’s always such a good time, the drinks hit hard, and the place has that special color and character; it’s a place where everyone is welcome. But now, we’ve got even more of a reason to love the cocktail bar: they recently brought on the talented chef Gaby Maeda, a Food & Wine Best New Chef class of 2021 and former State Bird Provisions chef. She’s created a creative, exciting, and eclectic menu: eggs marinated in shoyu topped with yuzu kosho and pearls of smoky trout roe, albacore crudo swimming in a tomatillo aguachile, sardine banh mi toast (!), and so much more.
12. Besharam Dogpatch
The menu at chef Heena Patel’s Besharam is massive: you’ll find regional Indian fare inspired by her upbringing in Gujarat as well as her travels throughout the country. In order to try a bit of everything, it’s best to go with the tasting menu — at $75, it’s one of the best deals in town, and you’ll go rolling home. The food is served in waves and is meant to be shared. And if you need lunch plans, she offers more fun and snacky items — chaats and pav vadas and masala burgers and such. Ras malai French toast? Yes please. A fun bonus: the menu is all vegetarian and is vegan-friendly, but after a meal here, you wouldn’t even know it — her cooking is that soulful and satisfying.
13. Lunette Embarcadero
We’re so excited for the opening of Lunette in the Ferry Building. We’ve been a long time fan of La Cocina alum chef Nite Yun — we loved her soulful Cambodian cooking at Nyum Bai, and we’re stoked we can find her fare once again right here in San Francisco. Big brothy bowls of K.T.P.P (Kuy Teave Phenom Penh),a garlicky rice noodle soup with plenty of pork, shrimp, and a steaming eight-hour pork broth is sure to warm you up on a cold foggy San Francisco summer in July. Add a side of KFC (Khmer fried chicken) with kampot peppers along with a funky cabbage salad and you’re in very good shape.
Find more info here.
14. Rose Pizzeria Berkeley
We’re going to go out on a limb and say oysters are the perfect food. They go well as a bite before literally every meal, whether it’s a single shucked bivalve on a tasting menu, or a dozen before you get into the steak and frites at your favorite bistro. These beautiful bivalves even pair well with pizza. At Rose, they come with a Lambrusco mignonette, which just so happens to pair well with — you guessed it — a bottle of Lambrusco, which conveniently happens to pair superbly with pizza. So many winning combinations here, and we haven’t even got to the pizza part: thin and charred, crispy and chewy, Rose’s pies hit all the notes.
15. Outerlands Outer Sunset
Have you really lived in San Francisco if you haven’t braved the Outerlands weekend brunch line for dutch pancakes and cast-iron grilled cheese? It’s a right of passage, really. After you’ve done that, the next move is to make a Resy for dinner, where the menu changes with the seasons but the warm and wooden cozy cool vibe remains the same year-round. Chicken bone broth for the soul. Lamb meatballs, housemade tagliatelle with pork ragu, and roasted chicken. This is California comfort at its best.
16. Flour + Water Mission Gulch
It’s hard to believe that this Mission District mainstay is a teenager. The restaurant opened back in 2009 and still hits hard. It’s dark and intimate, yet manages to remain its high energy. Come as you are, and get the pasta tasting menu: It gives you a good well-rounded tasting of both the ever-changing pastas on the menu, as well mainstays like the tortellini en brodo and creamy buttery taleggio scarpinocc. Ordering a wood-fired pizza supplement is a highly recommended pro move that you won’t regret.
17. Shuggie’s Trash Pie + Natural Wine Mission
What is trash pie, you ask? Oh, let us explain: Shuggie’s mission is to fight food waste and climate change by sourcing ingredients that would otherwise be discarded and upcycling them into deliciousness. So your pizzas might contain a carrot-top pesto, or ugly mushrooms, or zucchini that might have been tossed of slight bruising. They’re throwing those onto super thin and crispy rectangular pies — they’re akin to the grandma style, but still unlike anything you’ve ever had. Pair that with a large selection of fun and funky natural wines in a psychedelic setting and you’ve got a very fun, very delicious good time. Make sure you say hi to Beef the bulldog.
18. Zeitgeist Misson
We couldn’t think of a better way to spend a rare sunny day in The Mission than in the beer garden in the back of Zeitgeist. Grab a few friends and share an ice-cold pitcher (they have 60-plus beers on tap — one of the largest and best selections in the city). Sure, there’s a crispy, lacy, cheesy smashburger, of course, but so much other fun pub grub, like Nashville-hot fried chicken sandwiches, chips and queso, Buffalo wings, and pizza rolls! (Their exclamation;ours too.) They make this nostalgic snack in-house, filled with crowd-pleasing pepperoni and melty stretchy mozzarella, ideal to pair with a glassful.
Find more info here.
19. Zuni Café Hayes Valley
Often imitated, never duplicated, Zuni is timeless, a San Franciscan institution. We could eat at Zuni every single day and be perfectly happy — its current chef, Anne Alvero, makes multiple runs to the farmers market and changes the menu daily with specials, which are nice to have while you wait for your iconic chicken to be roasted to order. (Yes, even if you think you’re not going to get the chicken, you’ll do so anyway.) Add some crispy shoestring French fries, some oysters, and a bottle of Burgundy, and take your time.
Find more info here.
20. Ofena Merced Manor
From Tan Truong, the restaurateur who brought you Juni and , comes this modern Italian restaurant, which opened on Ocean Ave in Lakeside Village last September. To execute the menu, Truong brought on executive chef Tim Humphrey, who spent time at the Restaurant at Meadowood, amongst other great Wine Country spots. At lunch, look for sandwiches and interesting items like fried mozzarella carozza served with a side of spicy marinara sauce (the OG mozzarella sticks, really). Meanwhile, dinner brings large menu of interesting pastas, like gnocchi carbonara with duck prosciutto and crispy duck skin, as well as large meaty mains (secondis, if you’re speaking Italian) like pork bistecca Fiorentina and fried chicken with a spicy Calabrian chile pepperonata.
