The Resy Hit List: Where In San Francisco You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

From the team behind beloved neighborhood bistro The Morris comes this new seafood-focused restaurant that opened at the end of January. It’s located in the old sister restaurant space, and lucky for us, chef Gavin Schmidt kept the pizza oven. Here, he’s using it to try his hand at live-fire cooking on things like whole petrale sole roasted until flaky and crispy skinned and charred Savoy cabbage tossed in an xo vinaigrette. Schmidt also does a seafood charcuterie program, which features things like plump shrimp chorizo and duck and lobster mortadella. However, not everything comes from the sea at Sirene: there’s a big focus on fried chicken, which you’ll want to get with all the fixin’s — a total of six sides and sauces like andouille gravy and octopus kimchi.

San Francisco is having a moment in pizza right now, and the latest addition to the booming scene comes care of Tartine’s former culinary director Max Blachman-Gentile. The restaurant is named after chef’s grandma Jules and opened in May in the former Iza Ramen space on Fillmore. In addition to thin and crispy pizzas, look for dishes like the spring “chopped salad” with pickled fiddleheads or yellowtail crudo with blood orange leche de tigre. And don’t miss the nori guanciale pull-apart buns, served with a side of Parm rind cultured butter and a nice fat, orange tongue of uni. This dish is so wild it makes no sense — except it makes all the sense in your mouth. 

Dinner at this one-Michelin starred tasting menu restaurant by chef Junsoo Bae is a multi-course, multi-hour affair, lasting almost three hours and spanning over 13 courses. It may sound like a lot, but you won’t leave feeling overly stuffed and rolling home — the chef strives for balance throughout the meal. The menu is always changing, but a recent meal started off with chilled oysters dressed with housemade chojang, a tartlet filled with wagyu tartare and flowers, and a play on sweet potato pancake that comes topped with caviar — just three bites that set the tone for a menu that’s filled with finesse.

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SPQR is an acronym for Senatus Populusque Romanus, which translates to “The People and Senate of Rome.” It’s also the name of Matthew Accarrino’s contemporary NorCal-Italian restaurant, which has been a staple on Fillmore for nearly 20 (!!) years. As always, you can go à la carte and construct your own meal of spuntini and creative antipasti to start, before getting into housemade pasta and meaty mains. Or, if you don’t want to make decisions, just go with with the four-course $99 menu, which remains a true San Francisco treat. Pro tip: Wednesday and Thursday brings a five-course pasta tasting menu, aka heaven. Think squid ink ditalini with clam and mussel puttanesca, or guinea hen triangoli with Madeira braised mushrooms. Another pro tip: Get the wine pairings, drawn from the restaurant’s esoteric and awesome options.

Three legends team up to make one rad restaurant: an exec chef with an impressive culinary CV that includes Alinea, Mugaritz, Manresa, and more (John Paul Carmona), one of the most decorated pastry chefs in America (Belinda Leong of b.patisserie), and one of the best bakers in America, who literally founded the San Francisco Baking Institute (Michael Suas). How will the end product not be great? It’s almost unfair. The food is “casual Frenchish” — and late spring is a lovely time to visit. Exhibit A: fresh garbanzos with sugar snap peas, grilled fava leaf pesto, and green pepper yogurt served with a toasted baguette.

Whenever we’re missing Japan, we’ll look at flights — but inevitably, we end up going to Rintaro to fill that void, deliciously. Chez Panisse alum Sylvan Mishima Brackett has reimagined the izakaya through the lens of California, bringing ingredient-driven sourcing and sensibilities to a space that’s lively and serene all at once (and highly personal, too—it was designed and built with the help of his very own father, a temple carpenter in Kyoto). Our favorite seats are at the yakitori station, where it’s mesmerizing to watch the cooks expertly twist and turn chicken skewers until charred.

Intimate and effortlessly Italian, this spot is run by chef/owner Michele Belotti, who was born and raised in a small town in Bergamo, Italy, working in Michelin-starred restaurants before coming to California in 2011, and worked at RistoBar before opening his own restaurant with his wife in Oakland. Here, you’ll find a substantial menu of pastas, mostly made in-house. Agnolotti is stuffed with a meaty mix of beef shank, pork, and sausage along with escaraole and spinach and is topped with a glossy, lip-sticking beef reduction. Long wide pappardelle comes tossed with plenty of organic earthy hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Save room for a secondi — or don’t, and just order that extra pasta.

If you haven’t been to the Swan Market in Old Oakland, now would be a very good time to revisit — there’s a new seafood stand, and it comes care of the mother-and-daughter duo Ofelia Barajas and Reyna Maldonado aka Las Guerreras. The La Cocina alums expanded to the back of the market, and the focus is now on the coastal cuisine from their native Guerrero. Sit at the counter, or if it’s nice outside there’s an enclosed patio out front. Sip on a michelada as the sun shines down and order some oysters, of course. Move to a zippy ceviche or a spicy aguachile verde filled with fresh bay scallops or blue shrimp (or go rogue and get both). You’d be remiss to miss the pescado a la talla, which features a big branzino butterflied and grilled before being painted with red and green salsas (it reminds of Contramar in Mexico City, if you know you know).

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While everyone is at their own level along their wine journey, Heirloom Café is the most excellent of educators, no matter where you are on your path. Sommelier and owner Stephen Hallenbeck is an encyclopedia — if he’s on the floor during dinner, ask him to pair and pour a glass or bottle (or both) for your table. He also leads tastings: The themes change and can be based on producer, region, or varietal. Or if you just want to eat, go with the three-course menu that comes with three pairings — that’s considered a deal, maybe even a steal these days.

What makes this very vibey new wine bar on Divisadero so fun, you ask? Well—there are Chambongs, to start, which is a highly efficient way to down something bubbly. And if you’d rather slowly savor your Champagne, you can do that, too. The wine program is curated by general manager Madison Michael (Merchant Roots, Osito) and leans Old World. As for what makes Gigi’s so vibey? Its space is designed by Strand Design, the same firm behind Bar Gemini in The Mission. Burgundy walls. Jade green granite counters. And wait—there’s more. The food program comes care of chef Tu David Phu, who has made a fun menu with things like wagyu hot dogs with pork floss and spicy mapo noodles. They also have a bottle shop next door if you want to grab something to take away.

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We missed Universal Café, so when we heard chefs Parker and Caroline Brown were taking it over, we were enthused. They’ve turned the restaurant into a midwestern bistro, with hearty, generously-portioned entrees, like a rich, rib-sticking short rib gnocchi inspired by Chicago beef and giant crispy chicken cutlets the size of your face. Save room for dessert if you can: this may be the best carrot cake we’ve ever had, moist and multi-layered and textured and, of course, not too sweet. There’s also a big emphasis on audio (Caroline has a background in music and used to book talent at Outside Lands), with a big selection of vinyl and a rotating roster of DJs.

How lucky is San Francisco to have Brandon Jew? His contemporary Chinese restaurant Mister Jiu’s is truly one of the most special dining experiences in America. But it’s much more than a place to grab dinner — Jew’s space is a celebration and preservation of the country’s first and oldest Chinatown. Set in the historic and iconic former Four Seas space, the dining room is stunning, as is the food. Jew and team recently rolled out a banquet menu with his crispy-skinned Peking-style roast duck as the centerpiece. For $125 per person, each diner also gets a pick from a small first course, a slightly larger second course (don’t miss the chilled beef tendon or the cheong fun), and dessert.

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San Franciscans are extremely lucky to have such a good drinking town, and those who live in The Mission are the luckiest of the bunch.  The 20th street corridor especially is remarkable. We have not one but two world class cocktail bars: the ever-changing Trick Dog of course, and the especially awesome True Laurel literally around the corner. Nicolas Torres’s cocktails rule: they’ve got the right balance of clever and quaffable (the clarified Mai O Mai is one of our favorite drinks in the world, his take on a clarified mai tai). The food rules, too. Get the patty melt, which will ruin all patty melts for you. Which is just fine, trust us.

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Liholiho was part of the wave of wonderful heritage-driven restaurants that opened in the mid-aughts in San Francisco, along with places like Rintaro and Kin Khao. It’s hard to believe, but LYC just celebrated their 10-year anniversary. Time flies when you’re eating well. There’s nothing quite like Ravi Kapur’s restaurant, inspired by his mixed Hawaiian-Chinese-Indian heritage. Menu mainstays like tuna poke over nori crackers and fluffy poppyseed steam buns filled with beef tongue and kimchi still hit hard, while crispy swordfish katsu — a newcomer to the menu after their remodel a couple years ago — has become an instant hit and must-order. And of course, there’s the oh-so-‘grammable beautiful baked Hawaii for dessert.

If you’ve never had mohinga, you’re missing out. The Burmese breakfast noodle soup is the national dish of the country for a reason (it’s delicious, and you can eat it any time of day). The version at Ar Har Ya on Kearny is very, very good. Chef Jasmine Oo’s broth is made with a base of catfish marinated in turmeric — it’s not fishy, but rather super-savory and slightly sour, thick, and rich. It’s served with vermicelli noodles, a boiled egg, fried lentils, and comes out piping hot — it’ll warm your soul on the coldest and foggiest of San Francisco days. For a different kind of noodle soup, try the ong noh kaw soi, a creamy coconut chicken noodle soup that’s equally satisfying.

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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.

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