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Café Myth
Office jockeys risk the boss' ire to wait in line for Myth's California-style classics, including sushi-grade ahi tuna salad, butternut squash soup with duck confit, and chicken pot pie bursting with organic vegetables. Ditch work early to share a leisurely dinner of large and small plates, and be prepared to a fight over the last bite of seared duck with sprightly orange, earthy shitake mushroom and pistachios, and mellow port wine reduction.
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Caffe Amici
Did you leave your heart in San Francisco? Not to worry: there's another waiting for you at Amici, drawn in foam on your cappuccino. Sip yours from a hand-painted Italian cup with a gooey chocolate chip cookie, while neighborhood office jockeys rush past, eating their hearts out.
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Caffè Greco
Greco's friendly crew prepare fine espressos, but only if you're lucky will you snag one of the sidewalk tables on a warm Saturday afternoon. The place has some of North Beach's most devoted regulars, and you'll feel like an outsider for not knowing your server's name.
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Caffe Museo
Contemporary art goes down easier with a side of housebaked rhubarb crisp a la mode, and cappuccinos with mysterious properties to cure museum legs. Salads and sandwiches are respectable, and best enjoyed on sidewalk tables for premium people-watching and art-critic eavesdropping.
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Caffé Sport
For a boisterous good time and Sicilian seafood and pasta dishes in heaping family-size quantities, Caffé Sport's the ticket. Sicilian-born owner Antonio Latona is a wood-carver and painter, and over the past three decades he has decorated every square inch of his seafood restaurant with his own intricately carved, colorful benches, chairs, tables and ornamental beams - it's like having dinner at an eccentric Italian uncle's place.
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Caffe Trieste
Poetry on the bathroom walls, opera on the jukebox, accordion on Sundays, and on occasion a sighting of Poet Laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti: this is North Beach at its best, as it's been since the 1950s. Linger over a legendary espresso, join aging anarchists debating how best to bring down the government, and have your opinion solicited about the expressive potential of hair by budding performance artists.
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Canteen
The Mini Cooper of San Francisco restaurants, Canteen packs maximum flair into minimal space. Chef Dennis Leary (of Rubicon fame) jumped off the celebrity-chef-in-Vegas track to preside over the kitchen solo and cook whatever he damn well pleases on any given day, which if you're lucky might include smoked duck with Treviso raddichio and roast figs, and lamb with a pomegranate reduction. There are only three seatings a night at 6, 7:30, and 9.
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Catch
As in, 'of the day' - monkfish, Dungeness crab, oysters - not necessarily a reference to that silver fox by the fireplace. The crowd consists almost entirely of men in turtlenecks and leather jackets accessorized with same, but like the menu, the conversation can get unexpectedly saucy. Try the vat-sized cioppino, and maneuver away from the piano to hear the hot dish being served by fellow diners.
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Chef Jia's
All three of the sauces on the menu here make nostrils flare in eager anticipation: spicy black bean sauce, tangy brown vinegar sauce, and savory-salty oyster sauce. Mix and match your choice with standbys of chicken, pork, and squid and/or green beans, eggplant, or yams. Dishes are generous to the point of embarrassing, but don't neglect the sublime onion cakes with peanut sauce.
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Chow
Just like it's sister restaurant Park Chow, this place offers affordable arugula and goat cheese pizzas, pastas, and grilled and roasted meats. There might be a wait for a table that's not by the bathroom or right in front of the door, but the prices are right and the friendly staff make it a pleasant place to dish the dirt with friends.
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Cinecittá
That tantalizing aroma you followed from down the block into this 18-seat eatery is thin-crust Roman pizza, probably the crowd-pleasing Capricciosa: artichoke hearts, olives, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and egg. The saliva-prompting aroma escaping the wood-fired oven is the ever-popular Travestere (fresh mozzarella, arugula, and proscuitto), served with sass and a generous pint of draft Anchor Steam by Roman owner Romina.
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City View
Dim sum aficionados used to cramped quarters and surly service are wowed by impeccable shrimp and leek dumplings, savory pork spare ribs, and garlicky Chinese broccoli graciously served in this spacious, sunny room. Try to come on the early or late side of lunch, when you won't have to sit in the downstairs dining area contemplating the postmodern Astroturf Zen garden beneath the stairs.
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Clementine
A Parisian bistro inside the fog belt? The culinary inspiration knows no bounds here in the midst of Clement Street greengrocers: artichokes end up stuffed with goat cheese and lotus, and honey-roasted quail settle into a bed of porcini ravioli. Before Monday through Thursday diners enjoy a special deal on three-course prix fixe feasts, and their own smug reflections in the mirror.
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Cole Valley Cafe
Powerful coffee, free wi-fi, and hot gourmet sandwiches that are a bargain at any price, let alone around US$6 for lipsmacking thyme-marinated chicken with lemony avocado spread, or the smoky roasted eggplant with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes. Chef-owner Jawad knows the entire neighborhood by name and order, and has a kind word for everyone.
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Cowgirl Creamery
Care for a sample? Of course you do, when the cheese in question is the artisan cheesemaker's signature Red Hawk, the tangy triple cream award-winner, or a seasonal treat like the nettle-wrapped, artichoke-aromatic St. Pat. Organic milk and attention that verges on pampering make Cowgirl cheeses worth planning a cocktail party around - ask your friendly fromagiére to suggest pairings.
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Delancey Street
There's an explanation for the eclectic comfort food menu and your server's tattoos: This restaurant is non-profit Delancey St's job retraining program for ex-cons, and everything from the menu to the service is provided by participants supervised by acclaimed restaurant professionals. Brunch is best, and the entire tab for your gingery pumpkin pancakes or poached eggs with crabcakes goes right into the program, tips included.
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Delfina
Simple yet sensational seasonal California cuisine: steelhead trout graced with caramelized endive, roast chicken and mashed spuds trumped with royal trumpet mushrooms, and bucatini pasta with local sardines and chilies. You might be tempted to skip the wait at the restaurant and go to Delfina's pizzeria next door, but the pizza can't compare to the chef's seasonal inventions - make reservations, and arrive prepared to bide your time.
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Destino
Your taste buds will think tectonic plates have shifted at this Peru-meets-Californian bistro, starring ahi ceviche with mango and achiote oil, skewered beef hearts, and scallop risotto cake atop greens with ancho dressing. There's a fertility goddess in the corner altar, and after a couple white sangrias with chardonnay, grapefruit and pineapple you'll be ready to worship at her feet nightly.
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Dol Ho
Dim sum aficionados may note that Dol Ho's dumpling wrappers are not as thin or elegant as at many upscale places, but that's because they're handmade fresh on demand. To the alarm of regulars, the place was recently spiffed up - but not to worry, the prices are as rock-bottom as ever and you'll still be slurping your rice noodles with housemade chili sauce next to an octogenarian sporting a Mao suit.
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Dottie's True Blue Café
Consider yourself lucky if you stand in line less than an hour and only get hit up once for change - but fresh baked goods come to those who wait at Dottie's. Cinnamon pancakes, grilled cornbread, scrambles with whiskey fennel sausage and anything else off the griddle are tried and true blue.
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Dragonfly
Everything about this place hints high-end: the cozy plant-fringed sunken dining room, the garlic noodles with lavish heapings of Dungeness crab in season, and a mighty tender shaking beef that threatens to bump Slanted Door's version off the top of foodie best in SF lists. But no, it really is this good a deal, and the service is gracious. The desserts and starter pâté aren't standouts, so load up on mains and devour family-style among friends.
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Ebisu
Lines of people wait to get into Ebisu, a Japanese restaurant that offers a choice of three dining experiences. At the energetic front sushi bar, the chefs perform their tasks with dramatic flair; in the traditional Japanese dining room, diners remove their shoes and sit on tatami mats; and, finally, there are some tables and chairs to accommodate patrons who are too American or too stiff-kneed to sit on the floor.
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El Majahual
Even if papusa isn't part of your dining vocabulary, it'll become your new favorite word after you try El Majahual's Salvadoran pocket of fried dough stuffed with ground pork, green chili, and queso (cheese) loaded with pickled cabbage and salsa - yep, that's an around US$3 meal.
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El Metate
Smack in the middle of a residential stretch of the Mission is a cheerful yellow nook where you'll find upstanding corn tortillas and venerable carnitas (roast pork that is pulled and fried), though the chicken tacos can get a tad greasy. But the salsa is made in house and the burritos are made with fresh beans, not the stuff that's been sitting out all day at other tacquerías.
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El Tonayense Taco Truck
Gourmet to go that's so memorable, you'll book this truck to cater your wedding -it wouldn't be the first time for El Tonayense. The burritos and vast quesadillas (flour tortillas with cheese and other fillings) are satisfying and cheap, but it's the around US$2 -around US$3 cos that have the masses salivating on the sidewalk as they wait for the legendary al pastor with marinated roast pork (a Mexican delicacy that's hard to find in the US).
