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La Boulange
La Combo is a US$7 lunchtime deal to justify your next Union Street boutique purchase: half a tartine (open-faced sandwich) with soup or salad, plus all the Nutella you desire from the condiment bar. Load up your roast chicken/bacon/cheese or veggie/manchego/basil tartine with cornichons, and leave happily whistling the Marseillaise .
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La Folie
Only those raised in chateaux are mentally prepared for the decadent around US$85 five-course seasonal menu here. These are not timid tasting-menu portions, but commanding dishes of wild salmon stuffed with Dungeness crab, or Liberty Farms roast duck stuffed with walnut confit. The around US$64 three-course dinner is plenty arch-ducal, with a clever 'Jardinière' menu for vegetarian royal consorts.
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La Mediteranée
Lebanese flair and crowd-pleasing prices make this one of the best gourmet deals in town. The chicken kebab over rice pilaf is pleasingly plump and juicy, the kibbe is a harmonious blend of pine nuts, ground lamb and cracked wheat, and the smoky eggplant in the baba ghanoush was roasted for hours and isn't the least bit bitter about it.
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La Palma Mexica-Tessen
Follow the hand-slapping sound of tortilla-making in progress to La Palma, and hit the take-out counter for still-hot tortillas, handmade tamales, hunks of carnitas (slow-roasted pulled pork) by the pound, queso fresco (Mexican cheese), and La Palma's own tangy tomatillo sauce. Got that? Now all you need is a small army, and you might be able to finish off that meal you've assembled - maybe this is how revolutions get started.
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La Taqueria
Rabble-rouser, are you? Ask a group of San Franciscans where to get the best burrito in town, then as voices rise, quietly slip off to La Taqueria. Here you won't find debatable tofu, saffron rice, spinach tortilla, or mango salsa - just classic tomatillo or mesquite salsa, perfectly grilled meats, and flavorful beans inside a flour tortilla. Add spicy pickled vegetables and crema (Mexican créme fraiche), and you'll discover true burrito bliss.
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Liberty Café
Chicken pot pies are still the culinary calling card of Liberty Cafe, baked to order with fresh, organic ingredients and served piping hot. The cozy little Bernal Heights institution isn't exactly cheap or always mindful of customers who have been waiting for-freaking-ever for their weekend brunch of berry pancakes, but fresh-baked treats and light meals in the wine cottage still make it feel like a find.
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Liguria
Bleary-eyed art students and Italian grandmothers are in line by 8 a.m. for the cinnamon-raisin focaccia, leaving dawdlers a choice of tomato or classic rosemary, and stragglers out of luck. Take what you can get, and don't kid yourself that you're going to save it for lunch.
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Little Star Pizza
Midwest weather patterns reveal that Chicago's thunder has been stolen by Little Star's deep-dish pie, with California additions of cornmeal crust, fresh veggies, premium meats, and just the right amount of cheese. The all-meat pizza is a Chicago stockyard's worth of meat - not for the faint of heart.
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Los Socios
Who says you can't get decent Mexican outside the Mission? Here the tacos are Transamerica Pyramids of meat and fresh veggies, and heaps of hot, salty chips and smoky-tangy mesquite salsas are up for grabs on the honor system. Los Socios takes the gray right out of a foggy downtown day with bright flavors, fiesta decor, and Mexican ska on the sound system.
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Louis
The newfangled and sadly soulless Cliff House can't compare to old-school Louie's just up the street, with Pacific views, '70s brown-and-orange decor, and hearty diner fare confidently slapped down in front of you by wait staff who know you'll be back for more. At brunch on weekends, get your name on the list, then explore Sutro Baths until your 20 minute wait is up.
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Lovejoy's Tea Room
Paging Miss Marple: the mix-and-match china and dizzying supply of crustless tea sandwiches at Lovejoy's will make you search the crowd for the doting, deceptively dotty aunt character who's a staple of British mystery novels. But this being San Francisco, the teatime scene is more about hip lesbians dishing over Lapsang Souchong, scones, and clotted cream, and single dads taking their daughters and their dolls out for the 'wee tea'.
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Magnolia Pub & Brewery
Pub grub that's suspiciously healthy, including bountiful organic salads and Niman Ranch burgers that are plump and rare but not fatty. It smells like a brewery because it is one, which can be a problem at brunch but is definitely an asset for lunches and dinners. Deadheads and others prone to flashbacks may get hypnotized by psychedelic murals with free-floating eyes, but otherwise it's harmless hippie kitsch.
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Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store
You can't smoke cigars here anymore, but otherwise the Boho days of yore are in full effect at Mario's every night. The foccacia here are cheap and ample enough, but mostly a pretense to glug wine by the carafe served by good-looking art-schooled wait staff.
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Mekong
Smarts meet savoriness in an unsavory neighborhood at the Mekong, where cheerful crockery pots brim with hearty, tangy flavors, but no GMOs - and anything on the menu can be made vegan without losing one iota of taste. Crazy as it sounds, the Yunnan duck salad with mint, toasted rice powder and lime is just as good with tofu instead, and the yellow curry with pumpkin is plenty filling without the beef.
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Michelangelo
Finicky purists scoff at Michelangelo, but for a cheap plate of spaghetti Bolognese and a convivial crowd, it's hard to beat this hole-in-the-wall joint in the middle of the Columbus St action. Wine comes in rooster-shaped pitchers, and big bowls of gummie bears get passed around for dessert. Fun, easy and fast - except when there's a line. Cash only.
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Mijita
Owner/chef Traci des Jardins puts her signature twist on her Mexican grandmother's standbys, using fresh organic produce for flavors that pop and sustainably harvested fish cooked with the minimum of oil. Skip the surprisingly bland huevos rancheros (eggs with refried beans) and go light with the jicama/grapefruit salad and melon agua frescas instead, served Bayside with envious seagulls circling overhead.
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Millennium
If all vegan food was this satisfying and opulent, there could be cattle roaming the streets of SF and no one would give them so much as a second glance. First comes the edamame gnocchi with caramelized onions and miso-artichoke coulis, then the Moroccan-inspired chermoula portobello with pistachio, mint, atop a vegetable tagine, polished off with a wine-poached peach with fresh berries and lemon verbena sorbet. Book ahead.
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Mission Pie
Like mom used to make, only better. Proceeds from SF's best selection of sweet and savory pies support a nonprofit sustainable farm that hosts urban teens, to show them exactly where their food comes from and how their leadership as consumers and peer educators can make a difference. Every last bite of flakey crust and heartwarming filling is proof positive that sustainable agriculture can be as American as, well, apple pie.
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Mitchell's Ice Cream
An otherwise nondescript Mission block is thronged with grinning grown-ups and kids doing happy dances as they make their Mitchell's selections: will it be a classic like Kahlua mocha cream or the toasted almond-peanut butter indulgence, or a tropical flavor like macapuno (a coconut variation) or mango? The avocado and purple yam are acquired tastes, but aficionados claim they're hard to shake - and hard to find anywhere but here.
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Molinari
This must be what the pope gets when he orders a sandwich: crusty Italian bread with slabs of salami, translucent sheets of prosciutto di Parma, and bare-naked buffalo mozzarella glistening in milky baths. Grab a number and wait your turn among fellow devotees, and in the meantime load up on Molinari's own housecured salami (the city's best) and essential Italian groceries like truffle-filled gnocchi and aged balsamic vinegar.
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Nijiya Supermarket
A perfect picnic in the Ruth Asawa fountains is cheap and easy with Nijiya's readymade sushi or teriyaki bento box and refreshing bottle of Pocari Sweat (a Japanese electrolyte drink). Detours to the candy and sake aisles are probably inevitable, and the Japanese fashion magazines and paper soap over in cosmetics are irresistible.
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Noe Valley Bakery
The third time you're back in a day you might feel sheepish, but hey, it happens all the time at Noe Valley Bakery. Any sensible tastebuds demand the raspberry croissants as their morning wakeup call; a boutique-blown budget may suggest a return visit for the bargain lunch of a seasonal sandwich on housebaked crusty bread; and pity for friends who didn't have a sunny Noe Valley day like yours may inspire sympathetic chocolate éclair purchases.
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Pagolac
Right in the hard heart of the Tenderloin is this inviting nook that's all warm wood and candlelight. The seven courses of beef may be overkill for anyone who's not a famished gaucho from the Pampas, but the sugarcane shrimp and barbecued chicken are sublime, and pho with meatballs and rare steak slices as extravagantly beefy as a Polk Street men's bar.
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Pancho Villa
The Mission burrito wars rage on, with Pancho Villa militants claiming victory for grilled chicken and carnitas (pork) burritos served to lines out the door. Load up salsa fresca (chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and peppers) and spicy pickled onions and carrots at the condiment bar, but go easy on the pickled jalapeños and dangerous red-hot sauce or you'll be singing 'ay-yi-yi-yi' with the mariachis.
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Park Chow
Cozy up by the fireplace downstairs or the patio heat lamps upstairs, and shake that fog-belt chill with reliable, California comfort food like mild curry Smiling Noodles, stalwart spaghetti with meatballs, and caramel gingerbread with pumpkin ice cream. This is one of the most kid-friendly and pet-positive restaurants in the city, with booster seats and water bowls by the door.
