Restaurants in San Francisco
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A
Caffe Amici
Amici serves excellent coffee in hand-painted Italian cups, and draws hearts in cappuccino foam, warming the spirits of Downtown office workers.
reviewed
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B
Dragonfly
You’d think this place was high-end from the sunken dining room, garlic noodles with lavish heapings of Dungeness crab, and shaking beef that threatens to steal the crown from Slanted Door’s version – but prices and service are plenty friendly. Desserts and starter pâté aren’t standouts, so load up on mains served family-style.
reviewed
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C
Café Asia
Rest those museum legs on the sunny outdoor balcony, and let your tastebuds do the trekking. You might pause at the green-tea soba-noodle base camp, or head for the spicy Korean pork sandwich. Adventurous eaters attack hearty Tibetan lamb and lentil stew, nibblers chill out with Thai green papaya salad, and dawdlers refresh with green tea and Pocky.
reviewed
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D
Jardinière
Her formidable reputation as Iron Chef, Top Chef Master and James Beard Award winner precedes her, but star chef Traci Des Jardins is better known at her namesake restaurant Jardinière as a champion of sustainable, salacious California cuisine. She has a way with California's organic vegetables, free-range meats and sustainably caught seafood that's probably illegal in other states, lavishing braised oxtail ravioli with summer truffles and stuffing crispy pork belly with salami and fig. Go Mondays, when $45 scores three decadent courses with wine pairings.
reviewed
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E
Tropisueño
Last time you enjoyed casual Mexican dining this much, there were probably balmy ocean breezes and hammocks involved. Instead, you're steps away from SFMOMA, savoring an al pastor (marinated pork) burrito with mesquite salsa and grilled pineapple and sipping a margarita with a chili-salted rim. The organic rustic decor and the location are upscale, but the prices are about what you'd pay in the Mission, give or take a buck and a BART ride.
reviewed
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F
Benu
SF has refined fusion cuisine over 150 years, but no one rocks it quite like chef/owner Corey Lee (formerly of Napa's French Laundry), who remixes local, sustainable fine-dining staples and Pacific Rim flavors with a SoMa DJ's finesse. Velvety Sonoma foie gras with tangy, woodsy yuzu-sake glaze makes taste buds bust wild moves, while Dungeness crab and black truffle custard bring such outsize flavor to faux-shark's fin soup, you'll swear there's Jaws in there. The tasting menu is steep ($160) and beverage pairings add $110, but you won't want to miss star sommelier Yoon Ha's flights of fancy – including a rare 1968 Madeira with your soup.
reviewed
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G
Brenda's French Soul Food
Chef-owner Brenda Buenviaje blends New Orleans–style Creole cooking with French technique to create 'French soul food.' Expect updated classics like red beans and rice, serious biscuits and grits, amazing Hangtown fry (eggs scrambled with salt pork and fried oysters), good shrimp-stuffed po' boys, and fried chicken served with collard greens and hot-pepper jelly. Take the fire off the spicy cooking with sweet-watermelon tea.
reviewed
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H
Chilango
Upgrade from taqueria to sit-down restaurant at this casual Mexican spot that uses all-organic ingredients in its Mexico City–derived cooking. Meals are served at tile-top tables with Frida Kahlo images embedded within. Everything is made to order, including guacamole and tortillas. Favorite dishes: filet-mignon tacos, duck flautas (deep-fried flour tortilla with filling) and succulent carnitas (roast pork).
reviewed
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Coi
Chef Daniel Patterson's wild tasting menu featuring foraged morels, wildflowers and Pacific seafood is like licking the California coastline. Black and green noodles are made from clams and Pacific seaweed, and purple ice-plant petals are strewn atop Sonoma duck's tongue, wild-caught abalone and just-picked arugula. Only-in-California flavors and intriguing wine pairings ($95; pours generous enough for two to share) will keep you California dreaming for a while afterwards.
reviewed
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Commonwealth
California's most imaginative farm-to-table dining isn't in some quaint barn, but the converted cinderblock Mission dive where chef Jason Fox serves crispy hen with toybox carrots cooked in hay (yes, hay), and sea urchin floating on a bed of farm egg and organic asparagus that looks like a tide pool and tastes like a dream. Savor the $65 prix-fixe knowing $10 is donated to charity.
reviewed
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I
Commonwealth
California's most imaginative farm-to-table dining isn't in some quaint barn, but the converted cinderblock Mission dive where chef Jason Fox serves crispy hen with toybox carrots cooked in hay (yes, hay), and sea urchin floating on a bed of farm egg and organic asparagus that looks like a tide pool and tastes like a dream. Savor the $65 prix-fixe knowing $10 is donated to charity.
reviewed
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J
Cotogna
Chef-owner Michael Tusk won the 2011 James Beard Award for best chef. Ever since, it's been hard to book a table at Cotogna (and its fancier big sister Quince, next door), but it's worth planning ahead to be rewarded with his authentic rustica Italian cooking that magically balances a few pristine flavors. Pastas are outstanding, and pizzas have tender-to-the-tooth crusts. The $24 prix-fixe menu is a steal.
reviewed
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K
Frances
Chef/owner Melissa Perello earned a Michelin star for fine dining, then ditched downtown to start this market-inspired neighborhood bistro. Daily menus showcase bright, seasonal flavors and luxurious textures: cloudlike sheep's milk ricotta gnocchi with crunchy breadcrumbs and broccolini, grilled calamari with preserved Meyer lemon, and artisan wine served by the ounce, directly from Wine Country.
reviewed
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L
Gott's Roadside
reviewed
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Pizzeria Delfina
One bite explains why SF is so obsessed with pizza lately: Delfina's thin crust supports the weight of fennel sausage and fresh mozzarella without drooping or cracking, while white pizzas let chefs freestyle with Cali-foodie ingredients like maitake mushrooms, broccoli rabe and artisan cheese. No reservations; sign up on the chalkboard and wait with wine at Delfina bar next door.
reviewed
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M
Starbelly
The seasonal small plates at always-busy Starbelly include standout salumi, market-fresh salads, scrumptious pâté, roasted mussels with housemade sausage and thin-crusted pizzas. The barnlike rooms get loud with revelers; sit on the heated patio for quieter conversation. If you can't score a table, consider its neighboring burger joint, Super Duper Burgerfor all-natural burgers and milkshakes.
reviewed
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Hapa SF
Serves coconut free-range chicken skewers and other pan-Pacific dishes weekly at Vinyl Wine Bar.
reviewed
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Inside Scoop
reviewed
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Ken-Ken Ramen
reviewed
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OpenTable
reviewed
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Roaming Hunger
reviewed
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Roli Roti
reviewed
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Spencer on the Go
Dishes French takeaway in front of Terroir Natural Wine Merchant Wednesday through Saturday nights.
reviewed
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Tamale Lady
The Tamale Lady guest-stars at Zeitgeist Wednesday through Friday.
reviewed
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Blackboard Eats
reviewed