Being surrounded by the ocean on three sides, San Francisco has a bounty of seafood, from sweet Dungeness crab to fresh oysters from Tomales Bay. In addition to ocean treasures and the famous sourdough bread, SF cuisine is inflected with international influences, especially from Asia and the rest of the Pacific Rim, combined with super fresh produce from Northern California’s abundant farms.
Local chefs are always innovating, aiming to combine regional ingredients with their cultural backgrounds and global experiences. From street food to fine dining, below is just a sampling of San Francisco’s current must-try dishes.
1. Savor the tea leaf salad at Mandalay
SF is known for offering a wide variety of Asian food, but the cuisine of a few smaller Southeast Asian countries has been picking up restaurant traction. The city recently gained attention as the Burmese food capital of the US, with the oldest continuously operating Burmese restaurant stateside, Mandalay, winning its first James Beard Award. The Inner Richmond restaurant introduced diners to crunchy, nutty tea leaf salad and smooth, creamy coconut chicken noodles in its nan gyi dok.
How to get it: Open for dinner only on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday (closed Tuesday). Open for both lunch and dinner Friday through Sunday. Online reservations aren’t required but are available for parties of 5–20. Call for reservations for other party sizes.
2. Slurp the K.T.T.P. noodle soup at Lunette
Cambodian and Laotian food have made a big splash in the East Bay, but San Francisco is still catching up. Luckily, Nite Yun, the owner of Oakland’s celebrated (though now closed) Cambodian restaurant Nyum Bai brought her food to SF’s Ferry Building in a new eatery called Lunette. It has a tightly curated menu that satisfies a range of tastes, from vegan and gluten-free to pork lovers. The K.T.T.P. (Kuy Teav, Phnom Penh) falls into the latter category, offering pork three ways – thinly sliced, ground and crispy fried pork belly bits in a pork broth simmered for over eight hours, with a side of house-made chili sauce.
How to get it: Walk up and order at the counter. If the cheerful interior’s seating is full, the staff will make orders to go. There is general outdoor seating behind the Ferry Building.
3. Crush a classic smash burger with modern touches at Maillards
Recently, SF has seen a rise in superb smash burger purveyors. Thin, crispy patties with lacy edges extend beyond the borders of locally baked buns and pack an umami punch from the Maillard reaction that smashing burger patties onto a flat top grill produces. Maillards’ popular stand at the Outer Sunset Farmers Market and Mercantile serves succulent burgers served with shallots and house-made pickles on a potato bun, alongside a secret sauce akin to a fancy Thousand Island dressing. Don’t skip the fries, which are cooked in rich duck fat.
How to get it: Visit the burger stand on Sundays at the Outer Sunset Farmers Market and Mercantile, between 9am and 2am. The wait time may be about 30 minutes, with an additional 5 to 10 minutes while your order is cooked. Grab a coffee from the Sunset Roasters truck beforehand to fuel standing in line.
4. Imbibe the Levitation cocktail at Dark Bar
The rise of Asian American and Pacific Islander drinks and brands is unsurprising considering the amount of AAPI chefs and bartenders shaking up the hospitality game in San Francisco. Dark Bar, inside the modern LINE SF Hotel, was opened by Danny Louie, who has been influencing the AAPI beverage trend for several years.
Dark Bar offers drinks that incorporate Asian spirits and ingredients with a focus on seasonality and fermentation – the Levitation cocktail features Southeast Asian rum and pan-Asian ingredients like pandan, green Szechuan pepper, an ume balsamic vinegar and concord grape. The small bites menu by Chef Joe Hou is equally creative and stunning.
How to get it: Walk-ins only
5. Cut into the Pimentel Lamb Shank at Altamirano
Veteran chef and restaurant owner Carlos Altamirano continues to push his signature California-Peruvian (“Cal-Peruvian”) food forward at Altamirano. Peruvian food doesn’t have much representation in the Bay Area, so this new fine dining establishment that offers a combination of Peruvian food and California produce is a welcome addition. Amongst a menu of creative and fresh dishes, the Pimental Lamb Shank features a rich, slow-cooked, bone-in shank arranged artfully atop a vibrant yellow bed of choclo corn puree, roasted pearl onions, baby carrots, and grilled peppers, all brought together by an adobo demi-glace.
How to get it: Make dinner reservations via the website. Brunch and lunch are also available Friday through Sunday. Closed on Mondays.
6. Scoop up the chicken and sausage Gumbo at Gumbo Social
Chef Dontaye Ball strives to make gumbo America’s national dish, and his Gumbo Social venture first made a splash at the Outer Sunset Farmers Market Mercantile and Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Now also having opened a standalone outpost in the Bayview neighborhood, Ball’s signature chicken and sausage gumbo is a comforting bowl of soul food featuring large chunks of stewed chicken and chewy slices of andouille sausage in a roux-based broth with chopped okra, the holy trinity of Creole cooking (bell peppers, onions, and celery), and white rice, seasoned with spices such as cayenne, paprika, black pepper, and more. Also recommended is a crispy cornmeal hoecake to dip into the gumbo.
How to get it: Dine at the counter-service restaurant in the Bayview neighborhood for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Saturday, or visit its farmers market stands at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays and Outer Sunset Farmers Market and Mercantile on Sundays.
7. Start the day right with the Shrimp Talk Toast at Toast’N Egg
Inner Sunset’s new Toast’N Egg is the first Korean street toast shop in San Francisco, and the Shrimp Talk egg sandwich has a plump, sweet fried shrimp patty studded with carrot shreds and corn kernels, layered on fluffy scrambled eggs atop a bed of shredded cabbage slaw, garnished with Japanese mayo and nori flakes, all wrapped in pillowy milk bread. All of the egg toast options are tasty, but the shrimp patty is an unusual find at breakfast sandwich spots. Take a pic with the giant egg being cracked into an even bigger pan, and go to the back patio for more seating.
How to get it: Order at the single self-serve kiosk (which automatically places customers into the combo menu. Tap “Toast Only” at the top of the screen if you don’t want fries and a soda). Order in advance online during the busy weekends, where in-person wait times can be up to 30 minutes.
8. Bite into the flaky miso bacon egg cup at Tiny Croissanterie
The new Tiny Croissanterie, housed in Bayview Makers Kitchen, belongs to a growing body of Bay Area Asian-French patisseries and bakeries run by AAPI chefs. The Miso Bacon Egg Cup features an addictively creamy, mild miso béchamel sauce thickly layered at the bottom of a flaky croissant dough cup, filled with thick, hearty bacon and a jiggly, poached sunny-side-up egg. Trendy flat croissants are also here, in flavors like piña colada, with the huge, crispy, glazed flat pastry – reminiscent of a giant palmier – dipped into coconut white chocolate and sprinkled with pieces of golden pineapple and magenta rose petals.
How to get it: Walk-ups are welcome at Bayview Makers Kitchen Wednesday through Saturday, 8am to 3pm (or until sold out…plus free drip coffee!), but ordering in advance online is recommended, as some items sell out. SF pick-up window is Wednesday, 10am to 1pm, and other Bay Area pick-ups currently operate in Burlingame, Sunnyvale, and San Jose during the week. Customers in certain areas of the Bay can also schedule delivery for Wednesday or Thursday for an extra fee.
9. Dig into the The Earthly Eats Bowl at Kayma
The new multi-story IKEA in downtown SF boasts a plant-forward, two-floor food hall called Saluhall – an unexpected treat from the church of flat pack. The second floor houses only local vendors with counter service, who offer a mixture of plant-based meals and other delights. On the fancy fast-casual side, SF’s sole Algerian restaurant Kayma recently relocated from La Cocina’s former Municipal Marketplace to Saluhall.
A slight menu makeover includes more plant-based takes on its hearty and huge signature couscous bowls, like The Earthly Eats Bowl featuring mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and carrots accompanied by a trio of cold Algerian sides like smoky smashed eggplant, sweet roasted red bell pepper slices, and chickpeas, all atop a downy bed of ras al hanout-spiced couscous. For omnivores, feel free to top the bowl with yogurt-tomato-cumin-marinated chicken, which is also featured in The Dajaj Paradise Bowl.
How to get it: Walk up to order from the counter
10. Get a proper cheese pull from the pepperoni slice at Outta Sight Pizza
As a city obsessed with good bread (see: sourdough) and excellent local produce, the movement into affordable pizza places by fine dining chefs just seemed natural. Near the Asian Art Museum in the Tenderloin, Outta Sight Pizza offers slices in the $5 range, plus natural wine and beer, from chef Eric Ehler of Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s. All of its thin, New York-style pizzas are topped with an expert hand – just the right amount and ratio of sauce and toppings, with subtle upgrades to familiar favorites, like the pepperoni slice sprinkled with aged dry jack cheese, whole fresh basil leaves, drizzled with olive oil, and topped with small pepperoni whose sides curl up into crispy-edged rings.
How to get it: Walk into the slice shop any time, or order in advance via phone or online for pick-up. Delivery is available via DoorDash within a certain radius. An additional location in Chinatown is slated to open soon, with exclusive Chinatown-inspired pizzas.
11. Devour pan-fried soup dumplings at Dumpling Home
Hayes Valley’s Dumpling Home reigns supreme among the latest wave of Northern-style Chinese dumpling restaurants, having only opened in 2020 and quickly making it to the Michelin Bib Gourmand list in 2021. All of its dumplings, side dishes, and mains are excellent, but it’s best known for its version of sheng jian bao – SJB for short – or pan-fried pork soup dumplings. The SJB have a thin, elastic dough that’s fried from the bottom almost to the top of the dumpling, plus plenty of hot soup inside oozing from the ground pork stuffing that tends to shoot out if not bitten carefully.
How to get it: Reservations aren’t accepted, so it’s best to line up outside before lunch or dinner opening hours. There are a few chairs outside to make early birds’ wait more comfortable.