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On May 15Maria Hunt answered the question:
What are the best restaurants in San Francisco?
Trying to narrow the best restaurants in San Francisco down to just a few spots is not easy. The entire San Francisco Bay Area is blessed with gorgeous produce, creative food artisans and wonderful wines. Stellar and well-known restaurants that bring all those elements together include Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Manresa in Los Gatos and The French Laundry and Redd in the Yountville. Here are five places to dine now in San Francisco:
1. State Bird Provisions. Chef-owner Stuart Brioza and his wife Nicole Krasinski borrowed the dim sum concept for their unsassuming and friendly Fillmore District restaurant. You’ll be presented with colorful dishes priced at $6 to $20: poached seafood salsa over whipped avocado with crispy tortilla, pillowy pancakes with ever-changing flavors, tangy eggplant and summer tomato salad, fresh Dungeness crab atop farro and the namesake dish: fried quail with tangy sweet-and-sour onions shaved cheese. They've just won the James Beard Award for the nation's Best New Restaurant of 2013. But despite all this, it’s the warmth and spirit of hospitality that keeps guests coming back.
2. Saison. An exquisite evening awaits at Saison, the urbane and intimate restaurant in SoMa. Working in his open kitchen, chef Joshua Skenes crafts distinctive and visually stunning tasting menus from the best ingredients from all over the world. Whether it’s a morsel of sea robin, locally foraged greens you eat with your hands or a dish of caviar with sea urchin, all the dishes are kissed by fire in some way. The experience starts with a pour of Krug Grande Cuvée and might include world-class white wines from the 5,000-bottle cellar or a seasonal cocktail if you prefer. Dining at Saison is dear, but so is the experience.
3. Frances. There’s a quiet and feminine beauty to the décor and Melissa Perello’s cuisine at Frances in the Mission. The greatest discoveries are the small plates like Cherrystone clams baked with kale brusssels sprouts and bacon, Black Venus rice with Dungeness crab or chestnut soup with apples, cipolline onions and hedgehog mushrooms. Plan ahead for reservations or make an adventure of snagging a seat at the bar.
4. Benu. French Laundry alum and James Beard-award winner Corey Lee has created an urbane and artistic temple of gastronomy. While à la carte menus are available on certain days, the full experience includes a progression of signature dishes like monkfish liver terrine, chicken velvet and 1000-year-old quail eggs on custom serving pieces.
5. Cotogna. This is the kind of Italian food that makes you feel like you’re in country. Michael Tusk’s hyper-seasonal, quirky menu bounces from wood-fired pizzas with exquisitely browned and poufy crusts to silky pastas to housemade porchetta with succulent meat and chewy skin. The golden, olive-oil soaked focaccia is one of the low-key delights; you’ll eat every inch. Be sure to try a glass of wine or one of the cocktails with an Italian accent. -
On May 15Maria Hunt answered the question:
What are the best restaurants in San Francisco?
Trying to narrow the best restaurants in San Francisco down to just a few spots is not easy. The entire San Francisco Bay Area is blessed with gorgeous produce, creative food artisans and wonderful wines. Stellar and well-known restaurants that bring all those elements together include Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Manresa in Los Gatos and The French Laundry and Redd in the Yountville. Here are five places to dine now in San Francisco:
1. State Bird Provisions. Chef-owner Stuart Brioza and his wife Nicole Krasinski borrowed the dim sum concept for their unsassuming and friendly Fillmore District restaurant. You’ll be presented with colorful dishes priced at $6 to $20: poached seafood salsa over whipped avocado with crispy tortilla, pillowy pancakes with ever-changing flavors, tangy eggplant and summer tomato salad, fresh Dungeness crab atop farro and the namesake dish: fried quail with tangy sweet-and-sour onions shaved cheese. They've just won the James Beard Award for the nation's Best New Restaurant of 2013. But despite all this, it’s the warmth and spirit of hospitality that keeps guests coming back.
2. Saison. An exquisite evening awaits at Saison, the urbane and intimate restaurant in SoMa. Working in his open kitchen, chef Joshua Skenes crafts distinctive and visually stunning tasting menus from the best ingredients from all over the world. Whether it’s a morsel of sea robin, locally foraged greens you eat with your hands or a dish of caviar with sea urchin, all the dishes are kissed by fire in some way. The experience starts with a pour of Krug Grande Cuvée and might include world-class white wines from the 5,000-bottle cellar or a seasonal cocktail if you prefer. Dining at Saison is dear, but so is the experience.
3. Frances. There’s a quiet and feminine beauty to the décor and Melissa Perello’s cuisine at Frances in the Mission. The greatest discoveries are the small plates like Cherrystone clams baked with kale brusssels sprouts and bacon, Black Venus rice with Dungeness crab or chestnut soup with apples, cipolline onions and hedgehog mushrooms. Plan ahead for reservations or make an adventure of snagging a seat at the bar.
4. Benu. French Laundry alum and James Beard-award winner Corey Lee has created an urbane and artistic temple of gastronomy. While à la carte menus are available on certain days, the full experience includes a progression of signature dishes like monkfish liver terrine, chicken velvet and 1000-year-old quail eggs on custom serving pieces.
5. Cotogna. This is the kind of Italian food that makes you feel like you’re in country. Michael Tusk’s hyper-seasonal, quirky menu bounces from wood-fired pizzas with exquisitely browned and poufy crusts to silky pastas to housemade porchetta with succulent meat and chewy skin. The golden, olive-oil soaked focaccia is one of the low-key delights; you’ll eat every inch. Be sure to try a glass of wine or one of the cocktails with an Italian accent. -
On May 15Maria Hunt answered the question:
What are the best restaurants in San Francisco?
Trying to narrow the best restaurants in San Francisco down to just a few spots is not easy. The entire San Francisco Bay Area is blessed with gorgeous produce, creative food artisans and wonderful wines. Stellar and well-known restaurants that bring all those elements together include Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Manresa in Los Gatos and The French Laundry and Redd in the Yountville. Here are five places to dine now in San Francisco:
1. State Bird Provisions. Chef-owner Stuart Brioza and his wife Nicole Krasinski borrowed the dim sum concept for their unsassuming and friendly Fillmore District restaurant. You’ll be presented with colorful dishes priced at $6 to $20: poached seafood salsa over whipped avocado with crispy tortilla, pillowy pancakes with ever-changing flavors, tangy eggplant and summer tomato salad, fresh Dungeness crab atop farro and the namesake dish: fried quail with tangy sweet-and-sour onions shaved cheese. They've just won the James Beard Award for the nation's Best New Restaurant of 2013. But despite all this, it’s the warmth and spirit of hospitality that keeps guests coming back.
2. Saison. An exquisite evening awaits at Saison, the urbane and intimate restaurant in SoMa. Working in his open kitchen, chef Joshua Skenes crafts distinctive and visually stunning tasting menus from the best ingredients from all over the world. Whether it’s a morsel of sea robin, locally foraged greens you eat with your hands or a dish of caviar with sea urchin, all the dishes are kissed by fire in some way. The experience starts with a pour of Krug Grande Cuvée and might include world-class white wines from the 5,000-bottle cellar or a seasonal cocktail if you prefer. Dining at Saison is dear, but so is the experience.
3. Frances. There’s a quiet and feminine beauty to the décor and Melissa Perello’s cuisine at Frances in the Mission. The greatest discoveries are the small plates like Cherrystone clams baked with kale brusssels sprouts and bacon, Black Venus rice with Dungeness crab or chestnut soup with apples, cipolline onions and hedgehog mushrooms. Plan ahead for reservations or make an adventure of snagging a seat at the bar.
4. Benu. French Laundry alum and James Beard-award winner Corey Lee has created an urbane and artistic temple of gastronomy. While à la carte menus are available on certain days, the full experience includes a progression of signature dishes like monkfish liver terrine, chicken velvet and 1000-year-old quail eggs on custom serving pieces.
5. Cotogna. This is the kind of Italian food that makes you feel like you’re in country. Michael Tusk’s hyper-seasonal, quirky menu bounces from wood-fired pizzas with exquisitely browned and poufy crusts to silky pastas to housemade porchetta with succulent meat and chewy skin. The golden, olive-oil soaked focaccia is one of the low-key delights; you’ll eat every inch. Be sure to try a glass of wine or one of the cocktails with an Italian accent. -
On May 13Maria Hunt answered the question:
What are the best vegetarian restaurants in San Francisco?
It’s possible for vegetarians to find a satisfying meal virtually anywhere in the city. But San Francisco also has a history of restaurants like chef Annie Somerville’s Greens that specialize in plant-based cuisine. Millennium in the Union Square area is regarded as one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the country. It offers an expansive dining room, polished service and creative cuisine and cocktails. Gather in Berkeley is one of the leading examples of the flexitarian style of restaurants that serves everything from vegan to cuisine with naturally raised meats and seafood. Source in SoMa offers what they call a multidimensional dining experience with seasonal vegetarian and vegan fare like truffle bruschetta and brick-oven pizza to dosas and Peking quack. And while Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star restaurant Fleur de Lys is not a vegetarian destination, chef Hubert Keller was one of the first noted chefs to create sophisticated vegetarian dishes on par with the rest of his French-inspired menu. The creations on his seasonally changing vegetable feast still inspire.
Correspondent
Oakland, CA, USA
Maria Hunt is a Forbes Travel Guide correspondent who lives in Oakland and covers the Bay Area and Wine Country for Startle. She also is a freelance food and wine journalist for other luxury lifestyle publications. Hunt — who authored a book on sparkling wine cocktails — believes bubbly is meant for sipping anytime. She’s followed her love of fine sparkling wine and cuisine to Champagne, the Penedès outside of Barcelona, Poland and Italy. The Chicago native’s work has appeared in Forbes.com, The Christian Science Monitor and The St. Regis Bespoke, among other publications.
