Restaurants on Columbus Avenue
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
Nothing has changed since the writer Alice B. Toklas referred in 1954 to her San Francisco dining experiences with her partner Gertrude Stein as “gastronomic orgies.” The city continues to delight food-and-drink lovers, and has emerged as one of the culinary capitals of the world. Blessed with year-round natural abundance, thriving immigrant communities, and a slight spirit of rebellion, San Francisco appeals to all tastes. Authentic ethnic eateries serve dishes from cultures all over the globe, and the hugely popular California cuisine promotes the use of locally grown, in-season ingredients. From fresh breads and delicate pastries at cafés to delectable small plates at esteemed fine-dining establishments courtesy of celebrity chefs, the extensive menu of enticements is virtually impossible to abstain from in this “Paris of the West.”
Haute cuisine
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS
San Francisco’s international gastronomic influences began early on. From the mid-19th century, immigrants contributed considerable diversity to the city’s culinary character: adding to the Mexican and American traditions already present, Chinese, French, Irish, German, Basque, Spanish, and Italian immigrants brought with them the tastes of home – dishes such as Cioppino, a fish stew that Italian fishermen brought with them from Genoa and adapted by using the sea’s bounty from San Francisco Bay, typically dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels, and fish with fresh tomatoes in a wine sauce.
To this day, immigrants continue to introduce dishes that broaden the city’s palate, as evidenced by the city’s Ethiopian, Arabian, Moroccan, Afghan, and Turkish restaurants. Thanks to San Francisco’s position on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, its pan-Asian and Pacific Rim cuisine remains especially strong and diverse.
SUSTAINABLE FOOD MOVEMENT
The Bay Area is very well known for its attention to health and the environment. It is unsurprising, then, that celebrity chefs and food artisans have in recent years managed to turn the region into the epicenter of the American sustainable food movement. This is based on the belief that food should be produced locally and using techniques based on age-old traditions. Chef Alice Waters is credited with starting this culinary revolution; in 1971 she gave birth to “California cuisine,” when she opened the now-famous Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley. “California cuisine” is typified by seasonal, usually organic, local produce. Flavor combinations accentuate freshness, subtlety, and texture, and meat is not always the focal point. The cuisine highlights the Bay Area’s natural cornucopia, and its wild popularity has resulted in an impressive assortment of boutique charcuteries, cheese makers, bakeries, and superb farmers’ markets. One of the best places to see the local passion for food is at the Ferry Building. Once a thriving terminal, the long and graceful building with its distinctive clock tower is now an airy marketplace flush with specialty food purveyors including Cow Girl Creamery, Hog Island Oyster Company, Prather Ranch Meat Co., Acme Bread, and McEvoy Ranch Olive Oil.
Daily bread
Bread has long been a San Francisco specialty. With yeast in short supply, settlers who arrived in the Gold Rush utilized fermented dough as the basis of their bread. This technique hardly originated with this generation of gold-seekers, but San Francisco is home to natural yeasts and air-borne bacteria that create the chewy texture and sour taste that define San Franciscan sourdough. In addition to sourdough from Boudin at the Wharf (for more information, click here), locals get their daily bread from many local bakeries. North Beach’s Liguria Bakery (for more information, click here) is a go-to for fresh-from-the-oven focaccia, and Stella Pastry and Café Bakery (446 Columbus Avenue at Green) is beloved for its sacripantina. La Boulange (for more information, click here) has 13 outposts in the city serving fresh organic breads and French pastries, and Tartine Bakery (for more information, click here) is a Mission must for decadent tarts.
Joe’s Crab Shack
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
PLACES TO Eat
Cafés
San Francisco loves its café culture: the importance to locals of Italian-style, espresso-based coffee, mouth-watering light meals, and ready Wi-Fi access should not be underestimated. Coffee has evolved into an art form here, with roasters like Blue Bottle Coffee and Ritual Coffee Roasters approaching coffee brewing with as much passion as wine makers approach wine. In addition to excellent coffee and teas, most cafés also offer a menu of sandwiches, salads, soups, bagels, breakfast muffins, and pastries. Specialty teas are also popular, and are found in cafés as well as teahouses. Downtown, especially in the Financial District, major coffee chains are ubiquitous, but in other neighborhoods local independent coffee roasters and cafés thrive, Even at 11am on a Wednesday, cafés are crowded with local laptop-toting freelance workers; their fondness for camping out for hours at a time can sometimes make finding space a challenge.
Neighborhood bars and eateries
Neighborhood restaurants run the gamut from hole-in-the-wall Thai or sushi spots to trendy white-tablecloth affairs, and from friendly French bistros to even friendlier German beer halls. Small-plate restaurants are popular, and many bars also have a kitchen serving either pub fare or more upscale snacks and small plates, depending on the establishment.
Smart vegetarian dish
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
High-end restaurants
From French to fusion, the menus at San Francisco’s hottest tables are first-class, and you will need to reserve, often far in advance. The highest concentration of fine dining is found downtown, from the Financial District to the Embarcadero and South of Market. However, many top-notch restaurants are on the backstreets or scattered in far-flung neighborhoods. For excellent, up-to-the-minute advice, the concierge of a fancy hotel is always a good bet, or check out www.yelp.com, http://sfeater.com, as well as www.opentable.com.
WHAT TO EAT
Around the city, many neighborhoods are known for a particular cuisine. The Mission’s many taquerías offer raved-about burritos, North Beach serves Italian and excellent espresso, Polk Street has a high concentration of small Thai restaurants, the Tenderloin is known for Indian and Vietnamese food, and while Chinatown is an easy choice for Chinese, the Richmond District’s Clement Street is also filled with authentic fare that is sometimes harder to find among Chinatown’s tourist traps. Fisherman’s Wharf is always crowded with seafood-lovers, but mid-November through May is particularly busy, with locals enticed by Dungeness crabs steamed, cracked, drowned in butter, and accompanied by San Francisco’s famous sourdough bread. Throughout the city, plenty of attention is paid to vegetarians and even vegans, even in restaurants that also serve meat.
EATING PATTERNS
On weekdays, breakfast is generally between 7am and 10am. In all corners of the city, people line up for morning lattes to bring to work. On weekends, lines wrap around corners all morning for leisurely brunches, with service running into the early afternoon. Brunch can be a hearty affair, from omelets with fresh veggies and cheeses to pancakes with fruit. Those with a lighter appetite nibble on pastries and bagels at cafés, and are not shy about lingering hours to read the newspaper and catch up with friends. Weekday lunch is between 11.30am and 2.30pm and dinner starts around 5.30pm, although locals rarely venture out to dinner before 7pm and few restaurants seat past 10pm.
A welcoming cocktail
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
DRINKING CULTURE
San Franciscans love their libations. Surrounded by wine country, the city is a convenient gateway for visiting the many acclaimed vineyards in its vicinity and trying an excellent selection of local wine, from traditional varietals such as Chardonnay and Cabernet, to lesser-known specialties such as Gamay Beaujolais. The proximity to wine country also means San Francisco is filled with well-informed wine critics, and those aspiring to be so. Wine bars are increasingly popular, especially in the central neighborhoods and downtown.
If beer is your beverage, there are many drinking establishments in San Francisco where it is the clear focus. As well as Belgian beer bars and Guinness-pouring Irish pubs, the city has several large, industrial brewpubs. Residents began brewing their own beer early on in the city’s history, and nowadays there are microbreweries producing beers with the strength and complexity to rival any cocktail or glass of wine. One of the standouts is the Anchor Steam Brewery, which not only makes beer, but gin and rye bourbon as well.
Cocktails are no humdrum affair either, with “mixologists” behind the bars at destinations such as the Alembic, Bourbon and Branch, and Rye turning out Sazeracs, Pisco Sours, cucumber and basil gimlets, and other exceptionally creative and tasty concoctions.
Chocolate heaven
Whether you crave Belgian buttercreams or Swiss champagne truffles, San Francisco can come to your rescue. Choose from more than 150 kinds of premium chocolate bars from around the world at Fog City News (www.fogcitynews.com), feast on a giant sundae in Ghirardelli Square (for more information, click here), or sip a deliciously rich hot chocolate drink at Blue Bottle Coffee Company (for more information, click here). Local artisan chocolate boutiques are also perfect for finding one-of-a-kind indulgences or lavish gifts. Recchiutti (www.recchiutti.com) offers exquisite confections featuring drawings from local artists and CocoaBella Chocolates (www.cocoabella.com) offers beautifully decorated truffles in exotic flavors such as rosemary caramel, pina colada, and lime chachaca.