Food & Drink >>

• Food & Drink Readers' Poll (2 Comments)
  Readers' Poll Winners:
  Best Restaurant: Delfina Best New Restaurant: Umami Best Chef: Craig Stoll Best Late-Night Eats: Sparky’s Best Hidden Restaurant: Nopa Best Patio: The Ramp Best Romantic Restaurant: Fleur de Lys Best Vegetarian Restaurant: Greens Best Seafood Restaurant: Aqua Best Greasy Spoon: The Pork... More >>
• Best Illegal Restaurant (4 Comments)
  Ghetto Gourmet
  The Ghetto Gourmet, the Bay Area's hottest illegal restaurant, is a roving event produced by a band of culinary outlaws who host under-the-radar dinner parties (sans permits or licenses) at different locations in San Francisco and the East Bay. The four-course meals are cooked by guest chefs of... More >>
• Best Speakeasy
  Bourbon & Branch
  Bourbon & Branch, the newish Tenderloin watering hole, is a speakeasy that's high on class and low on browbeating its demographic, despite its semi-private concept. The dark wood paneling and jazzy soundtrack make for a cool 1920s aesthetic transporting you away from the junkie wonderland out... More >>
• Best Restaurant Without a Sign (in English)
  Umami
  Unless you read Japanese, the outside of Umami in Cow Hollow gives little hint of what the inside holds. With a small, dark sign in Japanese calligraphy, Umami is a trendy new addition to the neighborhood. Step inside the Asian-fusion eatery and you will see an interior to match the mystique the... More >>
• Best Under-the-Radar Restaurant
  Fly Trap
  A lot of ink has been spilled about the Fly Trap over the years, but precious little of it lately. Many sources give 1898 as the opening date for the Fly Trap, but the authoritative Doris Muscatine, in her 1963 book A Cook's Tour of San Francisco, says it was merely renamed then; it had opened... More >>
• Best Burger
  Liverpool Lil's
  The burger at Liverpool Lil's is a big, old-fashioned beauty. Its eight ounces of Angus beef is hand-formed into a thick patty, the kind Dad grilled in the backyard in 1950s sitcoms. It comes topped with your choice of cheese (swiss, provolone, cheddar, blue, and mozzarella), and grilled onions;... More >>
• Best Pizza
  Gialina
  This tiny, new neighborhood spot in Glen Park is named in honor of the owner's grandmother Nonni Lina, featured in huge, blown-up black-and-white photos on the claret-colored walls. The menu is short, but the irregularly shaped pizzas are long on flavor. The crisp, thin crusts are incredibly... More >>
• Best Burrito (S.F.-Style)
  El Tonayense taco trucks
  People around here demand a lot from their burritos: They must be too big for a 135-pound person to eat at one sitting. They've got to have plenty of expertly grilled meat or veggies, with fragrant rice and beans. We want freshly made salsas to go with them. Somewhat bizarrely, we want them to... More >>
• Best Burrito (So-Cal Style)
  La Taqueria
  As the name implies, this, well, taqueria forgoes the frills you might find at the Mission's other Mexican hot spots to focus on the heart of the burrito, the meat. It's reminiscent of the style favored in that little border town called San Diego. Gone is the rice, and with it options like... More >>
• Best Shawarma
  Truly Mediterranean
  Shawarma is the great Middle Eastern fast food. Like the burrito, the piroshki, the calzone, or the hot dog, it's a self-contained meal in itself, a portable, one-handed, highly delectable solution to empty stomach and questing tastebud alike. Truly Mediterranean, a trim and tidy takeout joint... More >>
• Best Rock 'n' Roll Restaurant
  Country Station Sushi
  You don't go to Country Station for the speedy service — depending on the night, your wait time for a table runs anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour (if you want quick fish, saddle up to some cookie-cutter sushi joint). Country Station is the closest thing S.F. has to a punk-rock... More >>
• Best Seafood in an Attic
  Bar Crudo
  Wondering where to take that date who loves to vacuum seafood when you live in a city by the bay? How about the teeny-tiny oceanic endeavor, Bar Crudo? This intimate, two-story restaurant has the same basic layout as the adjacent Tunnel Top, meaning the upstairs has a cuddly, attic feel... More >>
• Best Seafood Shack
  Woodhouse Fish Company
  We love everything about this little crab shack, magically transferred from the tranquil New England seacoast to an urban corner of busy Market Street: Its snug clean white-walled and tiled room, the tasty food that comes from its open kitchen, and the reasonable prices, whether you're ordering... More >>
• Best Tandoori Fish (1 Comment)
  Lahore Karahi
  In a neighborhood flush with Indian/Pakistani restaurants, it's hard to stand out, but Lahore Karahi does. And it's not for the entertaining Bollywood flicks on the TV, or the nondescript, '70s basement rec-room type ambience. It's for how good the Tandoori fish is. Served fresh and prepared per... More >>
• Best Place to Get a 40 oz. During a Classy Date
  Emmy's Spaghetti Shack
  Yes, they serve 40s (Mickey's or Chimay), but Emmy's also has decadent Italian fare (see the eponymous spaghetti and meatballs), and a nice wine list. It's everything you could ask out of a first-date restaurant — intimate, dark, and fun, imbued with an unassuming, cozily hip vibe —... More >>
• Best Happy-Hour Martini Bar
  Olive
  Located on the frayed fringes of the Tenderloin, Olive offers some of the biggest and best martinis in S.F. Enter through the thick wooden door, leave the savage workday behind, belly up to the unusual concrete bar, and order one of the sizable $5 happy-hour martinis. After a couple of sips, the... More >>
• Best Piano Bar
  Martuni's
  Nothing goes together like karaoke and Flaming Dr. Peppers — that is, except for crooning and martinis. So if you're ready to trade in the Journey for some Sinatra, head down to the Mission/Hayes Valley border joint, Martuni's. Seven nights a week, the back room of the bar features a... More >>
• Best Laid-Back Bar
  Wild Side West
  How does the Wild Side do it? A lesbian bar that's friendly to all? Bartenders who gladly serve up generous pours? A place where straight guys from the neighborhood comfortably watch 49ers games with local dykes? What the hell's going on here? Why is everyone so laid-back? Simply step out into... More >>
• Best Outdoor Drinking Spot
  Zeitgeist
  This is the spot to drink beer outside with pals on a warm night or afternoon. A Mission destination, it has a great selection of beers, including some Belgian brews, which are mighty tasty. Bikers' two-wheeled steeds give the exterior a tough look, but the beer garden is mellow and pretty... More >>
• Best Hole-in-the-Wall Deli
  Rossi's
  There was a time when every city neighborhood boasted a couple of these places — stores offering cold cases stuffed with good-quality meats, cheeses, and prepared foods, places devoid of seating but where you could take out anything from a freshly-made sandwich to a multi-course feast, at... More >>
• Best Sandwiches, Delivered
  'wichcraft
  For a supposedly cosmopolitan city, San Francisco has relatively few (read almost zero) eateries that deliver their own food. Using such services as Waiters on Wheels adds time and money to the equation. But the local outpost of 'wichcraft, the sandwich emporium of telegenic and award-winning... More >>
• Best Egg Salad Sandwich
  Happy Donuts
  There are many, many Happy Donuts shops in San Francisco. But for our five bucks, the store at 3rd and King streets delivers the most savory egg salad sandwich of 'em all — or of any other eatery in the city, for that matter. Most places err by overloading their egg salad with veggies,... More >>
• Best Organic Grocery
  Rainbow
  Rainbow Grocery is the kind of place that other co-ops take field trips to visit, exclaiming in wonder at this gem of a grocery store: The natural, organic food! The environmentally- and health-conscious products! The independence! Collectively run, worker owned and operated, Rainbow Grocery is... More >>
• Best Meat Market
  Bristol Farms
  Not even in the hands of top Hollywood food stylists have cold cuts and fruits of the sea looked so alluring. Bristol Farms, a small chain of high-end grocery stores based in Southern California, opened last fall in the massive yuppeteria known as the Westfield Centre to the appreciative aahs of... More >>
• Best Bulk Herbs (2 Comments)
  San Francisco Herb Co.
  Nestled among the warehouses of 14th Street is everything you need to flavor a flounder, bouquet a bureau, season a stew, soothe a stomach, maybe even cure the common cold. Since 1973, the San Francisco Herb Co. has been providing freshly packaged, top-grade herbs and spices to a discerning... More >>
• Best Farmers' Market
  Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market
  From gourmet cheeses to fabulous flowers, the farmers' market on the Ferry Building's plaza offers something for all tastes. A dazzling array of everything under the sun that's in season, this farmers' market is as great for a family outing as it is for a Saturday morning date. Treats like... More >>
• Best Ferry Building Bargain
  $2 sausage on a stick
  Can you do the Ferry Building for $2? Sure, you can buy — what? — six olives from one of the organic grocers, or sweat the clerks at the Cowgirl Creamery for cheese samples. But there's a deal lurking in the steaming, dripping-hot case at Golden Gate Meat Company: the... More >>
• Best Cheese Shop
  Cheese Boutique
  Don't blink or you might walk past the Cheese Boutique. This variety food shop has survived and thrived for 20 years in the looming shadow of the Inner Sunset's mighty Andronico's. Inside, step cautiously, for two strides in any direction will walk you into a shelf full of exotic olive oils,... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bakery
  Patisserie Delanghe
  Everything that fills the cases at Patisserie Delanghe is baked by Dominique Delanghe, a Frenchman whose specialties include buttery croissants, brioches, and palmiers as well as jewellike fruit tarts, marzipan-draped cakes, and the creampuff towers called croquembouche. His seasonal treats... More >>
• Best Croissant
  Boulange de Cole
  On weekends, this place gets so crowded the line nearly snakes outside the door. The reason: yummy croissants and other tasty treats (salads, sandwiches, soups, bread, and pastries). The butter croissants are flaky and delicious, even by French standards. On busy days, long wooden tables... More >>
• Best Cream Puff
  Beard Papa's
  A lovely little franchised gift that originated from the tropical shores of Hawaii, Beard Papa's makes puffs that are as addictive as Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts, McDonald's fries, and, well, crack, but without the over-processed chemical haze that these other vices have been known to... More >>
• Best Chocolates
  Recchiuti
  Some of the finest chocolates in the country are crafted here in San Francisco, but when it comes to the whole package — culinary ingenuity, artistic presentation, the endorphic bliss state that occurs when cacao meets corpus — Recchiuti is in a class by itself. Each beautifully... More >>
• Best Raw Food (2 Comments)
  Alive!
  Chef/owner Leland Jung first nurtured a love of cooking while watching his father make dim sum dumplings at his Chinese restaurant. For his own venture, however, Jung eschews not only all meat, but all animal products, dairy, honey, wheat, and grains. Oh, and cooking. Raw cuisine is often... More >>
• Best Fish and Chips
  Piccadilly Fish & Chips
  Piccadilly is a top choice of local British ex-pats looking for their favorite homeland fix outside of late-night curries and Guinness. You know Piccadilly means business right when you walk in the door and get a peep at the deep fryer. Massive and curiously adorned with a lovely stained-glass... More >>
• Best Weekend Restaurant
  Cajun Pacific
  Thanks to global warming and a small crop of interesting food choices from the relatively young establishments that now line the last few blocks of Judah Street, visiting the Sunset District side of Ocean Beach is a lot more pleasant these days for natives and transplanted locals, and it's a... More >>
• Best Cuban Food (1 Comment)
  Los Flamingos
  Some swear by the Arroz Imperial, a titanic pot of sauce-smothered, cheesy chicken goodness. But one of the can't-miss pieces of the Los Flamingos arsenal is something a lot less elaborate that almost anyone, regardless of most major dietary restrictions, can enjoy. In a palette of standouts,... More >>
• Best Baklava
  Ararat
  The dreamy, decadent Nightingale's Nest served at Ararat is not, strictly speaking, a baklava — from a purely geometric standpoint, it's more reminiscent of a m'hanncha — but any filo-honey-walnut concoction this irresistible can call itself anything it damn well pleases. Ararat's... More >>
• Best Mole
  Zazil
  The most important discovery the conquistadors made when they arrived at the court of Moctezuma 500 years ago wasn't gold, silver, or precious stones; it was all the weird and wonderful stuff the Aztec king enjoyed for dinner. Most impressively there was mole, an elaborate concoction made almost... More >>
• Best Brew Pub
  Magnolia
  There are many brew pubs in the U.S. (particularly on the West Coast), but most of them look like atmosphere-challenged sports bars and serve Miller and Bud knock-offs to match. Magnolia brewmaster and propietor Dave McLean does things differently. Instead of swamping customers' conversations... More >>
• Best Ramos Fizz
  Campton Place
  The Ramos Fizz was invented a century ago in New Orleans, where one saloon, the Imperial Cabinet, employed 35 men to do nothing but shake up Ramoses during a particularly festive pre-Osterizer Mardi Gras. Sinatra, among others, swore by the cocktail's morning-after curative properties, and over... More >>
• Best 6 a.m. Bar
  Vesuvio
  For a town notorious for its liquor consumption and overall decadence, San Francisco offers very few options for break-of-dawn, rev-your-motor imbibing. Two of them happen to be located a mere two blocks apart in, appropriately enough, the city's onetime Barbary Coast. Gino & Carlo, on Green... More >>
• Best Gnocchi
  Antica Trattoria
  Gnocchi is one of those seemingly simple dishes that only a maestro's light touch can pull off. Without proper care and attention, these delectable dumplings, a glory of Roman cuisine since ancient times, can be doughy, dry, and heavy as a bowl of bocce balls. Antica, a lively little trattoria... More >>
• Best Crème Brûlée (5 Comments)
  Plouf
  We've had it with the rosewater infusions, the lavender infusions, the chai infusions, the f'Chrissake blood orange infusions. Crème brûlée should be pure and simple. It should involve nothing more than cream, egg yolks, and sugar. It should have a texture distinct in its exponential creaminess... More >>
• Best Mediterranean Restaurant (1 Comment)
  Belden Taverna
  The Mediterranean Sea covers a lot of global acreage, lapping as it does at the shores of southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, but most Mediterranean restaurants only dip their toes in one or two of the region's cuisines. Belden Taverna is gustatorially inclusive enough to employ... More >>
• Best Chowder
  Swan Oyster Depot
  Unlike most of the thick, gloppy chowders you see around town, Swan's is more in the nature of a light, revivifying bisque, a briny bowl of bivalves with soul-warming properties ideal for enduring our foggy climate. Fresh, fragrant clam broth, simmering milk, and a dollop of golden butter are... More >>
• Best Vegan-Friendly Restaurant
  Cha-Ya
  There's nothing bland, unsatisfying, or overtly cosmic about the food at Cha-Ya, a Mission District purveyor of vegan-friendly cookery. In fact, Cha-Ya's sushi, noodles, soups, and dumplings are so rich, flavorful, and fulfilling, the place can stand as a splendid Japanese restaurant in its own... More >>
• Best Small Plates
  Terzo
  We'd never get tired of the small-plates fad if all small plates were as good as the ones served at sleek, modern Terzo. Chef Mark Gordon sends out dishes from his open kitchen that are full of lusty flavor and easy to share. The seasonal menu evolves from week to week. Vegetarian options have... More >>
• Best French Bistro
  Bistro Aix
  You have your choice of two spaces at this modest, family-run spot in the Marina: a front room with a bar and simple modern wood tables, or a large homey heated patio out back, which is our preference. But in either room you'll be served simple, tasty French fare made with fresh ingredients... More >>
• Best Cassoulet
  Rue Saint Jacques
  Your server will start by putting down two bricks down on the snowy white tablecloth. This is obviously meant to protect both the cloth and the table below it, but it also serves as a signifier for the rustic, long-cooked stew. The impressive cast-iron casserole is filled to the brim with toothy... More >>
• Best New Neighborhood Restaurant (6 Comments)
  Nopa
  Nopa, a hit from the day it opened, has helped to both name and define its neighborhood, the area north of the Panhandle. Throngs arrive nightly at the lofty, two-storied space, restored to its original glory (it was built as a stately bank, but in recent years had been reduced to serving as a... More >>
• Best Wacky Dessert
  Brick
  We've seen some lists of ingredients that struck us as unlikely, unwise, even (dare we say) unappealing. But the list of ingredients on one dessert at Brick, a small-plates place in the Tenderloin with a cutting-edge kitchen, seemed to be daring us to try the dish, or shall we say accumulation:... More >>
• Best Panna Cotta (1 Comment)
  Lark Creek Steak
  Panna cotta means cooked cream, and it differs from other custards, such as crème caramel, in that it's thickened with gelatin rather than egg. It needs a light hand with the gelatin to be successful, but it has become a very popular dessert. We've had it served with fresh fruit, slicked with a... More >>
• Best Oyster Bar (New & Fancy)
  Farallon
  When Farallon added a dedicated oyster bar to its front bar room, it should come as no surprise that the already stunning place went all-out. The glamorous, glittering eight-seat bar, under a couple of Farallon's signature blown-glass jellyfish chandeliers, features a wide white marble counter.... More >>
• Best Oyster Bar (Venerable & Modest)
  Anchor Oyster Bar
  This snug spot, which seats only about two dozen people if all its tables and counter are full (which they always seem to be), offers only a few varieties of oysters — that way you're guaranteed that they're fresh and sparkling. (As is the décor, which boasts discreet olde salt touches.)... More >>
• Best Ice Cream (1 Comment)
  Bi-Rite Creamery
  The newest addition to 18th Street's dazzling gastronomic block between Guerrero and Valencia (Tartine Bakery, Delfina, Pizzeria Delfina, and the Bi-Rite Grocery, among others) is the irresistible Bi-Rite Creamery. The Creamery offers artisanal, seasonal ice creams, sorbets, and granitas, made... More >>
• Best Fried Chicken (tie) (1 Comment)
  The Front Porch
  Since we'll go anywhere for fried chicken, it's a good year in which two new contenders for San Francisco's best arrive. At farmerbrown, Jay Foster offers a wing, leg, and breast, which he's brined for 12 to 24 hours, and then soaked in buttermilk overnight. It comes out moist and tasty under a... More >>
• Best Wine List
  Pres a Vi
  The small-plates global cuisine featured at the new Presidio outpost of a popular Walnut Creek spot called Va di Vi is complemented by a vast, interesting, well-explained wine list. (No surprise, when you learn that Va di Vi means "it's about wine" and Pres a Vi "captivated by wine," in... More >>
• Best Cocktails
  Bong Su Restaurant & Lounge
  There's a lot of competition out there in the lucrative cocktail market: It seems that every place has its list of both classic and signature cocktails, priced at whatever the market will bear ($9, $12, $15 — the sky's the limit). But sometimes, however carefully the recipes may have been... More >>
• Best Crosstown Bar
  Miraloma Club
  Sometimes you might need a final final on your way home. Or maybe you live in the Sunset and you're meeting some friends to go to a Giants day game. Or you've just taken in the sights at Twin Peaks or Ocean Beach. It's time for a beer, but there's nothing to be found in the vast residential... More >>
• Best Beach Bar
  Riptide
  San Francisco is not renowned for its beach culture. As if the sharks and frigid waters weren't bad enough, there's the months-long summer fog and the almost complete lack of any commercial beachfront development. But in the chilly Sunset District there's a hearty breed of weathered local... More >>
• Best Kitschy Mission Bar (3 Comments)
  Knockout
  The Knockout has been called a clubhouse for big kids, and that's a pretty apt description. Started by brothers and longtime Mission District bartenders DX and John Segura, the place just bleeds their love for kitsch, rockabilly, monster movies, and low-brow culture. On any given night, there... More >>
• Best Punk Rock Bar
  540 Club
  With a lineup of parties that includes a sexy, grown-up prom, a Mobsters Ball, and Catholic School Karaoke, it's pretty clear that owner Jamie Brown and his crew are having fun at their watering hole. On Sunday afternoons, look for the bikes chained up outside, as it's barbecue and... More >>
• Best Vietnamese
  Out the Door
  If you'd ask us one of our San Francisco restaurant dreams, we'd have told you we longed for a Slanted Door that was just a touch more consumer-friendly: easier to get into, less noisy, and, while we're at it, why not cheaper? The Chans must have read our mind, because they've opened a large... More >>
• Best Chinese
  Koi Palace
  They line up on weekends here for dim sum (also available, with shorter wait times, for weekday lunch), but we much prefer dining here at night. You're greeted by a 1,500-gallon array of tanks filled with fresh fish and shellfish as you enter, but that covers only one page of the 18-page menu.... More >>
• Best Dim Sum (2 Comments)
  Canton Seafood & Dim Sum Restaurant
  This huge, two-story restaurant that seats up to 700 people on weekends feels much like the no-frills places found in China. There are white tablecloths and small chandeliers, and the nice touch of fresh flowers on the tables — plastic elsewhere in the room — but décor is not Canton's... More >>
• Best Sushi
  Ebisu
  Lines form regularly outside Ebisu, waiting patiently for a crack at a table or a seat inside. Poking your head inside, you'd be hard-pressed to discover the place's appeal from its ordinary, rather brown, and somewhat tired dŽcor: There are about nine tables, four or five more in a little... More >>
• Best Thai Barbecue
  San Francisco Barbecue
  Even though it's located between Texas and Missouri, the barbecue you'll find at San Francisco Barbecue isn't cooked in a pit and drenched in hot, spicy, tomatoey sauce. Instead, it's marinated in a mildly garlicky, mildly sweet brew flavored with fresh cilantro, and grilled to order in an open... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Japanese
  Oyaji
  Ignore the rather ordinary sushi and pricey sashimi for the real glories of this modest, woody izakaya restaurant: its extensive menu of small plates. Specialties include ankimo, the steamed monkfish liver that is something like the foie gras of the sea; salads of jellyfish (kurage su), snow... More >>
• Best New High-End Restaurant
  Coi
  The complicated genius of chef Daniel Patterson is on display in Coi's muted, earth-toned dining room, in which you feel as if you're on a glowing spaceship eating food that's out of this world. The prix-fixe menus (either a set tasting menu, or one of four courses with several choices for each... More >>
• Best Cheese Plate
  Bar Tartine
  What better to accompany Bar Tartine's excellent bread (sourced from its famous parent, the Tartine bakery a few blocks away) than cheese? And cheese is treated with respect here: It's given its own separate menu, featuring about a dozen different varieties, whose careful affinage results in... More >>
• Best Bar to Score With a MILF
  Balboa Cafe
  The Balboa Cafe, situated in the Marina District, is one pillar of the neighborhood's "Triangle" of popular bars on the corners of Fillmore and Greenwich Streets. The Cafe offers upscale American grub, a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere, televised sports, and a long wooden bar with its own... More >>
• Best Food Court
  The Food Emporium
  At Westfield's shiny new food court, aka the Food Emporium, a real effort was made to avoid the inevitable dreary, fatty, fast-food mall food-court vendors (Chick-fil-A and Cinnabon, anyone?). This food court features small local chains offering a wide array of fresh international fare. Among... More >>
• Best Vegetable
  Mashed peas with mint butter, Presidio Social Club
  In this city, where seasonality and local produce are celebrated almost reflexively on every menu, we're a sucker for vegetable sides, whether arriving at table as part of your entree, or ordered on their own. Loretta Keller, at Coco 500, entitles hers "California dirt," and we still remember a... More >>
• Best Tea Brewing
  Modern Tea
  It stands to reason that a tea salon opened by Alice Cravens, assistant to the famed late Bay Area tea guru Helen Gustafson, would offer not only extensive and well-described lists of teas, but also perfectly brewed tea. The beverage as served here will amaze you, whether you're used to a Lipton... More >>
• Best Candyshop Decor
  Miette Confiserie
  This new shop from the owners of the famed Miette Patisserie in the Ferry Plaza features candies sourced from all over the world, from tiny Tootsie Rolls at 10 cents each to lavish Charles Chocolate boxes made of chocolate and filled with sweets for $45. But the real draw is the art of display.... More >>
• Best Restaurant Re-Invention
  TWO
  After a dozen years, owner David Gingrass decided it was time for a change at his restaurant Hawthorne Lane, a big glitzy place where the well-heeled enjoyed multicourse, extravagant California-Asian fusion meals. The name TWO references (again) the address, as well as the fact that it's the... More >>
• Best Barbecue (Eat-In)
  Memphis Minnie's
  If you want to enjoy your smoky ‘cue while sitting down in a pleasant restaurant environment, Memphis Minnie’s is almost your only choice in San Francisco. That’s why it’s a good thing that it consistently serves up some of the best ribs, beef brisket, Santa Maria tri-tip, and pulled pork around... More >>
• Best Barbecue (Take Out & Delivery)
  Big Nate's Barbecue
  This efficient, bare-bones pit stop (there are a few tables, but they're there for convenience only) will get you in and out quickly, loaded up with Memphis- and Carolina-style pork ribs, chicken, links, brisket, and pulled pork, as well as cornbread muffins, country beans, cole slaw, potato... More >>
• Best Hawaiian
  L&L Hawaiian
  There are so many Hawaiian restaurants popping up all over the Bay Area that a full-time hobby could consist of checking them out. We do so with pleasure since becoming enamored of the classic plate lunch (protein, plus a scoop of mayonnaisey macaroni salad and "two scoops rice") on our first... More >>
• Best Late Night
  Café Maritime
  Most late-night possibilities around town are limited to bright lights and dim food, but at the small, chic Café Maritime, you're offered sparkling-fresh, exquisitely cooked seafood, in delightful surroundings, until 1 a.m. every night of the week. The shellfish bar proffers a variety of raw... More >>
• Best Moroccan
  Tajine
  Perhaps the most hotly awaited opening among bargain-minded San Francisco foodies in 2007 was that of Tajine, whose tiny spot in the raffish Tenderloin could seat maybe 10 people (if they liked each other). What those lucky 10 really liked was the tasty, sophisticated Moroccan cooking: bastilla... More >>
• Best Steak
  Bobo's
  The location is uninspiring: a boxy two-story building next to a Travelodge on a dull block of Lombard. The décor, which strives for gaiety (red-painted walls, Venetian-inspired lanterns, large dolls based on the Italian jester who inspired the restaurant and Web site's name), is kinda tacky. In... More >>
• Best New Dish
  Crab and grits, The Front Porch
  Brillat-Savarin once said, "The invention of a new dish is of greater importance to the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a new star." And for us the star of the menu at the Front Porch is the Dungeness crab atop sweet white corn grits porridge. We love their deep-fried chicken livers... More >>
• Best Clam Pie
  Pescheria
  The relatively compact menu at this clean, well-designed, water-colors-and tiled Noe Valley bistro is a brave one: None of the 18 items on the menu would make a red-meat lover happy. (Well, just to hedge a bet, the regular but unlisted nightly special is a massive bone-in New York steak, enough... More >>
• Best Carpaccio
  Joe DiMaggio's Italian Chophouse
  We've never quite understood the appeal of carpaccio. If you want raw beef, and sometimes we do, a well-made steak tartare will highlight the delicate, steely taste of the meat with the addition of some nice aromatics and texture. But the massive portion of carpaccio as served at Joe DiMaggio's... More >>
• Best Raviolo
  Bacon-and-egg raviolo
  The name and appearance of this plump pasta are deceptively simple, but its careful and rather tricky construction results in a delicious and intriguing dish. Rendered bacon and toasted garlic are mixed with sautéed spinach, mascarpone, and Parmesan, and heaped on fresh green pasta dough... More >>
• Best Cheap Sandwiches
  Mr. Pickle's Sandwich Shop
  This is, by far, the best place to grab a quick, high-quality sandwich for under $7. We've bought bags of chips that cost nearly that much, but the Pickle, as it's called, won't disappoint. The place is very low-key, and the owner's mother runs the shop, so you know it's good. Try the "Tony... More >>