San Francisco Food Recommendations
I love San Francisco, but I lived there so briefly that most of my friends know it far better than I do. When my friend Adam asked for dining recommendations, I turned it over to them, and I got a lot of good responses, but my other friend Adam’s response was epic:
So if I were visiting from DC, I would focus heavily on Asian food
because it’s several notches above almost anything you can get in the
district. On the other hand, most ethiopian food is going to be
underwhelming (though Moya is worth a mention). The main problem with this
strategy is that many of the best asian places are a bit of a hike if you
are relying on public transit, but I’ll throw them out there anyway and you
can decide whether it’s worth it.
Vietnamese sandwiches are probably the cheapest lunch you can find. I like
irving cafe and deli and Y and Y vietnamese deli. Saigon sandwiches on
larkin is a very popular alternative.
SF does regional chinese very well. Shanghai dumpling king or shanghai house
on balboa for soup dumplings. Z and Y in chinatown for sichuan. R and G
lounge or yuet lee for cantonese seafood. Hong kong S and T on noriega for
afffordable dim sum. Old mandarin islamic restaurant or kingdom of dumpling
for northern/beijing style. There is also a northeastern style place called
dong bei mama that just opened, but I haven’t yet had a chance to try it.
Henry’s hunan is pretty decent for hunan, and is close to where you are
staying.
For korean, To Hyang on geary is my alpha and omega.
Vietnamese: ha nam ninh for northern style pho. Ngoc mai for banh xeo, the
vietnamese crepe. Pho huynh hiep on irving or pho garden for southern style
pho.
Thai: almost all of the best are in the tenderloin. Lers ros, thai house
express on geary, and sai jai are the ones to hit.
Singaporean: lime tree on irving is cheap and good value.
Burmese: my favorite is little yangon, but it is just over the daly city
line and you may not want to go that far. Mandalay and burmese kitchen are
also decent options. I think burma super star is overrated.
Persian: lavash on irving.
Indian/pakistani: my personal preference is for lahore karahi above even
pakwan and shalimar. That tandoori fish they do is great. I think darbar on
polk is pretty good too. As jeff notes, BYOB is still formally illegal, but
I think pakwan currently is more relaxed about it right now. There is now a
branch of amber india in downtown SF, but I haven’t been (and it definitely
ain’t cheap).
Turkish: a la turca is good.
North african: cafe zitouna on polk is very good (tunisian). I wish i’d
sampled more of the moroccan places…
Taquerias: pancho villa taqueria is my current champion. Farolito, only if
you are drunk. I personally can’t stand taqueria cancun.
Salvadoran: los planes in the excelsior might have the best pupusas, but is
a schlep. Balompie cafe or el zocalo are good alternatives and more
convenient.
Other mexican: haltun and poc-chuc are excellent for yucatecan. Chilango on
church for slightly upscale mexico-city style food. Pastores on mission also
rocks. La oaxaquena for dirt cheap and delicious tamales.
Guatemalan: san miguel #2 is a good bet.
Russian/georgian: moscow and tbilisi bakery on geary has $2 piroshkis. They
are greasy as hell but make for good and filling snacks.
if you like oysters, lots of places have them for $1 each at happy hour.
Swan oyster depot isn’t cheap anymore, but is an experience.
I left off the french, italian, etc. simply because there are lots of
recommendations for the in the thread already and also because they tend to
be pricier, but let me know if you want pizza recommendations. 3:17 PM
