Best Restaurant in Which to Have a Cultural Identity Crisis

Zante Pizza & Indian Cuisine is the unexpectedly successful marriage of South Asian flavors, Italian food, and the gritty feel of an all-American dive -- right in the heart of the Mission, so it's surrounded by burrito joints and bodegas. Though the menu is an exhaustive list of mostly North Indian curry dishes, tandoori, and rice entrees, greasy pizzas rotate in a glass case in the window, making it possible to grab a slice of pepperoni with your mattar paneer (green peas and fried cheese), or order a cheese pizza in lieu of naan (Indian leavened bread). The Indian pizza -- a scrumptious combination of spinach, eggplant, cauliflower, ginger, garlic, and curry thrown atop a pizza crust -- must be one of the pinnacles of fusion cuisine. Order a Taj Mahal with it, and you've got a twist on the normally clichéd beer and pizza pairing.