Food & Drink >>

• Best Restaurant
  Jardinière
  One restaurant might prepare dramatically memorable food. Another might create a unique and luxurious ambience. A third might offer service that's intelligent as well as attentive. When you find a restaurant that encompasses all three -- an improbable scenario, here or anywhere -- you've hit the... More >>
• Best Fusion Food
  Cafe Kati
  There's nothing new about fusion cooking; fish and chips, Belgian chocolate, the fiery curries of India, and the tomato-based dishes of the Mediterranean are just a few examples of post-Columbian culinary intermingling. Fusion doesn't often reach the ethereal heights attained at Cafe Kati,... More >>
• Best Place to Wait for the Movie to Start at the Castro
  Marcello's
  You never know how popular a movie is going to be at this theater until you can actually see the length of the line stretching down Castro Street. But you do know you're going to be hungry right before the movie and that you need a place to rendezvous with your fellow cinemagoers. Solution: Meet... More >>
• Best Italian Deli
  Molinari Delicatessen
  Molinari reminds you in a purely visceral manner how richly the Italian experience is imbued with good eating. When you walk in, the wonderful smells of sausage and garlic and cheese inspire wholesale noshing, sipping, and cooking. The place is jammed, floor to rafters, with all the ingredients... More >>
• Best Japanese Grocery
  Super Mira
  A few months ago we took it upon ourselves to cook up a six-course Japanese meal despite a collective lack of experience in sushi-rolling and tempura-frying and a cupboard bereft of harusame and shoga. Luckily, Super Mira (and its predecessor, Super Koyama) has been around for years, providing... More >>
• Best Mexicatessen
  La Palma
  Delicatessens have come a long way since they arrived here from central Europe, pickled herring intact, a century ago; today in the great American melting pot we have our French delicatessens, Italian delicatessens, Scandinavian delicatessens, even Chinese delicatessens. The Mexicatessen is a... More >>
• Best Tamales
  Barrasa Market
  It's hard to find a good tamale nowadays; the once ubiquitous handful of stuffed masa has been more or less supplanted by the perfunctory burrito. But this Latin American delicacy, in which cornmeal dough is wrapped around the filling of your choice and steamed until hot and aromatic, has been a... More >>
• Best Antipasto
  Emma
  Remember when an Italian meal meant spaghetti and meatballs, a candle stuck in a Chianti bottle, and a preliminary platter of cold cuts and pickled cauliflower? Emma, an imaginative little hideaway in the grand old San Remo Hotel, defies North Beach tradition with an antipasto distinct from the... More >>
• Best Cheese Shop
  24th Street Cheese Company
  There's a memorable moment in Stevenson's Treasure Island when a castaway is rescued after three years of living beyond the blessings of human civilization. His first, avid words: "Got any cheese?" God knows the 24th Street Cheese Company has cheese -- enough, in fact, to make up for three... More >>
• Best Reason to Go to Fisherman's Wharf
  Eagle Cafe
  For years the Eagle served breakfast and bourbon to the deckhands and crabbers of Fisherman's Wharf, back when it was a real wharf with a real fishing fleet minus all of the gimcrack and wax museums. When the Pier 39 development came along and threatened the Eagle's nest at the foot of Powell... More >>
• Best Bread
  Noe Valley Bakery
  San Francisco is renowned for its fabulous bread, and the Noe Valley Bakery is a contemporary reason why. As a co-conspirator in the relatively recent artisan-bread craze, the shop bakes a fantastic selection of marvelous loaves studded with figs, apricots, walnuts, and other delights, but Noe... More >>
• Best Pan Dulce
  La Victoria
  Panaderías -- Mexican bakeries -- are located throughout the Mission, particularly along 24th Street, but La Victoria is a longtime favorite. Every panadería's specialty is pan dulce, delicately flavored, lightly textured rolls dusted with sugar and baked into whimsical shapes. At... More >>
• Best High Tea
  Ritz-Carlton
  Afternoon tea is as ritualistic a pleasure as anything out of Imperial Japan, and the Ritz-Carlton has preserved all of the meal's myriad gratifications down to the smallest detail. The locale, in the hotel's Lobby Lounge, is an opulent, pale-rose setting of antique oils, orchid blossoms, and... More >>
• Best Place to Feel Positively Gallic
  La Boulange de Polk
  We know a couple who prepared for a move to Paris by coming to this bakery every morning for three months straight. La Boulange is an acclimating bit of la Rive Gauche on the slopes of Russian Hill, complete with surrounding Old Country accents (every French national in town seems to end up... More >>
• Best Vegetarian Cheesesteak
  Jay's Cheesesteak
  Thanks to Jay's, "vegetarian cheesesteak" is no longer an oxymoron. Though this hip and hip hop-inspired Mission eatery serves nine kinds of cheesesteaks (from the original to a pastrami cheesesteak), Jay's also caters to the vegetarian crowd with its tasty seitan sandwich. Seitan is a chunky... More >>
• Best Brie Sandwich
  Big Sherm's
  This small eatery's motto -- "You can't get fresher than this!" -- applies to the friendly but spirited service as well as its amazing sandwiches. Though there are 32 sandwiches (nine of them vegetarian friendly) and four kinds of salads on the menu, the brie sandwich (No. 26) is a standout.... More >>
• Best Jewish Deli
  Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen
  Though it'll stir up lots of tsuris to place the best Jewish deli outside of San Francisco, Saul's beats any of the city's lesser efforts by a mile. Sure, you can get an overpriced bowl of matzo ball soup at David's downtown or a chewy corned beef on rye at Moishe's Pippic on Hayes, but at... More >>
• Best Microbrew
  Red Nectar Ale, Humboldt Brewing Co.
  So much beer, so little time. The superior suds to be sampled in Northern California are so numerous it's difficult to pick a favorite: Anderson Valley's mellow Boont Amber? Anchor's intensely delicious Liberty Ale? Sierra Nevada's megahoppy Big Foot Barley Wine? Humboldt's Red Nectar has all... More >>
• Best Comfort Food
  Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese at Blue
  The wind zooms cold down Market Street. Your stomach's grumbling, but you know your fridge is empty. It's time to duck into Blue for a hearty dish of pasta and protein, the gourmet mac and cheese your mama never made. Far superior to the gooey glop served by expatriate Middle Americans -- and... More >>
• Best Food Court
  Emeryville Public Market
  Though it has a Borders Books, a Universal Artists Cinema Multiplex, and a few other shops and services, the Emeryville Public Market is basically a big food court. But don't be alarmed -- at this market "best" and "food court" aren't incompatible terms. First, you can get just about anything... More >>
• Best Place You Wouldn't Expect to Find Great Pancakes
  Flipper's Gourmet Burgers
  Who would have thought a burger place would have great breakfasts? The menu goes way beyond the basic greasy eggs, toast, and potatoes; instead, it offers specialties such as the Morning Charge: shredded potatoes cooked with grilled onions, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, cilantro, and two kinds... More >>
• Best Block for a Culinary Tour of the World
  Valencia Between 16th and 17th Streets
  There are 15 restaurants on this block of the Mission, representing eight distinct cuisines: everything from the tasty Mexican fast food of La Cumbre, El Toro, or Mariachi to the upscale Vietnamese-meets-California-cuisine of the Slanted Door. If it's Indian food you crave, sit down to a meal at... More >>
• Best Hawaiian Luau
  Punahele Island Grill
  This place is so authentic that a big pile of macaroni salad comes with every order. Only true Hawaiians know that macaroni salad is the unifying food of their modern culture. And the mound of shredded pork on every plate is so succulent it dissolves before you can begin to chew. With not much... More >>
• Best Alcoholic Cream Soda
  Thirsty Bear Brewing Co.
  Vanilla beer? Strange, but true, and it's just one of the peculiarities of the Thirsty Bear, where seven tasty house microbrews are juxtaposed with a lengthy tapas menu in a brassy, industrial, South of Market setting. Even if the bartenders do look at you a little funny for ordering it, the... More >>
• Best Health-Conscious Chinese Restaurant
  Dragon Well
  Chinese restaurants have never been known for serving health food, but Dragon Well comes closer than most. On a lunch date in the Marina, chew like an elated goat on vegetarian tofu salad while sipping iced tea with a fleshy litchi globule floating in it. Here, there's no need to excavate the... More >>
• Best Damn Cup of Hot Chocolate
  The Grove
  What's a person gotta do to find a decent sugar rush in this town? For years, your best option was Bepples pie shop on Union Street, but with that respectable establishment (and its magnificent chocolate cream pies) now gone, options for a good chocolate fix are a bit limited. Enter the Grove.... More >>
• Best Curry-Induced High
  The Ganges
  In recent studies, certain kinds of curry have been shown to have mild narcotic effects and be slightly addictive. What better place to "turn on" than the Ganges, a vegetarian restaurant that looks like it was built in someone's living room. Under the tapestries and the seductive drone of the... More >>
• Best Éclairs
  Moscow and Tbilisi Bakery Store
  San Francisco is blessed with a handful of Russian bakeries, but on certain Saturday afternoons, the Moscow and Tbilisi Bakery Store seems to have the longest line stretching out the door. For good reason, too. Its variety of pastries under glass is practically a shrine to sweet-tooth... More >>
• Best Cheap Meal Before Dropping a Wad at the AMC 1000 Van Ness
  Pho Hoa
  Soup is a year-round dish in San Francisco's blustery climes, but few can touch the savory, filling bowl served up on the fringes of the Tenderloin at Pho Hoa. Pho is the Vietnamese beef broth redolent with anise and other unusual spices (you can request no cilantro). It comes with a thicket of... More >>
• Best Place to Eat Before a Giants Game
  Primo Patio Cafe
  While the box-seat crowd preps for a ballgame with overpriced libations and victuals at Paragon and MoMo's, the real fans -- the ones with a covey of Croix de Candlestick pins embedded in their well-worn Giants caps -- rally at a nearby no-frills Caribbean spot called the Primo Patio Cafe.... More >>
• Best Music to Eat Sushi By
  Hanabi Japanese Restaurant
  Japanese lanterns, bamboo, and chopsticks are things you expect to find in a Japanese restaurant. Portishead on the PA and wasabi in the shape of a happy face are not. Those are just two reasons we love Hanabi, a haven for Lower Haight hipsters in the gourmet ghetto that also features ethnic... More >>
• Best East Coast Pizza
  Pizza Orgasmica
  Ever wake up feeling like you just want to eat the Farmer's Daughter, or wrap your lips around a hot, lovely Aphrodite, or explore the pleasure-filled temptations of Kamasutra? Well, you're in luck -- that is, if you were thinking about pizza. As its name suggests, Pizza Orgasmica likes to give... More >>
• Best Barbecue
  Memphis Minnie's Bar-B-Que Joynt
  The second you open the door to Memphis Minnie's, you're hit with sensory overload. The screaming yellow walls and red trim nearly make you squint, while the overwhelming smell of barbecue is enough to give you, well, let's just call them convulsions. Don't be alarmed. This is some damn fine... More >>
• Best No-Frills Restaurant
  Yokoso Nippon
  Yokoso Nippon is also known as "No Name Sushi." With no signage, no alcohol permit, no phone, no reservations, and no way to pay other than cash, this little hole in the wall wouldn't seem to have much to recommend it. But the place has its charms. Part of its odd allure stems from the lack of... More >>
• Best Underappreciated Fancy French Restaurant
  Charles Nob Hill
  Forget Masa's, Fleur de Lys, and La Folie. Charles is the French restaurant to attend when you've got a special occasion to celebrate (and a small wheelbarrow of cash to fork over). This tiny, 60-seat eatery -- the stomping ground of Melissa Perello, who trained under current Masa's chef Ron... More >>
• Best Caffeine High
  Peet's Coffee and Teas
  It's Monday morning, a time when San Franciscans find it socially acceptable to exchange the evil eye and a grunt, the universal signals for "I haven't had my coffee yet!" Because, let's face it, most of us aren't morning people. For some, any coffee-flavored hot water is enough to get their... More >>
• Best Braised String Beans
  Hunan Chef
  This no-frills eat-in/take-out restaurant is smack dab in the middle of one of the city's least dot-communized 'hoods: Bernal Hill. The standard cooked flesh and deep-fried creatures are featured, but Hunan Chef also sports a decent selection of vegetarian dishes, seaweed soup, and mango sauces.... More >>
• Best Sandwich
  Peter's Favorite Breakfast Sandwich
  Stix Restaurant, 1200 Sixth St. (at Mission Bay), 255-7849 Next to Mission Bay Creek and the golf driving range where San Francisco cops go to meet their snitches, Stix offers one of the most lunch-friendly atmospheres to be found South of Market. The glass walls allow diners to look out on... More >>
• Best Dog-Friendly Cafe
  Atlas Cafe
  This is one of those finds that is probably best kept secret, but here goes: The Atlas Cafe has an attached patio with an outdoor heater, sheltered by a clear plastic tent. Under the tent are tables at which people sit with, yes, their dogs! Laid-back workers serve up great, cheap food, and... More >>
• Best Tofu
  Pyung Chang Tofu House
  If a mild, white bean product is not the first thing that pops into your head when thinking, "What am I in the mood for tonight?," the Tofu House will change that. This Korean-operated restaurant in Oakland has taken tofu to new heights with its specialty, silky tofu soups called "soon." The... More >>
• Best Irish Coffee
  The Albatross
  Chucking some well whiskey and Nescafé into a glass and spraying Reddi Wip on top does not make an Irish coffee. A good one requires first-rate coffee, high-quality Irish whiskey (such as Jameson's), and fresh cream. While many bars or pubs get one or two of these essentials right, few... More >>
• Best Place to Sip Wine Before Dinner
  Liberty Cafe
  In a city that has thousands of excellent restaurants, one might wonder why anyone would choose to visit the Liberty Cafe, a restaurant that practically ensures a wait on weekend nights because it is limited to 12 tables and doesn't take reservations. The secret behind Liberty Cafe's popularity... More >>
• Best Place to Eat Fruit and Cheese on a Sunny Afternoon
  Cafe Bastille
  Cafe Bastille is in downtown San Francisco on Belden Place, a surprisingly placid, restaurant-lined alley artfully hidden amid some of the tallest buildings in the city. While the interior décor of Cafe Bastille is intended to imitate a Parisian Metro station, it's the fresh-air seating... More >>
• Best Tom Yum
  Yamo Thai Kitchen
  If you live in the Mission, you may have walked past Yamo Thai Kitchen dozens of times without even noticing the place is there. This tiny, family-run spot is about as bare bones as it gets -- one counter, nine stools, a whole lot of to-go boxes, and a tom yum (Thai-style hot and sour) soup so... More >>
• Best Tiramisu
  Ristorante Ideale
  Step into Maurizio Bruschi's Ristorante Ideale and life will seem a little bit better. The décor is warm and soothing, the bread is fresh-baked, and the food -- from a flawless saltimbocca to the almost criminally flavorful spaghetti baked in cartoccio -- just plain kicks ass. Then comes... More >>
• Best Local Cookbook
  Savoring San Francisco
  If you've ever wondered how Betelnut got the fire into its emerald fire noodles (no longer on the menu, unfortunately, and sorely missed), or can't stop thinking about the salmon paillards you had at Globe, Aqua's miso-marinated sea bass, or Fringale's Roquefort ravioli, have we got a cookbook... More >>
• Best Martini
  Maxfield's
  It's said that the martini was invented 140 years ago by Professor Jerry Thomas, bartender at the Occidental Hotel on Montgomery Street. The Savoy Cocktail Book called Thomas "the greatest bartender of the past," although contemporary accounts indicate that his martini was made up of half gin... More >>
• Five Best Places to Celebrate the Sunset
  It isn't absolutely necessary to be out by the seashore to celebrate the sunset. Dusk is a state of mind as much as an astrological given, a languid meteorological declaration that the workday has ended and a bit of revitalization is in order. The best place to accomplish post-vocational repairs... More >>
• Five Best Places to Get Non-Diner Food After the Bars Close (3 Comments)
  Going out in San Francisco poses a dilemma. Nothing brings on an appetite like a late night of drinking, but because most of this pulsing metropolis shuts down well before last call, the post-bar masses have few options to satisfy their cravings -- mostly 24-hour diners serving burgers and... More >>
• Three Best Places for Adventurous Ice Cream Lovers
  So you really love ice cream? Think you've tried it all -- tin roof sundaes, Monkey Wrench, peanut butter, bubble gum? We've got news for you: You haven't even licked the surface. There's a small universe of ice cream flavors waiting to be tried -- avocado, cardamom, ube (see what we mean?). A... More >>
• Best Vegan Restaurants
  There is a wonderfully tasty alternative to the typically American killer diet of saturated fat, cholesterol, and artificially created hormones. It's called vegan food, and it's made without any animal-based substance. No meat. No butter. No cheese. Which means, with any luck, no heart attacks,... More >>
• Best New Restaurant
  Elisabeth Daniel
  Elisabeth Daniel belongs to the grand tradition of opulent dining exemplified by Ernie's, Fleur de Lys, and, more recently, Gary Danko and the Fifth Floor. Its seasonal cuisine, rich with caviar, foie gras, truffles, and other delicacies, is served with languid precision in six intricate,... More >>
• Best Dim Sum
  Oriental Pearl
  Part of the fun of the dim sum experience is pointing out what you want from a passing trolley and getting it instantly -- the essence of immediate gratification -- but all too often the snack in question has been sitting around in a steam table, getting tired and listless. Not an issue at... More >>
• Best Brunch
  Liberty Cafe
  Brunch is a meal as distinct from all others as the weekend is from the weekday -- the meal when a body can relax, reflect, stretch out, and exult in dolce far niente, the sweetness of doing nothing. Except, of course, eating. The Liberty Cafe not only serves an imaginative brunch of uniform... More >>
• Best Lox & Bagels
  Swan Oyster Depot
  So what do you do when you have a hankering for really good lox and bagels and you live 3,000 miles west of Amsterdam and 86th? Make the trek to upper Polk Street, where a six-block jaunt between establishments will yield a brunch well worth the Muni fare. Start at Swan Oyster Depot, where the... More >>
• Best Pot Stickers
  U-Lee
  We know someone who came to San Francisco 16 years ago for a job interview and discovered U-Lee's extraordinary pot stickers during his visit. To this day he is convinced his decision to relocate here was subliminally influenced by the nip of ginger that elevates U-Lee's creations (it doesn't... More >>
• Best Japanese Restaurant
  Kabuto Sushi
  After nearly 20 years in business, you'd think the wrinkles would be long since ironed out at Sachio Kojima's Kabuto, and you'd be correct. The experience begins with hot, steamed towels, then gets interesting as you contemplate an elaborate, three-volume menu that would take at least 10 visits... More >>
• Best Kaddo (1 Comment)
  The Helmand
  Sure, we could have given these guys best banjan (sautéed eggplant), best aushak (Afghan ravioli), or best aush (beef/yogurt/noodle soup). And don't even get us started on the chowpan (rack of lamb) or any of the other lamb dishes at the city's best, and only, Afghan restaurant. Though... More >>
• Best Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant
  Malee Thai & Vietnamese
  A few places (but not many) serve better Thai food, just like a few places (still not many) do better Vietnamese. But when you want both -- a balancing act comparable to serving French and Italian cuisines -- you simply must pay a visit to Malee Jones, chef/owner of the friendly little spot... More >>
• Best Ice Cream
  Joe's Ice Cream
  Get your scoops of 42 homemade flavors while you can, as a nonrenewable lease may force the Murashige family from the popular Richmond District ice cream parlor and grill that has been a landmark on the corner of Geary and 18th since World War II. Mutsuhiko Murashige bought Joe's when he... More >>
• Best Cocktail List
  Bruno's
  While the return of chef James Ormsby to Bruno's is some of the most exciting news to hit the Mission since Ormsby first helped revive the place back in 1995, the thing that really stands out at this swank jazz and supper club is the drink list. Sometimes, a place will offer 10 or even 20 house... More >>
• Best Oshinko
  Sanraku Four Seasons Japanese Restaurant
  From what we've seen, there's always a line at this traditional, brightly lit sushi house, and from what we've tasted, the wait is justifiable. The tempura is so crisp it bristles like autumn leaves, the dragon sushi (a sort of sushi casserole layered with unagi, smelt eggs, shiso, and tempura... More >>
• Best Dessert Menu
  Eos
  Although it's known primarily for its excellent wine cellar and its imaginative take on fusion cuisine, Eos is equally adept at the art and science of fabulous desserts. Recent examples have included a sort of über-Twix bar made of house-baked shortbread, milk chocolate ganache, coconut... More >>
• Best Pan-Asian Restaurant
  Betelnut Pejiu Wu
  If a nuclear bomb were to detonate over the Bay Area, vaporizing thousands if not millions of innocents in a hot, bright flash, we have a feeling that, when the radiation began to clear, there would still be a line to get into Betelnut. Open since 1995, the place has already become a San... More >>
• Best Comeback We're Praying Will Happen
  Tong Palace
  We don't care what anyone says: Ton Kiang does not serve the best dim sum in San Francisco. Yank Sing probably doesn't either, though Mayflower might, but the thing about all these places is that it takes forfreakingever to get a table on weekends. Thus, we set off toward Clement one Sunday... More >>
• Best Discount Asian Foods
  Richmond New May Wah Supermarket
  The thing about May Wah is that the place offers a little bit of everything -- guava tea, clay pots, red bean mochi, eel, fresh lobster balls, fresh squid, dried squid, canned squid, Crest toothpaste, playing cards, not to mention the notoriously stinky, spiky-skinned, and often dangerous durian... More >>
• Best Columbus Avenue Bar
  Mr. Bing's
  The bar is triangular at Mr. Bing's, and the drinks are so stiff they may actually melt your bones. The strange, circular indentation in the ceiling can resemble (depending how many drinks you've had) either a strange, circular indentation or a portal to another dimension, and on weekends the... More >>
• Best Restaurant Name
  Dine
  Sometimes, a restaurant opens with a name like, say, Venture Frogs, which can annihilate appetites at a distance of 50 miles. But then, at other times, you get a moniker like Dine, a crisp, single syllable that suggests so much it leaves us breathless. One eats a potato chip, but dines on seared... More >>
• Best Family-Style Chinese Restaurant
  Eight Immortals
  Depending on how interested you are in authentic Chinese food, and depending on how squeamish you get around squab heads, chicken feet, jellyfish, and sea cucumber, Eight Immortals will seem like either a slice of heaven or your worst culinary nightmare. Hopefully, the former is true, and if it... More >>
• Best New Greek Restaurant
  Mezes
  As wonderful as Kokkari is, San Francisco has long been underserved when it comes to Greek food. But the picture brightened considerably last year with the opening of Chestnut Street's Mezes, which is named after the traditional Greek tapas-style appetizers. This warm, friendly spot delivers... More >>
• Best Bloody Mary
  Azie
  We could go on and on about the wonders of Azie. The décor is sumptuous, the Nine Bites appetizer is better than most sex, and the live DJ at the bar means you're not dining on your grandmother's haute cuisine, but a 21st-century style of fusion executed so flawlessly that foie gras... More >>
• Best Gnocchi
  Da Flora
  The handwritten menu at North Beach's cozy Da Flora changes often, with one exception -- owner Flora Gaspar's "signature" sweet potato gnocchi. In fact, according to Flora, attempts to change the sauce the gnocchi are served with have been met with fierce opposition by regular customers, meaning... More >>
• Best Bitters to Have Swept the Restaurant Community
  Fernet Branca
  The cool thing about Fernet is that the American pronunciation rhymes (and sort of rhymes) with a whole bunch of words. Thus, we're able to announce that a great Ferneternity has formed among the city's restaurant workers, who never seem to be far from this bitter, minty diges-tif. Produced by... More >>
• Best Bar
  The Overflo
  It might be impossible not to like the Overflo (and if you've been to the Overflo and think you didn't like it, you're wrong). The lighting is dim, the drinks are stiff, and owner/bartender Mark Allen is so hospitable he might actually be the coolest dude in San Francisco. His father opened the... More >>
• Best Way to Save $15
  Eat at Sno-drift
  There are lots of ways to save $15 -- buy three fewer burritos over the course of a year, walk 15 times instead of taking Muni -- but if you happen to be young, hungry, and prone to working it on the dance floor, dining at Sno-drift on a Friday night may be the best method of all. If you arrive... More >>
• Best Sibin
  An Sibin
  Turnover among the city's bars is as inevitable as rain, but still, we have to admit we were deeply saddened when we heard that a divey little Irish bar named Mulligan's bit the dust. The crowd was seedy, the drinks were stiff, and the jukebox was often cranked loud enough to vibrate the... More >>
• Best Appetizer
  Appetizer Trio of the Day at Cosmopolitan Cafe
  Consider the appetizer -- the foreplay in the culinary dance of love. It should be light, enticing, and should make you want more, teasing the palate until your entree arrives, strikes like a thunderbolt, and sends you into the soothing afterglow of dessert. Though Steven Levine's Cosmopolitan... More >>
• Best Interactive Dish
  Mel i Mato at B44
  All too often, and especially in the Bay Area, food is treated with so much reverence that the festive nature of dining out is smothered under a blanket of unction and parsley oil. But at B44, an ever-hopping tapas joint in the Financial District, fun is an infectious constant. That's especially... More >>
• Best Cookies
  Blue Chip Cookies
  The trouble with most chocolate chip cookies nowadays is their texture (dried out) and their chip count (not enough of 'em!). Blue Chip bakes top-quality cookies that are as light and chewy as your grandma's -- you can just taste the butter, vanilla, and brown sugar -- and every bite is packed... More >>
• Best Sausages
  Rosamunde Sausage Grill
  The humble sausage may be the ideal culinary tidbit. Deceptively simple, richly satisfying, and infinitely varied, sausages have been proliferating and evolving since Homer wrote about them in the Odyssey, and for cause: Properly prepared, they're crisp, luscious, sweet, and spicy all at once,... More >>
• Best Vietnamese Restaurant
  Ana Mandara
  There aren't many Vietnamese restaurants as elegant as Ana Mandara. Le Colonial, its closest competitor, has the edge when it comes to ambient luxury, but it doesn't have Ana Mandara's dazzling sense of French Imperial retro-whimsy: the curved staircases, the burbling fountains, the cushioned... More >>
• Best Mediterranean Restaurant
  42 Degrees
  The Mediterranean Basin and its common, sun-kissed currency -- olives, fennel, grapes, and so on -- have provided fertile inspiration to many a local restaurant. 42 Degrees takes its name from one of the region's tastier coordinates -- the latitudinal line bisecting Portugal, the Basque Country,... More >>
• Best Bar Snack
  Potato Chips at LiveFire
  Sometimes a shot of Old Granddad just isn't enough -- you want something substantial in your belly to go along with the purple glow of the jukebox and the click and plunk of the billiard balls. Usually what you're likely to get is a simple choice of beer nuts or pretzels. But LiveFire, a... More >>
• Best Steak
  Osaka Grill
  There are perhaps a half-dozen absolute "bests" foodies everywhere can agree on -- the primary excellence of Scottish smoked salmon, the ne plus ultra of Parma prosciutto -- and Kobe beef is one of them. This fabled tribe of Japanese cattle is raised on a rich diet of pasture grass, rice, beans,... More >>
• Best Bar Food
  Hawthorne Lane
  Without a doubt, Hawthorne Lane is one of the finest restaurants in San Francisco. The prices are steep, but chef Bridget Batson lives up to them with her painstakingly subtle, Asian-inspired riffs on California cuisine. Even better is the bar menu, where the prices rarely exceed $10 and the... More >>
• Best Place to Meet Emma Peel
  Dot
  When you're out trolling for a retro-'60s superspy, preferably one with a Carnaby Street accent and a taste for Day-Glo paisley, Dot has all the atmo you could possibly require. The place looks like a cross between a swingin' bachelor pad of the Matt Helm variety and the futuristic lair of a... More >>
• Best Place to Get Away From It All
  Forbes Island
  Capri is too far away, you've had it with Hawaii, and St. Bart's is totally yesterday. So where does the overstressed San Franciscan go for a tranquil island sabbatical? Forbes Island, that wallet-friendly alternative to the Caribbean a Frisbee's throw from Fisherman's Wharf. Island chieftain... More >>
• Best Nuts
  Morrow's Nut House
  Morrow's is one of those places that make you realize how good something can be that you've taken for granted your whole life. It's a tiny storefront, not much bigger than a walk-in closet, and the aroma of frying nuts is irresistible when you're strolling past on your way to Union Square.... More >>
• Best Fudge
  See's
  Schmidt, Teuscher, and XOX are perfectly respectable when you're in the mood for a precious little package of Eurotrash truffle, but when you want a nice thick slab of belly-pleasing American fudge, See's is the place to head for. Despite its megachain status, See's continues to cook up fabulous... More >>
• Best Bare Buttocks in a Restaurant
  Boys Toys
  We haven't been by Boys Toys for a while, so we can't say if the arrival of the Grand Cafe's Thomas Hogan has saved the menu from mediocrity. Still, we're willing to bet our grandmother's Magic Wand that the entertainment is just as captivating. Dinner in the upstairs Boardroom restaurant is... More >>
• Best Burrito
  El Farolito
  Not that you would, but you could ... have a burrito with sesos (aka beef brains) or lengua (tongue) at El Farolito, the best of the burrito bunch adjacent to the 24th Street BART station. Even with some of the top Mission District Mexican food just steps away, diners seem to be perpetually... More >>
• Best Gut-Busting Burrito
  Taqueria La Cumbre
  It's impossible to stroll through the Mission without tripping over a burrito, which isn't surprising, since the Mission is widely regarded as the center of the burrito universe. Some are good, some are great, and some are just plain huge, as is the case with the super-deluxe burrito at Taqueria... More >>
• Best Burger
  Burger Joint
  Most places outside the fast-food realm serve hamburgers as an adjunct or an afterthought, but as its name implies, Burger Joint is all about burgers. It's inevitable that such laserlike culinary concentration would result in a highly refined example of the burger-flipper's art, and such is the... More >>
• Best French Fries
  Pier 23
  French fried potatoes come in every size, shape, consistency, and flavor (in Belgium they fry them in rendered kidney lard to unexpectedly tasty effect), but only a few attain that slender, crunchy, salty nirvana that can inspire equal measures of pleasure and addiction. If you encounter such... More >>