Food & Drink >>

• Best Coffee
  Ritual Coffee Roasters
  The Pacific Northwest does have some of the best coffee in the country (aside from the dirt dripped out of Starbucks), but that's no reason to drink 7-Eleven lattes here. Ritual Coffee Roasters uses beans from Stumptown of Portland, Ore., in its blends, making for a creamy, thick espresso... More >>
• Best Burrito
  El Farolito Taqueria
  Note to people who don't quite understand ("foodie" online reviewers, this means you): Taquerias are informal eateries, meant to provide decent, fast meals — much like delis. They're not supposed to have "décor," they're supposed to have beer signs, and expecting anything else means... More >>
• Readers' Poll
  Best Restaurant Mamacita Best New Restaurant Mamacita Best Hidden Restaurant Emmy's Spaghetti Shack Best Neighborhood Restaurant Mamacita Best Chef Sam Josi Best Bar Mezzanine Best Irish Bar The Irish Bank Best Gay Bar The Mix Best Pickup Bar (Straight) Hemlock/Delirium/Mezzanine... More >>
• Best New Restaurant, Inexpensive
  Tajine
  No bigger than a minute (it seats perhaps 10 or 12, at cramped tables), this Tenderloin Moroccan spot turns out large portions of authentic and delicious food from its open kitchen. Almost everything is under $10 (the highest-ticket dish is the brochette royale, at $11.95, which includes lamb,... More >>
• Best New Restaurant, Moderate
  Range
  The inviting glow that tempts you into Range, fortuitously sited next to a small park, is a harbinger of the glow that will pervade you as you tuck into its inspired dishes. Range offers the apotheosis of intelligent comfort food, created by chef Phil West. Satisfying starters of creamy chicken... More >>
• Best New Restaurant, Expensive
  Scott Howard
  The clever way the menu is divided at Scott Howard tempts you to order more than the standard three courses (the first page offers "raw," "soup and salads," and "appetizers"; the second, "mains"), and you won't be sorry if you do: Constructing your own tasting menu, according to your own... More >>
• Best Smoking Bar
  Dalva Cocktail Lounge
  Though it's located at one of the most hipster-heavy corners of the city, Dalva usually feels like a quiet hideout, even on weekend nights. Instead of sharing the neighborhood's hipster/meat-market vibe, Dalva cultivates an adult-Euro-dive bar feel, with low lighting, no dance floor, a beautiful... More >>
• Best Frog Legs
  La Folie
  The "Frog Legs Bernard Loiseau" served at Chef Roland Passot's temple of French cuisine honor both their inspiration — the brilliant but tortured chef who committed suicide when it was rumored that his three-star restaurant might be reduced to two stars — and Passot, who one trusts... More >>
• Best Appetizers
  Luella
  Luella is a hip, friendly, festive sort of place that makes you want to settle in at the bar, open a bottle of wine, and order all the appetizers on the menu. Part of it is the cool, subtly lit ambience, and part of it is the view of the Hyde Street cable car out the big front windows. But most... More >>
• Best Casual Romantic Restaurant
  Il Cantuccio
  For a cozy little spot that won't break the bank it's tough to beat this homey Italian eatery. Even without reservations, it's not impossible to get a seat on the weekend, and once you're in the care of the welcoming staff it becomes a quick favorite: just casual enough to be comfortable, just... More >>
• Best Original Cocktails
  Cortez
  Though we've tried almost every mixture on Cortez's lengthy cocktail list, it's hard to pick a favorite at this bustling Union Square nightspot. We certainly keep coming back to the Journalist, a concoction of Damrak gin, Cointreau, red and white vermouth, lemon juice, and bitters, but many of... More >>
• Best Dive Restaurant (2 Comments)
  Cordon Bleu
  If there isn't room to squeeze into one of the eight seats at the Formica counter that fronts the open grill or at one of the three tiny tables tucked in the back, pick up the Cordon Bleu specialty — delicious Vietnamese grilled chicken — to go. It seems beside the point to talk of... More >>
• Best Place for Carnivores
  Espetus Churrascaria
  If you leave the little dials on your table reading SIM POR FAVOR (i.e., "Yes, please"), gaucho-clad servers will come to your table at this Brazilian churrascaria brandishing meat-laden skewers, from which they'll carve roasted and grilled meats and fowl until you cry Uncle (or flip the dial to... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Restaurant
  Chenery Park
  A classic neighborhood restaurant that's worth a visit, no matter where you live, this three-level, warm and pleasant spot is located in Glen Park's tiny shopping district, offering a seasonal menu of internationally accented American comfort food with plenty to satisfy everyone. The kitchen... More >>
• Best Cupcakes (2 Comments)
  Citizen Cupcake Café & Bar
  As the name implies, this one-of-a-kind cafe and bar, tucked into a corner of the Virgin Megastore near Union Square, harkens back to that favorite childhood treat — the cupcake — but in ways your Mama probably never dreamed of. Think Rocky Road (cupcakes, not ice cream): chocolate... More >>
• Best Revamp
  Coco 500
  Chef-owner Loretta Keller refreshed and rejuvenated her popular SOMA spot, Bizou, without changing her interesting and personal pan-European style of cooking. The cozy bistro feel has been replaced by sleek modern décor, with art glass lights, bare wooden tables, new big windows, and an... More >>
• Best Refuge From Hipsters (1 Comment)
  The Expansion
  They're everywhere — hipsters! Like zombies in a George Romero flick, they descend upon the city nightly, flaunting their sideways haircuts and emaciated frames, stacking their track bikes atop one another outside hot spots throughout the Mission District, the Haight, and the Castro. So... More >>
• Best Ice Cream
  Joe's Ice Cream
  Ice cream — like burritos, pizza, and burgers — has its partisans. Some like it sweet, some like it creamy, and some like it not at all (freaks). In the sweet camp you'll find supporters of the Mission District's venerable Mitchell's, which we like well enough when we're at that end of... More >>
• Best Cheap Curries
  Chutney
  There are so many South Asian restaurants in this section of the Tenderloin that some have taken to calling it (not very cleverly) the "Pak-Loin." Besides serving tasty, cheap curries, Chutney stands out for its slightly upscale ambience (well, as upscale as an order-at-the-counter Tenderloin... More >>
• Best Vegan Restaurant
  Medicine Eaststation
  The menu is inspired, we are told, by a vegan cuisine favored by Japanese monks: a "500-year-old fad diet," witty posters say. The design is clean and spare — wooden refectory tables and matching benches in a large, airy second-story room, part of the Crocker Galleria's food court but also... More >>
• Best Sangria
  Cha Cha Cha
  We love Cha Cha Cha, but not for the reasons you'd expect. The food at this location is better than what's served at the restaurant's Mission District outpost, but the service is similarly spotty, the din is equally deafening, and the Afro-Cuban décor is even louder. No matter; once you... More >>
• Best Hard Rock Bar/Thai Food Paradise
  Bender's Bar and Grill/Experimental Thai Kitchen
  Long a headquarters for the Mission District's substantial population of bike messengers, aging rockers, rockabilly chicks, and other tattooed toughs, the endearingly grimy spot that is now Bender's Bar isn't a place one would intuitively turn to for expert Thai food. Frequent hosts of benefit... More >>
• Best French Cafe
  Café de la Presse
  Named for its eclectic newsstand (featuring imported newspapers and magazines, as well as a small selection of books), this cafe was remodeled at the end of last year to freshen the décor and combine the entrances to the lofty step-down dining room and its authentically Gallic upstairs... More >>
• Best Caribbean Restaurant
  Primo Patio Cafe
  Never mind that it's whipped up in a kitchen: In a just universe, Primo Patio's grilled jerk chicken would be added to the list of natural wonders of the world. Tender, moist, and boasting the perfect blend of spices, the eatery's signature dish transports your taste buds to the Bahamas, Aruba,... More >>
• Best Dive Bar
  Eagle's Drift In Lounge
  Located a block away from South Park, this little jewel of a bar is a dive in the truest sense: It's free of hipsters slumming it for a night, it's dingy, it's got a truly diverse jukebox (which carries tunes that seem like an afterthought, ranging from Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" to Whitney... More >>
• Best Free Gelato
  Naia
  This Berkeley-based minichain serves some of S.F.'s best gelato and lets you try before you buy. But its servers don't just allow you to taste for free — they insist on it. Staffers wearing goofy, Eurotrash orange bicycle caps shove spoonfuls of gelato in your face like pushy grandmothers,... More >>
• Best Cheesecake Lollipops
  Lime
  This small plates restaurant in the Castro District has a weird, 1950s diner-meets-futuristic Barney on acid vibe, but don't let that scare you away. Saddle up to the bar (which has embedded television screens) and start ordering. The dinner menu has a lot going for it, including some delicious... More >>
• Best One-Man Band
  Canteen
  This tiny spot, a chicly remade diner attached to the Commodore Hotel, has four booths and eight counter seats, all of them usually booked for the three dinner seatings (at 6, 7:30, and 9) offered Wednesday through Saturday. Every dish is prepared in full view of the happy clientele in the small... More >>
• Best Take-Out
  DeLessio Market & Bakery
  DeLessio Market & Bakery defies expectations. Its salad bar and hot-food buffet table are laden with multiple temptations, always appetizing, neat, and fresh. The salad bar features — in addition to expected salad-bar items such as hard-boiled eggs, potato salad, and coleslaw —... More >>
• Best Cajun-Creole Restaurant
  Andrew Jaeger's House of Seafood & Jazz
  New Orleans' loss is our gain: Having just opened the House of Seafood in San Francisco when Katrina hit, Andrew Jaeger and his staff decided to stick around when their eponymous Big Easy restaurant was closed due to the hurricane. The erstwhile Condor Club has been rendered unrecognizable, with... More >>
• Best Bar to Take Your Parents To
  St. Regis
  Unlike Los Angeles or New York City, San Francisco has a nightlife scene that has yet to infect our hotel lobbies. Perhaps because of their audaciousness in charging at least $15 for a top-shelf martini (yes, we mean you, Four Seasons) or because of the gaggles of tourists, few locals frequent... More >>
• Best Bakery, San Francisco
  Dianda's Italian-American Pastry Co.
  We haven't been able to eat our way through the hundreds of cakes, cookies, and pastries available at this venerable place, but what we have tasted is so uniformly delicious that we're willing to try. Everything made with either of Dianda's two specialties — high-quality almond paste and a... More >>
• Best Bakery, East Bay
  Crixa Cakes
  Crixa is an adorable Hungarian bakery complete with little tables at which you can enjoy your delicious pastries and cakes, whether alm‡s rétes (aka apple strudel) or diós kifli (a walnut-stuffed flaky pastry, in daily rotation with plum and apricot versions), with a cup of good... More >>
• Best Early Bird Special
  Prix fixe at Chapeau!
  We love owner Philippe Gardelle and chef Jesse Frost's rich, sophisticated, and delicious French cooking at any time, but we're especially impressed by the astonishing bargain dinner he offers Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m. For $19 you get three courses — two or three... More >>
• Best Japanese/Sushi Restaurant
  Kiss
  Naming a restaurant that seats at most a dozen people at a time (five at an angled maple sushi bar, and up to eight more at two or three tables) as our favorite is not intended to be maddening — or elitist. It's just to encourage those of you who'd enjoy watching a real sushi master (the... More >>
• Best Late-Night Restaurant
  Globe
  The lusty food served in the newly redecorated Globe is welcome at any hour, but especially during the wee ones, because few places in the city are open at all then, much less offering a sophisticated menu. The list ranges from big fresh salads (Chiogga beets with mint chiffonade and goat... More >>
• Best Sandwich
  The Presidio, California Street Delicatessen & Cafe
  Would a Reuben by any other name taste as sweet? The answer is yes, when it's the Presidio at the California Street Delicatessen & Cafe, a terrific, greasy amalgam of garlicky pastrami, melted Swiss cheese, tangy sauerkraut, and creamy Russian dressing on fresh-baked, sturdy rye bread. Its... More >>
• Best Pre-Opera and Symphony Dinner
  Hayes Street Grill
  There are a lot of restaurants high and low clinging to the streets near the Opera House and Davies Symphony Hall that are dependent on the culture crowd chowing down right before curtain time. The Hayes Street Grill shines on these occasions, for several reasons: its no-nonsense décor,... More >>
• Best Pakistani-Indian Restaurant
  Darbar
  San Francisco is blessed with so many Indian hole-in-the-wall dives — some now turning into minichains, each with its own partisans — that Darbar can get lost in the shuffle, and it shouldn't. The halal kitchen turns out tasty dishes at excellent prices (the top price is for tandoori... More >>
• Best Cured Meats
  Zuppa
  The beautiful streamlined Tamagnini slicer occupying prime real estate in Zuppa's open kitchen looks as if it could be the star of an industrial design exhibit at SFMOMA, but it's not just for show: It's reputed to create the best and truest "cold cuts." (The special flywheel action doesn't heat... More >>
• Best Alternative Alcohol
  RoHan Lounge
  Restaurants lacking a hard liquor license have been slaking the thirsts of Cocktail Nation by mixing up drinks based on one low-proof spirit or another, with questionable results. (A rice-wine martini isn't, you know, a martini.) The RoHan Lounge, a sleek, moody, red and black nightspot in the... More >>
• Best New Mexican Restaurant, Large
  Tres Agaves Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Lounge
  The size of this restaurant, a lofty and classily redone warehouse south of Market, and its emphasis on tequila (available in a number of elaborate house cocktails and sipping flights as well as the inevitable margaritas, "Rocks, no salt" being the house style) might make one wary about the... More >>
• Best New Mexican Restaurant, Cozy (2 Comments)
  Mamacita
  This snug spot in the heart of the bustling Marina feels chic and trendy, with a bustling bar, yet still welcoming to families and not-particularly-trendy diners who just want to enjoy fresh, well-made Mexican food in dimly lit comfort. The largely small-plates menu features dishes both expected... More >>
• Best Airplane Meal
  Darby Dan Sandwich Co.
  When you're planning how much time you need to go through the soul-sucking security rituals at SFO that make travel such a delight, throw in an extra 15 minutes or so to swing by this efficient sandwich mill, at which you can pick up some affordable treats (much cheaper than the insultingly... More >>
• Best Japanese Noodle House
  Suzu Noodle House
  The list of a dozen assorted preparations of udon, soba, and ramen might look sparse to you, but all the noodles are made fresh daily — the old-fashioned way — in this tiny, spare, modern space, separated by glass walls from the unprepossessing ground floor of the Kinokuniya mall. The... More >>
• Best Dish Names
  Café Gratitude
  There are two ways to approach the organic raw-foods menu at Café Gratitude: One is by hunger, and the other is by intellect. The latter is a literary approach, since each dish is named with an affirmation (I Am Bountiful, I Am Generous, I Am Magical), which is repeated to you (without a... More >>
• Best German Restaurant
  Walzwerk
  If the kid in Good Bye, Lenin! could have transported his bedridden East Berlin mom, who emerges from years in a coma after the Wall has come down, to Walzwerk, she would have felt right at home in the kitschy, eccentric thrift-shop décor, in which everything — the signage, the... More >>
• Best Place to Eat When You Don't Want to Make Any Decisions
  House of Prime Rib
  Well, you probably will have to make one decision (certainly on weekends): At what point to make a reservation. But after that, the ritual meal here hasn't changed since the '40s: sweet, neon-colored dressing poured into the spinning salad bowl over greens, julienned beets, and shredded... More >>
• Best Italian Restaurant
  Capannina
  There's a new Italian kid in town, and it's adorable. This sleek yet comfy storefront not only offers interesting starters (daily soups, including such novelties as corn swirled with basil purée and studded with clams and a purée of lentils enriched with prawns and foie gras; black... More >>
• Best Freebies
  Olives and cheese at Rainbow Grocery
  There are many delightful reasons to visit the worker-owned cooperative foodie wonderland that is the Rainbow Grocery, including amazing arrays of tempting toiletries, beckoning baked goods, and seductive sandwiches, all natural, organic, vegetarian, environmentally aware, and health conscious.... More >>
• Best Energy Drink (1 Comment)
  Hyphy
  New from Oakland's It's Good Beverage Co. (helmed by Clyde Carson of up-and-coming rap group the Team), Hyphy is sure to give popular energy drinks like Red Bull and Rockstar a serious run for their money when it comes to taste and power punch. The name comes from a very current and very... More >>
• Best Vegan Sundae
  Banana split at MaggieMudd
  Vegans have come close to perfecting many animal-free recipes that can pass in taste and texture for their meat-filled originals, but praise is not always so forthcoming about their advancements in making edible, dairy-free frozen treats. One of several sundae options at this Bernal Heights... More >>
• Best Spanish Restaurant
  Café Bella Vista
  The setting, an underdecorated ground-floor space with an open kitchen in a new Mission District apartment building, is neither particularly impressive nor particularly Spanish, but the food that issues from that kitchen is tasty, affordable, even exciting. The cafe serves breakfast and lunch as... More >>
• Best Hot Dog Stand
  California Dogs
  A Certificate of Honor — dated February 24, 2006, and signed by Gavin Newsom — hangs not far from the soda machine that dispenses Akua Ko carbonated beverages (made with pure cane sugar) and not far from the counter at which you can command bockwurst (mild Swiss or heartier Bavarian),... More >>
• Best Time Travel, San Francisco
  St. Francis Fountain
  Sitting in one of St. Francis Fountain's eight wooden booths and ordering, say, a grilled ham-and-cheese on rye (which comes with your choice of french fries, home fries, fruit salad, potato salad, egg salad, macaroni and cheese, small garden salad, small Caesar salad, cup of soup, black beans,... More >>
• Best Time Travel, East Bay
  Ozzie's Soda Fountain
  Some changes have occurred over the years to the building that initially housed the Elmwood Pharmacy, built in 1921 and now, pharmacy-free, known as Elmwood Health and Mercantile, but the venerable dozen-stool soda fountain, a neighborhood favorite, survives. You can order breakfast until 4... More >>
• Best Drink With a View
  Carnelian Room
  If you're going to sip a cocktail at a sky-view bar, you might as well pick the one on top of the tallest building in town and get your money's worth. The Carnelian Room rests 781 feet above downtown San Francisco, and when you're sitting by the window you feel like you're floating above the... More >>
• Best Seafood Restaurant, Moderate
  Yabbies Coastal Kitchen
  Within the confines of this cozy neighborhood seafood house you'll find all you need for a fine fishy evening. There's an excellent raw bar featuring several different oysters, which you can have on their own or as part of a cold seafood platter (the smallest of three includes half a dozen... More >>
• Best Seafood Restaurant, Expensive
  Farallon
  The wacky under-the-sea décor, complete with art-glass creatures swimming above, still thrills, delights, and impresses, as does the let's-put-on-a-show cooking presided over by award-winning chef-owner Mark Franz. The offerings change daily, but there's always an array of oysters and a... More >>
• Best Microbrew
  Irish Style Red Ale, Moylan's Brewery
  Moylan's Irish Red has all the fullness and complexity of any top-fermented ale, but it has an additional rounded sweetness that makes it an especially good sipping beer. Its distinctive qualities can be attributed to the three varieties of malt employed in the brewing process, which impart a... More >>
• Best Museum Restaurant
  de Young Cafe
  At first we thought the fuss that foodies were making about the de Young Cafe was foolish — didn't Bon Appetit Management, a Palo Alto–based company that operates more than 190 cafes in 26 states, also run the Legion of Honor Cafe, for instance? But the de Young Cafe's philosophy,... More >>
• Best Late-Night Snack
  Medjool Rooftop Bar
  The choices up top are considerably reduced from what you can command in the downstairs restaurant or cafe — essentially just some mezes (hummus, tabouleh, baba ghanouj), salad, and skewered meats and shrimp — but the airy rooftop aerie above Medjool is delightful, whether it's a warm... More >>
• Best Chinese Restaurant
  South Sea Seafood Village
  The dazzling interior of South Sea Seafood Village is pure Hong Kong: glitzy crystal chandeliers shedding brilliant light over massive, polished, dark wood tables and chairs inlaid with fanciful mother-of-pearl landscapes. And the Hong Kong cooking served atop these landscapes is worthy of the... More >>
• Best Martini
  Martinez at Absinthe Brasserie and Bar
  The bar at Absinthe is one of our favorite bars in the city, and Absinthe is one of our favorite restaurants near the opera and symphony, for before- or after-concert dining. Hell, Absinthe is one of our favorite French restaurants anywhere. OK, to tell the truth, we love Absinthe immoderately,... More >>
• Best Brunch, Buffet-Style
  Sunday Jazz Brunch at the Garden Court
  At $59 per person ($35 for children under 10), this meal might not seem like a good value. But if you add up all the dishes offered at the 10 or so food stations within the fabulous skylit Garden Court (its 1909 décor intact), you'll realize you're paying pocket change per item. And if... More >>
• Best Brunch, Seated
  Zuni Cafe
  We can think of no better way to while away a weekend morning-into-early-afternoon than seated at a table, either within sight of Market Street or tucked away in one of Zuni's many corners (up a few stairs, around an angle, down a few steps), enjoying iced oysters, a seafood platter, a divine... More >>
• Best Irish Restaurant
  O'Reilly's Holy Grail
  The high-ceilinged room, once the venerable Mayes Oyster Bar, has been pleasingly remodeled (with beautiful antique stained-glass windows, polished wood floors, and massive wrought-iron chandeliers hung from a coppery ceiling) to create a setting worthy of the sophisticated and succulent Irish... More >>
• Best Pizza Alternative
  Pizzetta Mediterranean at Cinecittá
  This adorable place, open a little over six months, feels like it's been airlifted to North Beach direct from Rome, with its classy reddish granite counter and walls lined with framed film posters (including De Sica's Ladri de Biciclette, aka The Bicycle Thief; Wyler's Vacanze Romane, aka Roman... More >>
• Best Cafe
  Café Du Soleil
  Café Du Soleil feels like a neighborhood cafe but caters to a distinctly European palate. For morning people, its coffee drinks are superb on their own, but the pastries hit the standby combo out of the park. For those preferring a savory wakeup, its tortilla Española (a delicious... More >>
• Best French Restaurant
  Rue Saint Jacques
  If you want to feel like you've spent the evening in a corner of the 6e arrondissement instead of Nob Hill, head for Rue Saint Jacques, where everything from the soundtrack (French techno interspersed with Edith Piaf) to the extensive menu (16 appetizers and more than a dozen main courses, plus... More >>
• Best Fried Chicken
  Hard Knox Cafe
  Hard Knox Cafe is cheap and good. For $9 you receive three pieces of fried chicken (small birds, in a light peppery batter, fried to order), two tender corn muffins, and your choice of two sides from a list of a dozen. We also like the buttery-soft short ribs, the baked turkey wings, and the... More >>
• Best Hidden Restaurant
  Monte Cristo Café
  On top of the Embarcadero Center building closest to the Embarcadero — and thus blessed with a swell view of the Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge — the below-the-radar Monte Cristo Café serves surprisingly good French and Italian dishes (caprese salad, grilled lamb chops with... More >>
• Best Zakuski
  European Foods Wholesale
  Every Russian meal worth its Stolichnaya begins with zakuski, a bountiful array of savory appetizers that make the rest of the meal seem superfluous. The place to get 'em is European Foods, where fresh salmon caviar is sold by the tub and Cyrillic is the font of choice. Beet, herring, potato,... More >>
• Best Cheese
  Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk
  "Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese," says the castaway in Treasure Island, reflecting upon the single worst deprivation of being marooned on a desert isle for three years. Conversely, the single best thing about the San Francisco branch of civilization is the variety of great cheeses... More >>
• Best Singaporean Restaurant
  Straits Cafe
  The cuisine at Straits is much fancier in presentation than the famous street food of Singapore, but features all the bright and exciting flavors of its mix of cultures and cooking: Chinese, Thai, Indian, and Indonesian. You really can't go wrong anywhere on the lengthy menu, though beginners... More >>
• Best Eggs Benedict
  Town's End Restaurant & Bakery
  So many Benedicts, so many disappointments. There's a lot of overcooked egg and congealed hollandaise and paper-thin ham and ponderous muffin in this cholesterol-rich city, so much that we were ready to shed a quiet tear for the late, great Meetinghouse. Fortunately, this bayside temple to great... More >>
• Best Small Plates
  Isa
  The ongoing tapas-mezes-zakuski-antojitos craze achieves its highest pinnacle at Isa, where star chef Luke Sung serves intricately designed, gustatorially satisfying small plates out of the French tradition. The menu varies with the season, but among the seafood specialties you might find... More >>
• Best Russian Restaurant
  Katia's
  A wide array of Russian bookstores, gift shops, newspapers, delis, bakeries, and community organizations ribbon the Richmond District, where fleeing White Russians settled after the revolution and the mother tongue can be heard as often as Korean or Irish. The colony's outstanding troika is the... More >>
• Best Roasted Chicken
  Cuban roasted chicken at Fogón
  When the management of Gira Polli left this address last year to concentrate on their Mill Valley outpost, they left behind the rotisserie oven, a beauty that had been shipped in pieces from Sicily when the restaurant opened 17 years ago. The oven is the central theme of Fogón, the... More >>
• Best Childhood Treat
  Caramel corn at Acme Chophouse
  Of all the sweets and savories that make being a kid bearable (and even, at times, idyllic), good caramel corn is the most elusive. Too often dry, stale, and stingy with the nuts, when properly assembled this simple amalgam of popped corn, sugar, and butter leaves s'mores and Creamsicles in the... More >>
• Best Exotic Drink
  Caipirinha at Pesce
  A good caipirinha has all the nostalgic power of Proust's madeleine; one sip of this Brazilian bombshell and you're back in Ipanema. Although at last count it was the most-quaffed cocktail in the world, here in the U.S. the caipirinha is still somewhat exotic. As such, the local opportunities... More >>
• Best Cuban Restaurant
  Charanga
  Charanga takes classic Cuban cookery and revitalizes it, employing the cuisine's staples — yuca, black beans, plantains — in imaginative and delicious ways. Take the tostones a la Tica, a napoleon of green plantains, goat cheese, and roasted garlic on a black bean coulis. Or the lechon... More >>
• Best Raw Meat (1 Comment)
  Steak Tartare at Harris'
  Lots of places drown their steak tartare in egg yolks and anchovies and even, for Christ's sake, caviar, but lots of places don't have raw meat like Harris'. No cover-up is necessary when your beef comes from your own herds, it's dry-aged for 21 days, and, in the case of the tartare, it's filet... More >>
• Best Cheese Cart
  Ritz-Carlton Dining Room
  Locally produced artisanal cheeses have made such a (delectable) impression over the past decade that it's practically impossible to find a San Francisco restaurant without a platter of Pt. Reyes Blue on its dessert menu. A pioneering influence was the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room, where... More >>
• Best Goofy Tropical Cocktails
  Ponzu
  The goofy tropical cocktail, a Happy Hour subgenre pioneered by Trader Vic Bergeron and maintained by the Tonga Room, Trad'r Sam's, and other Polynesian outposts, gets an elegant makeover at Ponzu, a sensuously tactile pan-Asian eatery in the Serrano Hotel. The Godzilla, for instance — a... More >>
• Best Filipino Food
  Mango Bay Philippine Cuisine
  A fluorescent-lit, Formica-edged food court is an unexpected place to find delicious examples of adobo, kare-kare, and deep-fried bangus, but these and other Filipino specialties are proffered daily, cafeteria-style, at Mango Bay, an unprepossessing establishment adjoining Chinese, Thai,... More >>
• Best Tea Room
  Samovar Tea Lounge
  Some tea rooms are all about the scones and crumpets; others embrace the more tranquil practices of the East. Still others go the Moorish route and serve up dolmas and dates with the brewed mint leaves. Samovar, an inclusive sort of place in a quiet corner of the Castro (and now in a second... More >>
• Best Brownie (1 Comment)
  LuLu Petite
  The culinary riches offered along the Ferry Building's skylit nave are staggering in their quality and variety: gelato from Ciao Bella, cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery, caviar from Tsar Nicoulai, on and on and on. It's almost unfair that the best freakin' brownie in San Francisco is available here... More >>
• Best Tonic
  Signs & Wonders Peanut Milk
  Forget those bitter and expensive (not to mention seasonal) pomegranates: Peanuts also have great antioxidant powers. Get your fill with Signs & Wonders Peanut Milk, the creation of KK Cafe owners Jack and Margaret Chang. The Changs bottle their original, chocolate, and strawberry varieties and... More >>
• Best Trendy Mission Eatery
  Dosa
  Naan, tandoori, and chicken vindaloo are some of the delectables we associate with late-night (usually inebriated) visits to Indian eateries. What most people don't know is that these staples represent only the teeniest fraction of South Asian cuisine. Now Dosa — a recent addition to... More >>
• Best Oceanside Dive
  The Riptide
  On the Riptide's Web site flashes the phrase "AT THE EDGE OF THE WESTERN WORLD," which is why we're lured to Ocean Beach and why we love the place. A moist ocean breeze drenches the outer Avenues in the smell of salt water, churning white waves pound the beach, and just about everybody in this... More >>
• Best Dim Sum
  Gold Mountain
  This sprawling palace of pork buns is the king of local Hong Kong–style lunch joints. It might be a bit overwhelming for the uninitiated gwai lo, what with the half-screaming waiters hurdling in tight circles around the tables with steaming carts of cow stomach, but there's no other place... More >>
• Best Upscale Taqueria
  Papalote
  Experienced burrito eaters know to expect a little grime in the best chorizo, an occasional, quickly disregarded cockroach scurrying along the interior of their beloved taco truck. That's why Papalote, a neighborhood favorite tucked off the busy stretch of Valencia, is so special: It doesn't... More >>
• Best Turkey Sandwich
  Pete's Barbeque
  OK, OK, maybe Pete's isn't technically a barbecue joint — its staff prefers using an enormous rotisserie to the mesquite smoker — but when you get a succulent mouthful of the juicy birds that have been rotating all day in the front window, it's a heavenly experience. At lunchtime you... More >>
• Best Meat Sides
  Tommy's Joynt
  Dinner at Tommy's is always something of an adventure, starting with the warm glow of the heat lamps above the food line that meets you at the door and ending with the last bite. But all the kitschy, cluttered décor and way-back nostalgia makes taking dinner at this institution (open... More >>
• Best Chinese in the Mission
  Jasmine Tea House
  Along the somewhat chaotic stretch of Mission Street south of Cesar Chavez, it's easy to miss Jasmine Tea House — even with its blazing rainbow-colored neon sign. But one taste of the repast from this humble destination will forever embed it in your memory. The sesame beef — fried to... More >>
• Best Beer Bar
  Noc Noc
  When you first enter the scene at Noc Noc, it can be a little disorienting. The bar has the feel of a dingy subterranean cave; it's covered in Burning Man kitsch, filled with sculptures perhaps best categorized as "Inuit-industrial," and the ceiling is coated in a wild hodgepodge of grimy... More >>
• Best Burgers
  BurgerMeister
  The great American hamburger is as close as this minichain of trim, family-owned hangouts. Naturally raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free Niman Ranch beef is formed into a half-pound patty and grilled the way you like it, resulting in a magnificently smoky, juicy example of the burger-maker's... More >>
• Best Burgers
  Mo's Grill
  Mo's excels in the area of the turkey burger, a lighter variation on the cowish classic. Given their leaner nature, turkey burgers tend to the dry and perfunctory, but Mo's are juicy and touched with just enough herb and spice to bring out the meat's subtle flavor. Grilled over volcanic rock (no... More >>
• Best Burgers
  Original Joe's
  The classic San Francisco-style hamburger is served at this Tenderloin institution, where sourdough bread enters the equation. It's an elemental, even primal work of art: just coarsely ground chuck, bread, and a few shards of onion — nothing more. Drop by after the kitchen fires up the... More >>
• Best Wine Bars
  Cav Wine Bar
  This chic, minimalist-to-the-max spot has the most ambitious kitchen of any of our top wine bars. Here you can put together a real (and well-cooked) meal to accompany your red, white, rosé, or dessert wine. (Beer and cider, too.) Cav offers an extensive and tempting menu of "bites"... More >>
• Best Wine Bars
  The Hidden Vine
  This cozy basement wine bar is hidden indeed, reachable from steep stairs behind a door in the short alley called Cosmo Place or from the lobby of the Fitzgerald Hotel at 620 Post. The snug, low-ceilinged space feels a bit like a traditional British club, with a fireplace and comfy armchairs and... More >>
• Best Wine Bars
  Wine Bar & Shop
  Every week the simply named Wine Bar & Shop offers a new menu of more than 40 wines by the glass in its large, airy ground-floor space, with colorful abstract art hung above low, comfortable upholstered chairs and light wood-topped tables. The food isn't elaborate (nor cooked to order), but it... More >>
• Best Homey Desserts
  Apple Pie at Chow
  The great American dessert has its definitive rendition at Chow, a place that takes the fine art of pie-making seriously. To wit: thick, yielding chunks of apple touched with just the right amount of cinnamon; a top and bottom crust of buttery pastry barely enclosing the cornucopia of luscious... More >>
• Best Homey Desserts (1 Comment)
  Bread Pudding at Street
  Any sweet delectable born in chilly Great Britain and brought to maturity in tropical New Orleans is a dessert for all seasons, sentiments, and social strata. Bread pudding is simplicity itself: slices of day-old bread soaked in eggs, cream, and sugar and slowly baked to the moist and tender... More >>
• Best Homey Desserts
  S'mores at Luna Park
  From time immemorial, campers, picnickers, and other backyard rustics have stuck marshmallows on twigs, roasted them over a bonfire (or, in a pinch, a gas range), and sandwiched them between two graham crackers with a square of Hershey's milk chocolate. This elemental treat — endorphins,... More >>
• Best Homey Desserts
  Tiramisu at Caffe Greco
  This rich Venetian dolce, properly crafted, is every bit as soul-pleasing as butterscotch pudding or homemade cobbler. Caffe Greco's rendition is from an old family recipe and is made on site; true to its name ("pick me up," roughly translated), it's all creamy, boozy, caffeinated pleasure.... More >>
• Best Delicatessens – Best French Deli
  Mistral Rotisserie Provençale
  Within a few minutes you can assemble a meal at Mistral that will taste like you've spent hours basting a lovely roast lamb or pork or juicy chicken, cooking perfect potatoes (floury under their crunchy golden exteriors), tracking down naturally raised meats and fresh Provençale herbs,... More >>
• Best Delicatessens – Best Italian Deli (2 Comments)
  Molinari's
  There was a time when North Beach was dotted with wonderful Italian delis. Luckily, the one that remains is as good as ever. (And remarkably reasonable, considering its location.) Overstuffed sandwiches start at $4.50, for the dependably tasty Molinari Italian Combo (on your choice of hard or... More >>
• Best Delicatessens – Best Jewish Deli (1 Comment)
  California Street Delicatessen & Cafe
  Thank Jehovah for this new, crisply decorated spot in the Jewish Community Center, which fills a serious gap in San Francisco's culinary life. It's not quite the Carnegie, or even Canter's, but it's definitely the best in the city: respectable pastrami, corned beef, and brisket (in three... More >>
• Best Pizza
  A16
  A16's wood-fired ovens are tended by a certified pizzaiolo (expert in the making of artisanal pizzas), and the crusts here are glorious: thin, crisp, puffy, chewy, blackened in bits — aka scotto, or scorched, as Italians prefer it. Whether topped with funghi, lots of whole mushrooms, grana... More >>
• Best Pizza
  Little Star Pizza
  And now for something completely different: the only one of our favorites that specializes in deep-dish, and, furthermore, 'za that issues forth from a gas rather than a wood-fired oven. The sturdy cornmeal crust stands up well to the toppings that fill it; we especially like the sausage... More >>
• Best Pizza
  Pizzeria Delfina
  It's not surprising that the fine Italian hand visible at Craig Stoll's superb Delfina, next door, appears in every detail of this tiny spot. At a few tables indoors and a few outdoors you can enjoy delectable crisp-crusted pizzas (our favorite: the salsiccia, topped with house-made fennel... More >>
• Best Pizza
  Pizzetta 211
  This tiny spot turns out handmade pizzettas, pizzas for one with amazingly thin, crisp crusts that come out of the oven in irregular ovals, topped, perhaps, with nettles, lamb sausage, faintly peppery pea shoot tendrils, and two eggs sunny side up, their yolks still soft enough to ooze... More >>
• Best Bar Snacks
  Lion Pub
  The Lion's impressive spread of free snacks, laid out every weeknight, harkens back to the days when San Francisco saloons would serve up fresh oysters, caviar, baked ham, and other thirst-inducing treats for the price of a nickel beer. The pub's happy hour feed isn't quite so grandiose (and the... More >>
• Best Bar Snacks
  The Owl Tree
  There are many things to love about this nonsensically no-nonsense watering hole a few blocks from Union Square: the hundreds of stuffed, etched-glass, ceramic, and wood-carved owls that decorate every nook and cranny; the Bloody Marys, the spiciest, silkiest eye-openers in town; the jukebox,... More >>
• Best Bar Snacks
  Seasons Bar
  As one of the city's classier cocktail venues, the Four Seasons' fifth-floor watering hole not only proffers an impressive array of high-end champagnes, aperitifs, and cordials, but it also dishes up a most elegant complimentary noshucopia: peanuts glazed with wasabi, plus roasted, salted... More >>