Food & Drink

Best New Coffee Roasters

Andytown

3655 Lawton St., 415-753-9775, andytownsf.com The combination of educated coffee and homey Irish food has been drawing people to an unlikely corner of the Outer Sunset for Andytown, named after a neighborhood in Belfast, Northern Ireland where one of the owners was raised. Andytown roasts its beans on a Probat that stands in full view, while the espressos, macchiatos, and a cold, cream-topped espresso soda known as the Snowy Plover are made with an Idrocompresso machine that previously belonged to... More >>

Best Edible Import from Oakland

Hawker Fare

680 Valencia Street St., 415-400-5699 hawkerfare.com James Syhabout’s original Hawker Fare restaurant in Oakland is a small and humble space that turns out big room food. It was once the site of his mother’s Thai restaurant, and now he’s got a cavernous new showcase for his cooking on Valencia. The multilevel space could easily swallow any concept up, but Syhabout rose to the challenge with a colorful Thai teen idol decor that instantly transports you from the well-heeled grime outside.... More >>

Best Place to Eat a Head

Cockscomb

564 Fourth St., 415-974-0700 cockscombsf.com Chef Chris Cosentino, winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters in 2012, has a reputation for not wasting anything. At his now-shuttered Incanto, he became San Francisco’s de facto king of offal for his creative preparations of everything from brains to balls. Cockscomb, his latest endeavor, is more accessible for squeamish eaters, although one of the most popular items is a shared supper of a wood-oven-roasted pig’s head. Dressed simply, with chicories, capers, parsley and lemon,... More >>

Smartest New Restaurant Concept

AL's Place

1499 Valencia St., 415-416-6136 alsplacesf.com While many restaurants seemingly do their part to hasten your death with inappropriately gargantuan portions of meat and hardly any vegetables, the new AL’s Place in the Mission offers a simple concept that might just extend your life expectancy. Chef/owner Aaron London first made his mark in Napa’s now-defunct Ubuntu, where he earned a Michelin star for his refined work. He hasn’t taken the strict plant-only ethos of Ubuntu to his own intimate, 45-seat Mission... More >>

Coolest New Pastry Mash-Up

California Croissant at Mr. Holmes Bakehouse

1042 Larkin St., 415-829-7700 mrholmesbakehouse.com So coveted are the secrets of this trendy Tendernob bakery that a recent break-in found a thief or thieves stealing chef and partner Ry Stephen’s recipe book instead of cash from the register. Mr. Holmes’ cruffin, a croissant/muffin combo, might be the most popular, but the California Croissant is a true original, a salmon sushi roll with pickled ginger and wasabi inside a flaky pastry that’s topped with sesame seeds and served with a packet... More >>

Best New Vegan Spot

Shizen

San Francisco may have recently lost Millennium, that long-standing temple of composed, high-end vegan food, but interest in cruelty-free cooking has only continued to grow. The owners of Tataki Sustainable Sushi and Sake Bar made a surprise move by opening this beautiful, wood-accented vegan izakaya and sushi bar. Here, you'll find such unusual items as okra nigiri dressed with sake or the Colonel's Pipe, a roll filled with cashews, cream cheese, avocado, sweet mustard, and orange zest. Most impressively though,... More >>

Best Boba Drink (Non-Alcoholic)

Boba Guys

3491 19th St., 415-967-2622, bobaguys.com This tapioca drink specialist with locations in the Mission and in Union Square is upfront about charging 20-30 percent more than fast food titan Quickly. But that’s because these guys make their own syrups, and use premium tea and organic Straus milk instead of that dreaded Coffee Mate powder. And the chewy boba are quite possibly the most tender in the city. If you don’t eat Boba Guys’ sundaes too fast, they’ll turn into a... More >>

Best New Food Court

The Market on Market

1355 Market St., 415-767-5130 visitthemarket.com Food halls are suddenly all the rage in San Francisco. The Twitter building’s luxe new entry, The Market on Market, offers a carefully curated selection of food products from local artisanal businesses, plus several options to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in-house. Two restaurants are worthy of being destinations themselves: the permanent home of Azalina’s Malaysian, a caterer who has built a strong reputation at Off The Grid, and the unimaginatively named but solid Sushi... More >>

Best Pop-Up to Permanent Restaurants

After 20 years spent perfecting the art and science of pizza, including almost five years selling below the legal radar on the streets with the help of a modified Weber grill that cooked dough at up to 1,000 degrees, Jeff Krupman of PizzaHacker (3299 Mission St., 415-874-5585) opened his first brick and mortar restaurant in Bernal Heights in February 2014. His pizzas are made with dough that's based on Tartine's bread recipe, and tomato sauces that are painstakingly made... More >>

Best New Cafe (Especially if You're Expecting)

Nourish Cafe

189 Sixth Ave., 415-571-8780 nourishcafesf.com With apologies to the many lovely pregnant mothers and moms-to-be in the Richmond, we’re about to blow up your go-to spot for you and the little one. Tiny Nourish Cafe feeds a disproportionate amount of ladies with raw peapods and vegan treats, including international salads (a healthy take on the Korean staple bibimbap, and a Middle Eastern falafel number), açai bowls, and healthy grains. Everything is made with natural sweeteners and a minimum of oils.... More >>

Best New Restaurant for Feeling at Home

Liholiho Yacht Club

871 Sutter St., 415-440-5446 liholihoyachtclub.com Chef/owner Ravi Kapur’s pop-up-to-permanent-success story Liholiho Yacht Club transports you into a Hawaiian potluck where everyone has brought his or her best dishes. The menu is eclectic but harmonious and only tangentially Hawaiian, so don’t expect spam musubi or loco moco, but you will find tuna poke and a fantastic take on Baked Alaska called Baked Hawaii. Sometimes the combination of dishes might not seem to make sense on paper, but once they arrive and... More >>

Best Place to Brunch

Nopa

560 Divisadero St., 415-864-8643 nopasf.com The restaurant so famous it virtually renamed the neighborhood (although true locals still know to call it the Western Addition), Nopa has never stopped being the perennial brunch champion even as once-humble Divisadero Street has transformed around it. Did you know that it’s perfectly socially acceptable to have a Negroni at 10 a.m., as long as it’s paired with Nopa’s butter-basted eggs and a pecan sticky bun? Even the non-alcoholic beverages are spiffier than almost... More >>

Best Iteration of Pre-1915 California Cuisine

Californios

3115 22nd St., 415-757-0994 californiossf.com Californios’ Val Cantu has a dark horse concept that blends a reverence for the distant past with a glimpse into the future. Distilling California cuisine down to its ancestral roots, Cantu offers a tasting menu full of surprises. You never know what you’re getting when you sit down, and you may not be sure what you’ve had when you receive an abstract art poster meant to represent the menu at the end of the meal.... More >>

Best Thai

Kin Khao

55 Cyril Magnin St., 415-362-7456 kinkhao.com Finally, Thai food in a fine dining context! Kin Khao (colloquial Thai slang for “let’s eat!”) is an unlikely gem of individuality inside a corporate hotel (the Parc 55 Wyndham) in Union Square. Owner and Thailand native Pim Techamuanvivit is an author, artisanal jam maker and culinary personality who created a menu of foods she likes to eat. She proudly notes that the seafood is neither frozen nor pumped with antibiotics, and all sauces... More >>

Best Place to Share Everything you Eat

Beretta

1199 Valencia St., 415-695-1199, berettasf.com Depending on who you ask, small plates are either a great idea or a total rip-off. At Beretta, irrespective of portion size, sharing is a must, because everyone at the table deserves a slice or spoonful of gastronomical heaven at economical prices. This is truly a place for everybody, even your visiting great-aunt who doesn’t get that whole kale thing. Between the saffron with osso buco risotto and the pizzetta with zucchini, provolone, prosciutto, and... More >>

Best Burger

4505 Burgers & BBQ

705 Divisadero St., 415-231-6993. 4505meats.com The recipe of a simple burger is straightforward: slap a slab of meat patty between two buns. However the difference between a good burger and an epic one is the quality of the ingredients and their accompanying garnishes. At 4505 Burgers & BBQ, Ryan Farr has successfully married simplicity and elegance with his thin, grass-fed beef patty, iceberg lettuce, onions, gruyere cheese, and secret sauce on a deliciously buttery bun. That’s why it’s called the... More >>

Best New Food Truck

Bowl'd Açai

415-770-7000, bowldacai.com While San Francisco’s ever-expanding cadre of food trucks has largely managed to avoid the stereotypical “roach coach” derision that plagues similar operations elsewhere, they haven’t exactly been known as fleets of consummate wellness, either. Bowl’d Açai aims to change the perception of mobile food as unhealthy and cheap with superfood juices, smoothies, and açai bowls packed with Berkeley Bowl produce, bespoke granola from One Planet, and other seemingly indulgent yet beneficial goodies. The açai bowl trend that flew... More >>

Best New Dim Sum

Dragon Beaux

5700 Geary Blvd., 415-333-8899 dragonbeaux.com Instant lines greeted the March opening of this new Richmond restaurant from the owners of Koi Palace, Daly City’s perpetually packed dim sum banquet hall. Dragon Beaux may be missing the live seafood tanks that dot Koi Palace’s entryway, but the juicy soup dumplings and fluffy bao buns are much the same. So is Koi’s famed roasted duck burrito, a Chinese pancake-wrapped beauty that would be a runaway hit were it to be foil-wrapped and... More >>

Best Place to Drink Like It's 1915

The Saloon

During the Panama-Pacific Expo, visitors might have stopped in for a sip at the Saloon, a North Beach watering hole that still stands today. Allegedly saved from the 1906 earthquake because firefighters were fans of the brothel attached to it, it's got the same carved wooden bar that was in use in the 1860s. Even though the space is small, it's served as a blues venue on and off for half a century. In a city that's been shedding its... More >>

Best Boba Drink (Alcoholic)

Chino

3198 16th St., 415-552-5771, chinosf.com Alcoholic boba cocktails haven’t taken off in San Francisco just yet, but Chino, a year-old pan-Asian (and sorta Latino) restaurant from the owners of Tacolicious might change that. The Dr. J, a premixed slushie (made with rum, orange, vanilla, and condensed milk) is a huge improvement over that ’80s mall taste sensation, the Orange Julius. And the Boba Fett, an intergalactic combination of vodka, apple, ginger, Thai basil, and lemon, will have you seeing stars... More >>

Best Places for Artichokes

Make way for the artichoke. The once underutilized flowering bud is rising to prominence in contemporary gourmet cooking, arriving unexpectedly atop Mexican cheese plates, with fried eggs in pasta, and subbing for meat in savory vegan offerings. It's even making its way into cocktails in the form of Cynar—an increasingly popular Italian bitter liqueur. As artichokes are now in season, here are San Francisco's most creative artichoke applications.  A surefire way to make anything taste awesome? Fry it, of... More >>

Best Southern Nachos

Southpaw BBQ

The Natchez at Mission barbecue joint Southpaw BBQ & Southern Cookin' are the perfect blend of the South meeting the further south. As a hangover cure (combined with an order of fried pickles), they work wonderfully. Pulled pork, black-eyed peas, pimento béchamel and hot sauce cover warm potato chips that stay crisp for as long as the Natchez remain on the table. They're so delicious they feel like a secret, and it's amazing that Southern condiments on potato chips aren't... More >>

Best New Pizza

Jersey

Jersey just opened in the Financial District, but it serves a damn solid pie. Pizzas are categorized as "Jersey style" (thin crust) or "California style," with thicker crusts that come topped with items like asparagus, beech mushrooms, green garlic and mozzarella or traditional margherita toppings. Ranging from the simple, like a mozzarella and parmesan pizza that comes with the sauce on top, to the more decadent Bianca, the thin-crust pies are especially satisfying. Service is fun, the wines are excellent,... More >>

Best Sandwich

Merigan Sub Shop

Merigan's sandwiches are completely delicious. Chef Liza Shaw dishes up East Coast classics, like the Arista (roasted and braised pork, sharp provolone, rapini, hots) and the best chicken parm in the city. Despite their apparent simplicity, the quality and harmony of the subs showcase the fact that Shaw once ran a formal kitchen at A16. The sandwiches are huge, the ingredients are fresh, and every part is assembled with purpose and care. Merigan is also probably one of the few... More >>

Best Place to Eat Brunch When the Weather is Warm

Mission Rock Resort

Mission Rock Resort's deck is a beautiful place to be when there's no fog in sight. Hanging over the bay, it's like a dressed-up version of the Ramp, but with more space. Classic brunch drinks like micheladas, margaritas, and bacon Bloody Mary's are solid and service is smooth. The menu features a variety of takes on eggs Benedict, and — being so close to the water — oysters, littleneck clams, and ceviche verde from the raw bar. Mission Rock has... More >>

Best Homegrown Chain

Super Duper

With five locations in San Francisco, another four across the bay, and more on the way, Super Duper clearly wants to replicate the success of Five Guys and Shake Shack, other burger joints that became regional powerhouses. The only problem for the competition is that Super Duper is just better. After Super Duper's opening in the Castro in 2010, these $7.75 Niman Ranch patties still sell for less than half of what some of SF's burgers go for (even with... More >>

Best Ice Cream

Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous

They have no website, they don't tweet, and they're only open until 6 p.m., but you really can't go wrong trying your luck in the Dogpatch with Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous. This husband-and-wife duo churns out basil chip, Ovaltine, rose lemonade, and Frosted Flakes, and they've even got their own answer to the ubiquitous salted caramel phenomenon called "burnt sugar." While Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous runs out of handmade cones a little often — it's hard work, we get it... More >>

Best Pop-Up (Dinner)

Pink Zebra

Let's just come right out and say it: Pink Zebra wants to be the Japanese equivalent of Mission Chinese Food. It's a five-nights-a-week pop-up with a hipster vibe that engulfed a forgettable restaurant, serves things like beef tongue with toasted pepitas popcorn with crispy pig ears, but chef Jesse Koide is also the guy running the show over at Lung Shan while Danny Bowien gets his NYC locations going. Only 10 lucky diners get Pink Zebra's omakase treatment on a... More >>

Best Places to Dine Al Fresco

'Tis the season to tipple al fresco. For a city roundly ridiculed for its borderline subarctic climate, we do have our fair share of outdoor destinations for drinking and dining. There are, of course, the familiar beer gardens, like Zeitgeist, and The Yard — which recently opened just outside of AT&T Park. But it's not just the beer drinkers hogging all the (scant) sunshine. We are in no short supply of upscale patios and roof decks from which to... More >>

Best New Place in an Old Building

Mourad

We were slightly caught off guard by the breadth of Mourad Lahlou's eponymous follow-up to Aziza. (A $160 lamb shoulder that serves four-to-six isn't something you see often.) But this powerhouse in the northeast corner of the old Pac Bell Building does the Deco skyscraper justice with its stunning bar, glassed-in wine racks, and private rooms upstairs. Even if the evening's plans don't include a $48 ribeye, this Moroccan-Californian restaurant is worth a stop just for the exquisite cocktails and... More >>

Best Tapas

Beso

The follow-up to Market Street's Bisou Bistronomy, Beso opened around the block on what is now one of the more exciting strips in the Castro. This Catalan tapas restaurant has an exceptional selection of charcuterie (acorn-fed Iberico paleta) and cheeses like garrotxa (a hard goat cheese) and idiazabal (smoked sheep milk cured in olive oil), along with familiar favorites like pulpo a la plancha. Beso lacks a bar, but there's lots of Spanish wine to pair with that chorizo. Start... More >>

Best New Old-School Place That Bucks 2015's Trends

Gaspar Brasserie

If you want Edison bulbs, white subway tiles, and your very own compost bin overflowing with kale, you can find them on every street corner. But for a classy throwback to a different era, head to Gaspar Brasserie in the Galleria Park Hotel. It's not quite snooty-maître-d'-with-a-white-towel-draped-over-his-forearm-territory, but this upscale French restaurant with burgundy banquettes and giant posters of long-gone aperitifs refuses to kowtow to the prevailing winds and any corn-based utensils borne aloft on them. This two-level restaurant and... More >>

Best Ramen

Orenchi Beyond

Calling any single bowl of ramen the best is like grading people's children, and while we're fully prepared for the howls of protest, the fact is that Orenchi Beyond's tonkotsu is simply spectacular. The San Jose import with the long lines and the artsy vibe clearly lets its broth simmer for quite awhile before ladling it up with pork belly, a soft-boiled egg and the like. The soy-based Chu-Ka soba is nothing to sneeze at, either. As virtually every neighborhood... More >>

Best Use of Coffee in Food

Mazarine Coffee

When Mazarine Coffee opened up in Mid-Market in December, it exuded a certain seriousness. Its baristas have competed at the national level and it's named for the largest library in France, after all. Lofty aspirations aside, the lunch menu incorporates roasted beans to a truly impressive degree. The coffee-roasted beet and quinoa salad is dressed with an espresso vinaigrette that adds a nice acidic touch (and cuts through the generous helping of goat cheese, too). When you've already had one... More >>

Best Bone Broth

Belcampo Meats

While we freely concede that bone broth sounds like something Gwyneth might fluff in Goop, Belcampo Meats does it right. The San Francisco outpost of this Haute Californie meat emporium is hawking $10 quarts and $5 cups of exalted meat stock, as is or flavored (hello, ginger-garlic-coridander!). Anyone looking to break a four-latte-a-day habit while also ingesting a bit of animal collagen might want to give them a whirl, while those who automatically want the alcoholic version of any given... More >>

Best Pop-Up (Breakfast)

Post-Soviet

The best pop-ups sprout in an ecological niche, and the tiny, always lovely farm:table has been ripe for one for some time. Every other Monday, this bonanza of peasant food delivers pickled veggies, Uzbek-Korean carrot salad, savory rosemary puffs, and tvorogs (sweet farmers' cheeses with vanilla custard, currants, and homemade jam) to a corner of the Tenderloin not known for such delicacies. As the proprietors hail from the Second World, it's a far cry from Froot Loops, but that's the... More >>

Best Meaty Lunch

Lamb Sandwich at Souvla

There really isn't a single thing on Souvla's menu that isn't worth trying, but the lamb sandwich at this Greek spot in Hayes Valley brings together everything you could want for lunch. Made with harissa-spiked yogurt, cucumber, radish, pickled onion and feta (and ideally paired with olive-oil-soaked Greek fries), it's probably the best-ever version of that widely reviled ethnic monstrosity, the gyro. If no one's looking, get a glass of retsina, too, and you'll see why the guy in the... More >>

Best Successor to a Neighborhood Institution That Closed

Emanuel Coffee

Nothing can adequately replace the plantain burrito at Cuco's — nothing. The family-run establishment on Haight and Fillmore that fought a grinding war of attrition with its landlord finally succumbed in 2014, and considering which way the prevailing winds are blowing, the space seemed destined to become a cold-pressed juice shop. And then it didn't. Emanuel Coffee, a Salvadorean pupsueria with a wide-ranging, Benedict-heavy breakfast menu and some seriously good sandwiches. Everything's under $13, and the space has been transformed... More >>

Best New French Restaurants That Aren’t Totally French

French restaurants in San Francisco have typically been the exclusive dominion of actual French chefs and owners like Hubert Keller and Roland Passot, but this was the year when non-French chefs in the city tapped into the classic cuisine for inspiration for modern gastronomy. Corey Lee, who was best known for his cooking tenure under the titan Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in Yountville before opening his own pedigreed Benu in 2010, has a smash hit on his... More >>

Best Follow-Up to a Beloved Classic

Brenda's Meat & Three

Named after the concept of a proper Southern meal (an entrée plus three side dishes), Chef Brenda Buenviaje has expanded the culinary reach of her eponymous Polk Street restaurant far beyond her hometown of New Orleans. It is a gut-busting endeavor, from the shrimp hushpuppies to the ham steak with red eye gravy to the po' boys that pretty much have to be eaten open-faced. Here, mac and cheese is considered a vegetable and you should probably eat at least... More >>

Best Game Burger

Roam Artisan Burgers

Any eatery worth its salt can dish out a decent beef patty between its buns. But when craving a slightly more exotic variation, the field narrows considerably. Roam Artisan Burgers leads the herd, with bison and elk as dueling mainstays on its fully customizable menu. The elk works particularly well on the Pacific Blue style, bringing blue cheese and caramelized onions into a pungent collision of sweet and savory, with a little steak sauce added on. With just two locations... More >>

Best Cafe To Get Hyped On Coffee

Antigua Coffee Shop

Though it replaced the beloved Brown Owl Coffee nestled at the 22nd Avenue L-Embarcadero stop, Antigua Coffee Shop has overcome the change. Besides being a cute little neighborhood café to work or hang out in, it energizes its customers. That's putting it mildly. With every cuppa of Joe, we begin to wonder: Is there cocaine in the coffee? It's a fair question to ask when a regular coffee keeps you up until 7 a.m. If you're feeling brave (and desperate),... More >>

Best Non-Taqueria-Based Breakfast Burrito

Boogaloo's

3296 22nd St., 415-824-4088 boogaloossf.com We’re now at a point where burrito shops around the world use the Mission as a tagline. On our own travels, we’ve found a Mission Burrito in Cardiff, U.K., and another in Brisbane, Australia. (The latter actually has BART signs in the restaurant.) The truth of the matter — and it’s one that S.F. residents have been proud of for decades — is that the greatest burritos in the world come from San Francisco taquerias.... More >>

Best Quick Grub Before A Show

Connecticut Yankee

Heading to see a show at Bottom Of The Hill or Thee Parkside? Looking for quick eats that won't give you indigestion or 20 forms of gastritis? You're in luck: The Connecticut Yankee serves up some of the best pub fare in the Bay Area and has a wait staff and bartenders that know how to take care of business. From the Candlestick Special (an awesome vegetarian chili) to the Larry Birdger (grass-fed beef burger patty topped with grilled onions... More >>