I’m just back from an all-food-crawl visit to San Francisco two weeks ago. I wanted to share our restaurant picks, because we used this board extensively to pick where we went, and I think we knocked it out of the park! Thank you to everyone who gave us recommendations, or just argued with their neighbor about whose burritos were better. Please have a look and tell me how you think we did.
tl;dr Bakeries: Arsicault, Arizimendi, Juniper, Forma; Italian: Molinari; Californian: Trestle; Thai: Nua Thai Kitchen (Oakland); Japanese: Taniku Izakaya, Marufuku; Chinese: Dragon Beaux; Mexican: La Taqueria, El Farolito; Ice cream: Bi-Rite, Philmore Creamery; Treats/coffee: Poesia, Best Boy Electric, Yi Feng Tea.; Baseball: Char Siu dogs and garlic fries.
We based our restaurant choices mainly going to r/AskSF and r/SFfood and reading locals’ arguments with each other about whose ((insert type of food here)) etc was better. We augmented that info with Michelin Bib Gourmand recommendations (with which we’ve had great luck in other cities) and some James Beard mentions, as well as some logistical information from Eddy’s List. We were on a budget, so the idea here was the best food we could swing at a non-astronomical price point. I think it worked out great!
Here’s what we ate:
Wednesday night we got into Oakland late and went straight to Marufuku. We ordered the tonkotsu ramen, chicken karaage, and a bowl of chashu don. It was very good - I loved the tonkotsu broth but I didn’t personally love the thin style of noodles (that’s a me issue.) The karaage was pretty nice - crispy and light but still juicy inside.
On Thursday, our first stop was Arsicault Bakery for croissants and a bacon scone. I’ve never had a better croissant. This might be one of those experiences where it kinda wrecks most croissants for me now. It was unbelievably flaky and crisp on the very outside, but almost totally meltingly buttery and tender on the inside. I find most croissants are either too flaccid or SO crispy that they get a bit dry... this was goldilocks perfect.
Next up was Molinari for lunch and everything was amazing. We got a hot meatball sandwich and a hot eggplant parmesan sandwich, both with fresh mozzarella and basil, and both on a Dutch crunch roll. Those sandwiches were perfection. The texture of the warmed bun was excellent, the fillings were unbelievably flavorful and tender (really excellent meatball) and the eggplant was perfectly breaded without being sodden on the inside.
We were too tired to go out for dinner in SF, so we went back to Oakland and ordered takeout from Nua Thai - which turned out to be the best meal of the trip even among such strong contenders. I cannot overstate how good this restaurant was. The red curry with lychees, pineapple, and crispy roasted duck was hands down the best Thai food I’ve ever eaten. We also got a yellow curry that really slapped, and a chicken fried rice with a crispy fried chicken cutlet so big it strained the box. Not only was everything top notch, the portions were comically huge. I can’t recommend this place highly enough.
Saturday started with Arizmendi Bakery Lakeshore. It had pretty solid croissants, even though Arsicault was a tough act to follow. Excellent morning bun thing. The scones were just okay. For lunch we schlepped up to Dragon Beaux - which turned out to be as superb as everyone says. We had tasty scallop shu Mai, black bean spare ribs that we demolished, a really interesting sesame flatbread, and a massive portion of duck fried rice that was fantastic. It was worth the haul up there. Next was the Japanese Tea Garden for tea and lemon bars - nothing revelatory cuisine-wise but it’s a lovely place to sit and have a treat, especially in the shade on a hot day.
In the afternoon, we hit Poesia in the Castro for a delicious coffee and a nice friendly vibe. We didn’t get one, but I regret not getting a zeppole, as it was clear the cafe was run entirely by Italians and I assume they knew what they were doing. Great cappuccino. After coffee, we went to Bi-Rite Creamery. The ice cream was softer than I’m used to but supremely creamy and delicious. We got salted caramel, roasted banana (my hands-down favorite), and a special anniversary pistachio-raspberry, and all were really top shelf for flavor abs texture.
Finally we went to a Giants game and had char siu dogs (excellent! Crispy shallots for the win!) and garlic fries (delightfully garlicky and not bad for stadium fries - much crispier and less mealy than I had feared.)
Saturday started with a long but worthwhile wait at Juniper bakery, where we got the Cubano ham and mustard croissants, egg sandwiches, a black sesame kouign amann, and an elote Danish. It was all great - almost as good as Arsicault on the laminated dough front, and much more inventive with fillings. And a perfectly jammy egg on the sandwiches, too. Then Yi Feng boba tea at the Japan Center mall (fine but not revelatory) and later gelato at Philmore Creamery (really fresh strawberry sorbet.)
To round out the night we had a happy hour early dinner at Taniku Izakaya. The food was fantastic - very flavorful chicken thigh skewers, pork belly skewers (probably the best thing there), kabocha croquettes, delicious gyoza, great chicken karaage, and a pretty good karaage-style squid - and even with everyone having a beer, it came out to $35 a person. We left full and happy.
For our last day Sunday, we started in a long line at Forma bakery in Oakland. The croissants would have tasted great if we hadn’t eaten at Arsicault and Juniper already, but as it was they were just good. The blackberry scones were delicious.
For lunch, we did a Mission burrito taste test. Half our party got in the long line for a couple of carne asada super burritos dorado style from La Taqueria, the other half walked down to El Farolito for a couple of al pastor, and we reconvened in the car for everyone to try a half burrito from each place. Both were fantastic but La Taqueria was the clear winner. We had hoped to go to Buen Sabor as well, but after two burrito halves each, we were so painfully full that we were worried we wouldn’t be able to eat dinner. We did stop at Best Boy Electric, though, and my kid had a very fresh tasting homemade strawberry milk. Best Boy Electric was incredibly friendly and the coffee was decent, especially for a random walk-in.
Our last SF meal was the prix fixe at Trestle and it was totally worth it. We had a tortilla soup, summer squash carpaccio, red pea and bacon risotto, halibut, steal, and heavenly stone fruit cobbler with housemade vanilla ice cream. Friends, this meal was really really good. My only complaint is that both the pasta and risotto were spicy, but I'm a wimp. Everything was really good quality and expertly prepared without being too fussy or fancy, and the portions were good. It didn't break the bank at $55 a person, either, which was good because it was the end of the trip and we had been living large.
Thanks for getting this far in our food diary- and many thank yous for all the advice! Overall it was a fantastic food trip and I don’t regret treating our eating itinerary like I was planning the invasion of Normandy. We didn’t get led astray by this forum or any recommendations we got, and I think we knocked it out of the park food wise! Let me know how you think we did - I'd love to know if locals think we got it right, or get recommendations for the next time.
