San Francisco Restaurants: 2012 Update

I was in San Francisco recently and want to report on some new places I tried as well as some recommendations I received. As always I am interested in your thoughts on this topic.

Farmer Brown describes itself as farm fresh soul food and I would agree. We had some great fried chicken with greens and mac and cheese, shrimp and grits, and gumbo seen below. It is located at 25 Mason at Market. 415-409-farm.

   

Moss Room is located inside the California Academy of Sciences, and open for both lunch and dinner service. We had a great dinner. I had shrimp and polenta repeating my shrimp and grits from Farmer Brown but it was different and great with speck. There is actually moss on a living wall with lots of carp and other fish swimming underneath. It is located at 55 Music Concourse Drive,
Golden Gate Park, 
San Francisco CA 415 876 6121.

Gallery Cafe - I had a very fresh breakfast sandwich here. It is located at 1200 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA (415) 296-9932

   

Greens is one of the original gourmet vegetarian restaurants. I have had their first cookbook for some time and they now have several. Fresh local produce is the starting point. Even non-vegetarians like myself will like it. It is on the waterfront at Building A, Fort Mason Center Restaurant: 415-771-6222 Greens to Go: 415-771-6330

   

Cowgirl Creamery makes a small collection of cheese -- four, soft aged and three fresh cheeses. They get their milk from Marin County and have an outlet at the Ferry Terminal Building in San Francisco. I had a selection of their cheeses and a wonderful tomato soup. It is located at 1 Ferry Building # 17 San Francisco, (415) 362-9354

   

R and G Lounge – I had a wonderful two pound hard shell crab that had been battered and deep fried. You had to pick apart like eating a lobster. There was a nice combination of the greasy fried exterior and the light clean crab meat interior.  “For years, every Christmas evening, the SF food mafia converge for a special in-kitchen banquet @ R&G”.- John Maloney. It is located at 631 Kearny Street  San Francisco, (415) 982-7877

 

Others recommended by another dinner at R and G who seemed quite knowledgeable.

Thanh Long – Great for Vietnamese style garlic crab. It is located a4101 Judah Street on the corner of 46th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 415.665.1146

Zushi Puzzle – great sushi and sashimi – good for the exotics. It is located at 1910 Lombard Street  San Francisco (415) 931-9319

Dumpling House – It is known for its Shanghai dumplings. It is located at 3641 Balboa St.(between 37th Ave & 38th Ave)  San Francisco (415) 831-9288

Tony’s Pizza. Excellent old style pizza. It is located at 1570 Stockton St.  San Francisco (415) 835-9888

Trattoria Contadina is located at the corner of Powell and Mason. Traditional family style Italian cuisine. 1800 Mason Street San Francisco (415) 982-5728

Java Beach – 60s style coffee house near Thanh Long - It is located at 2650 Sloat Boulevard  San Francisco. (415) 731-2965

 

 

Comments

[John Maloney]

Hi - Great list! All excellent and recommended. Comments --

Greens, run by the Zen Center, has a incredible cellar of very hard-to-find vintage Bourgognes.

Some very top SF chefs, the local food Mafia, and luminaries like Alice Waters have a private, in-kitchen feast every Christmas at R&G Lounge.

Don't miss Canteen on Sutter. Recently voted one of the Top Ten restaurants in the USA. Note: there are only 20 covers - eight at the counter and three booths.

Honestly, the REAL gastronomic action in SF, is the food trucks. AKA chuck wagons, camionnettes, roach coaches, lunch wagons, etc. they are dazzling everyone. Best approach is to find an 'off-the-grid' market cluster of vendors. Fort Mason on Fridays is a top one, w/30+ vendors and a rockin' good time. C-U there.

http://offthegridsf.com/markets

-j

[bill Ives]

John

Thanks for your update. Much appreciated. Bill