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Tourists are attracted to this neighborhood for its many hotels and theater houses but primarily for its first-rate shopping. What is harder to find here is authentic San Francisco eating (locals dislike battling the crowds). But if you know where to look, you can find good places tucked away into narrow side alleys or in the lobbies of hotels.
Casual eaters of Americanized Thai food probably won’t recognize much at this modern, Michelin-star restaurant, but travelers to Thailand will likely see a few familiar items on the short, focused menu. Ingredients are sourced—more accurately, tracked down with dedication—from regional purveyors to create a range of powerful, unique dishes ranging from a mushroom curry mousse with crispy rice cakes to spicy charred squid.
Inspired but not defined by the chef's native Hawaii, Ravi Kapur's lively restaurant is known for big-hearted, high-spirited cooking. It offers contemporary riffs on staples like poke and Spam, as well as squid served with crispy tripe and manila clams in coconut curry. The dining room and front bar area are perpetually packed, and are dominated by an enormous photo of a beaming woman who happens to be none other than the chef's mother.
Robin's-egg-blue banquettes and metal chairs in different colors add to the cheer at this sunny spot. Drop in for hearty local coffee and excellent breakfast and lunch sandwiches, including those on the popular cragel, a combination of a croissant and a bagel.
Head downstairs to this hole-in-the-wall ramen house for some of the most authentic noodles in town, served until 2 am. Hand-drawn pictures of specials punctuate a colorful interior with too-close tables and a couple of stools around the bar.
High-priced Vietnamese food meets high style at this French-colonial time machine. Stamped-tin ceilings, period photographs, and tropical plants are the backdrop for the menu, which includes a selection of fried or fresh appetizer rolls. Downstairs are two large and rather formal dining rooms. Anything goes upstairs in the lively lounge: you can eat appetizers, listen to live music, or just sip a cocktail and take in the scene. Plenty of locals find the dining room stuffy—and expensive—but are quick to defend the lounge.
Hand-pulled noodles are the real star at celebrity chef Martin Yan's show palace, a swank restaurant on the fourth floor of Market Street’s Westfield Mall with Chinese opium bottles on display and a megaton bronze bell from China as the bar centerpiece. Whether Yan is there, you'll be sure to watch his cooks stretch, twist, toss, and drop noodles into a beef short-rib soup flavored with star anise; a Dungeness crab menu highlights six styles of Chinese cooking.
Look for the lines on busy Geary Street where Union Square blurs into the edges of the Tenderloin, and you'll find what eager ramen fans consider the city's best bowl. This was the first U.S. outpost of a prominent Tokyo-based ramen shop, and the quality and consistency of its noodles and broths continue to be spectacular. The decor on the walls is primarily a series of graphics explaining the scientific aspects of ramen; if you want a doctorate in ramen, this is a good place to start.
It's hard to describe this ode to France's many culinary specialties without a map diagram, as this is a full six-story, four-concept venue just a block from Union Square. The shimmering gem of the house is upstairs, the exquisite fine-dining tasting menu space O' by Claude Le Tohic; the other floors are taken up by a modern cocktail bar (Elements), a more casual bistro and grill (closed for remodeling at time of writing), and a ground-floor bakery and patisserie.
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