What food is San Francisco known for?
 

I'm visiting San Francisco with my mother, and I started to look up restaurants for us to eat at. Of course, San Francisco being a large city, there are many great choices. But what is San Francisco known for as far as food goes? That might help me narrow it down. For example, when in Boston, I'd definitely want to go to the North End for Italian. And I can't leave New York without having a bagel and piece of pizza!

If you have specific restaurant recommendations, that would be great too. We're staying in Union Square and won't have a car.

Thanks!

This won't help you narrow down a restaurant, but in my opinion the one food that SF is known for is sour dough bread. You can buy that from vendors at Fisherman's Wharf.

Rice-A-Roni the San Francisco treat!

Sorry, I can only think of Sourdough bread.

Sourdough bread and crab are what I associate with SF. Not rice a roni.

Don't forget Ghiradelli chocolate :)

Haha, I forgot about Rice-A-Roni. I think it's safe to say I won't be eating any in San Francisco though!

I didn't even know about the sourdough bread there! Are Dungeness (sp) crab in season right now? And I have a sweet tooth, so I'll probably be making it to Ghiradelli Square (although I'm sure it's probably pretty touristy).

Since there's Chinatown, Japantown and the Italian part of town, is there particularly good Chinese, Japanese or Italian?

I had my first crab louie in Saucilito and will never, ever forget it. It was awesome. Also sandabs. And wine, of course, with wine valleys now on all sides of San Francisco. Any seafood, sushi is probably wonderful. Just about anything one could want can be found in that city. Lovely, fresh, food and wine. Best of the best...

Mission Burritos. I like La Curmbre at 16th and Valencia., but there are lots of places.
Check out the Ferry Building Farmer's Market.

+ there's Cioppino. http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/Seafood04.asp
And lots of all kinds of Asian. Just stroll Clement Street, til something looks inviting.

Crab season - November to June.

I believe cioppino originated in San Francisco. The best is found at Tadich Grill in the financial district, which should be an easy walk from your Union Square hotel. And San Francisco sourdough bread is still the best. It doesn't travel well, so you can't really get it anywhere else.

Aside from those better know treats such as crab and chocolate...San Francisco is known for being a mecca for real foodies, excellent food and restaurants, and their support of sustainable agriculture. Chez Panisse in the East Bay, and Alice Waters, started a huge wonderful trend that is what San Francisco in now known for. You will be amazed at how many really fabulous restaurants a small city can support. My mouth waters!

Also, Italians have been in San Francisco forever, so they have left a huge mark on the restaurant scene.

Chinese food here is the best in the country.

I, too, associate San Francisco with crab (boiled or steamed dungeness crab--mmmmmmmm)

For me it's not a trip to San Francisco without a stop at Molinari's (italian deli)

Dim Sum!

I'm not even sure what cioppino is. I'll have to look that up, and the Tadich Grill.

Any specific recommendations for good Chinese or Italian?

And I'm definitely not leaving SF without having some sourdough bread!

I think the famous sourdough bread place is Boudin's. Or something like that. There are probably others.

YUM for the Tadich Grill!! I agree -- great Cioppino. Be prepared to wait for a table.

As a fourth-generation San Franciscan, I have never eaten Rice-a-Roni nor known anyone who has.

The late, great S.F. columnist Herb Caen used to jokingly offer a reward for anyone who could find a native actually eating the stuff.

What we did eat was fresh sourdough bread, Dungeness crab, Chinese food from all different regions, the almond cookies at the Japanese Tea Garden, "It's Its" from Playland at the Beach (sadly, now gone) and "Joe's Special" - ground beef, spinach, eggs mushrooms and onions all mixed together.

I thought this question was rhetorical at first.

Obviously Rice-a-Roni !!

Straying ever so slightly off subject...Irish Coffee

Cioppino is a seafood "stew" with a broth of wine, tomatoes, and herbs. The seafood is a mix of crablegs (in the shell for flavor), clams, prawns, whitefish, maybe mussels, etc. It's kind of messy to eat but very, very good. We had it at the Tadich Grill on a Saturday, at lunchtime, and there was only a short wait for a table. We saw Bill Cosby eating there with his family that day.

My favorite in SF is the clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl. I'm hungry and ready to go back to SF!

To gualalalisa and others,

Sourdough bread was one of the staple carbs of my childhood here in S.F. Remember when there were several bakeries in the city, like Larrabaru, Parisian, Colombo? Today only Boudin remains. My kindly curmudgeon of a dentist used to badger my parents to serve us kids the really chewy stuff, to "exercise our jaws".

Hi Lisa. Although Playland at the Beach may be long gone, It's Its are still available. Try a local supermarket.

We loved Playland. The most fun you can have at an indoor facility!! I got addicted to It's It in college!!

Uhmmmm.yea...I LOVE Rice-A-Roni. Grew up on the stuff in the Bay Area. Sourdough, Ghiradelli "Flicks", crab, love those burritos!

The Rice-A-Roni comments made me chuckle as the SF Chronical's poll today is whether or not the $5.00 fare for one way on the SF Cable Car's should be lowered. Their 3rd question is always funny and today it was "How about a Rice-A-Roni coupon with each ride?". Years ago I prepared Rice-A-Roni just out of curiosity. Good grief, it was terrible and so salty too!

Thanks for all the suggestions! I had no idea SF is known for Irish Coffee either. I'm not sure what It's Its are, but I will have to buy some if I see them!

loveitaly, That's funny about the poll!

It's It is an ice cream sandwich made up of otameal cookies with vanilla ice cream in between covered in chocolate. The treat was developed at Playland:

http://www.itsiticecream.com/index.cfm

Mmmm, looks good. I'll have to keep my open for them! (Maybe pick one up if I'm in Safeway buying wine!)

I'm certainly no expert on San Francisco and its being famous for Irish Coffee. The only relationship I can think of is having it at the Buena Vista.

Haven't been there yet, but my niece and nephew raved about an Italian restaurant called Mona Lisa somewhere in the Broadway/Columbus Italian area. They said it is just a little hole in the wall, but had an extensive menu. My niece is a gourmet cook, so if she says it's good, it must be good!

I haven't been to San Fancisco (unfortunately for me) but when my husband was there last year, he said he had wonderful Chinese food. He also had great cioppino from a place in the Ferry Bldg. And he brought home a cookbook from the Zuni Cafe. It's been a great cookbook especially for seafood and roast chicken and different types of pesto.

I wish I was going to San Francisco!

The MonaLisa is located at 353 Columbus. It is just a few doors down from the cross street Vallejo, on the right hand side It is owned by a gentleman from Naples named Maurizio.

Their phone no. is 415-989-4917. It is best to make reservations, especially for dinner, as often the line of people waiting to get in streches down the sidewalk.

If you have a car you can park in the parking lot above the PD station on Vallejo (just one half block going west on Vallejo, right hand side). If you do that do go up to the top level of the parking lot which is uncovered. You will find a beautiful view of North Beach and SF Bay. Mangia!!

Yank Sing for Dim Sum; Stella Pasticceria for Canolis; Hot Ren. Stanford Court for breakfast lemon souffle pancakes with fr raspberries and raspberry sauce; Scoma's is touristy and crowded with loud and agressive business folks, but the D. Crab and Halibut we had in late March were the very best ever.
M (SMdA, Gto.)

I think this paints a good picture of SF-area cuisine. yellowjacket, the culinary "best of San Francisco" comes down to:

-- Cioppino (thinking about it makes me want to go find me some!!)
-- Fresh-baked sourdough bread from the Acme Bread Co. (Ferry Building Farmers Market)
-- So-fresh-it's-flipping-on-the-plate seafood (hey, Scoma's is a SF institution for a reason)
-- North Beach Italian, prepared by ex-pat Italians
-- Chinese food from Chinatown, especially Dim Sum

The Mission-style burrito is beloved by City residents. Completely inauthentic, but people just love it, so....

Just know that in the better eateries you'll have that same attention to quality of ingredients that is a hallmark of California cuisine. It just tastes better here!

Burrito Add:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...DGL8L16681.DTL
Taquerias are an indelible part of the Bay Area's food culture. They provide their customers -- blue- and white-collar workers, college students, families of all backgrounds -- with the region's indigenous fast food. They're a near-ubiquitous presence in almost every area, neighborhood and town.

And, whoa, do they encourage fierce loyalty and ferocious debate. The focal point of that debate, though, is centered on the foil-wrapped, barrel-shaped burrito.

"It's basically the No. 2 plate at a Mexican restaurant rolled into a flour tortilla," quips Jonathan Gold, food critic at L.A. Weekly and a former restaurant critic for Gourmet magazine. "But you wouldn't believe how many letters I get from readers asking where to find San Francisco-style burritos in L.A."

Burrito disciples generally acknowledge El Faro in San Francisco's Mission District as serving the first "super burrito" in 1961. The simple yet genre-defying addition of rice, sour cream and guacamole to the basic meat, bean and cheese format sparked demand for a new breed of bet-you-can't-finish-it sustenance.

The "Cylindrical God" has since become a worshiped local art form. Two Web sites started in the last year alone -- Burritoeater.com and Burritophile.com -- devote themselves to taquerias' Topic A.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The taste of a burrito can vary based on the texture of the meat, the seasonings in the rice, and how precisely the tortilla is folded around the ingredients, among other things.

La Cumbre in the Mission, for instance, chops an actual piece of steak for its carne asada burritos and tacos. That results in an entirely different -- and, in my opinion, notably superior -- eating experience than scooping pre-cooked meat from a steam table, as many taquerias do.

etc.
85 taquerias!

Allegedly, Irish coffee was invented at the Buena Vista. That's why I mentioned it. No doubt many other bars, here and in other locations, would claim it, too.

<As a fourth-generation San Franciscan, I have never eaten Rice-a-Roni nor known anyone who has.>

And Southerners don't fry everything in lard either - but try telling some folks on the board that!

Great marketing, 'cause what DOES come to mind is the jingle.

But, for me, it would be chowder in the sourdough bowls, Ghiradelli chocolate, Irish coffee and anything in Chinatown.

Thanks LoveItaly for all the info on the Mona Lisa. I knew about Neopolitan Maurizio, our nephew spoke of him and how nice he is, but the location and parking info will be very helpful, since we promised our nephew and his wife to treat them to dinner there. That way we get to enjoy this good Italian food too!

Hi Giovanna, I hope you enjoy the MonaLisa as much as I do! When Neopolitan held the small GTG this summer he went back another evening. He tried to eat there a couple of other times also but didn't due to the long line. I always make reservations, even for lunch.

BTW, at Columbus and Vallejo is the Shrine to St. Francis which you might enjoy seeing if you haven't in in the past.

Usually Maurizio is there in the evening but not always at lunch time. Darling Italian waiters, all from Italy, with their charming accents.