Home for the Holidays -- Best of the New Game in Town?

[eatingculture]

Hi Chowhounds,

I'll be home for the holidays and realized there are ton of new restaurants in SF I had no idea existed! I'm looking for new-ish SF (and possibly Berkeley/Oakland) $-$$ 1/2 restaurants/deli/cafes, any cuisine. I'll be traveling with my BF, who prefers market-driven/wild and vegetable heavy cuisine (as do I, but I like meat a lot more than he does), although ethical/locavore considerations *may* fall to the wayside for any mind-blowing must-tries. I'll probably have time for one brunch, one lunch, and one dinner (have to reserve some time to visit the old faves).

Specifically I'm also looking for any new dim sum spots that would be good to take the (picky Cantonese) family.

Already on my "maybe to-try list" are:

Slow Club
Citizen's Band
Marlowe
The Richmond
Heirloom Cafe

Note - some of the restaurants on this list might not actually be really new -- but are new to me.

To give you an idea of my tastes, some of my old standbys are:

Tartine
Turtle Tower - Pho Ga
Burma Superstar (just the ginger salad and samusa soup)
Shanghai House - addicted to the Pork Pump!
Naan n Curry + Vik's (although I heard they went downhill)
Cheeseboard Collective
Rainbow Grocery - an absolute must during any trip

Thanks in Advance!

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Rainbow Grocery
1745 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Turtle Tower Restaurant
631 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94109

Slow Club
2501 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

The Cheese Board Collective
1504 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 94709

Shanghai House
3641 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121

Burma Superstar
4721 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA

[bbulkow]

It's a little hard to recommend "new" since Slow Club is close to 20 years old. I know you said some are "new to you", but... how do we know what else you haven't heard of? Classics like Universal Cafe (just popped to mind because it's a couple blocks from Slow Club)?

Given your interest in greater Asia, a trip to the Hakka place or Old Mandrin might be in order.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/689236

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Slow Club
2501 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

[eatingculture]

Hi bbulkow,

I have been to Universal Cafe, which I enjoyed. I should've researched my list a little further. If I could delete Slow Club I would. If I'm correct I believe the other restaurants all opened in the last couple years. Irregardless of what I do or don't know about, any recs that are *actually* new are welcome.

Thanks!

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Slow Club
2501 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

[bbulkow]

Plum is great and as new as it gets.

The new bib gourmand list just came out. It can be found in multiple sources, and hits in your price range, and might be worth mining.

Frances has gained a lot of attention, I think it's only a few months old.

Prospect. Zero zero, Zut!, is Flour + Water or Wayfare old news?

[grayelf]

What about Commonwealth? It seems to be getting a fair bit o' love here and is pretty new: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7319...

[Ruth Lafler]

I'm thinking that mind-blowing vegetable-driven not too expensive would have to be the brand new Plum in Oakland.

[JasmineG]

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[eatingculture]

Thanks, I'll definitely put that on my list! I guess my inquiry had a lot of qualifiers -- oops! I'm really not that picky as long as the eats are tasty and have some soul.