Must Eat Places in SF for a NYC girl

[mchien623]

Hi folks!

I'm traveling to San Francisco this weekend...main goal: seek out the epicurious delights of this city!

The title says it all what are the must eat places in SF (probably won't be venturing outside the City)? I'm looking for something fairly budget conscious...$15-20 per person would be great.

I'm open to anything...whether it be a restaurant, a little shack, or street food...just needs to be delicious! :)

Thanks in advance!

[mchien623]

Thanks everyone for your responses thus far! Will be sure to check some of them out :)

Btw, I found out I'm staying in the Sunset/Richmond area...does anyone have recommendations around there?

[whiner]

That is a big area. Anything more specific? My favorite burrito place (Papalote) *may* have one of its two locations close to you... If you are staying in the Inner Richmond it certainly does, but, I don't know where you are staying... however, this reminds me, I was a FOOL for not posting this rec earlier... I'm never out in this area so I don't often eat there, but apart from L'Osteria del Forno, my favorite inexpensive restaurant in SF is Troya. Again, it may be pushing the money envelope a little, but it is worth it. The beyti is particularly excellent, as are all of the apps I've tried.

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L'Osteria del Forno
519 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

Troya
349 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118

[mchien623]

Can't get a hold of the friend right now so i don't know more than Richmond/Sunset area...i figure that might be helpful since I realized a lot of people were suggesting places around Mission :)

[Civil Bear]

Way out in the Sunset is Old Mandarin Islamic. It is a great hole in the wall with fantastic spicy lamb dishes.

One of my favorite southern Vietnamese pho places is at PPQ in the outer edge of the inner Sunset. Much, much better than Yumi Yumi, IMO.

Clement Street in the inner Richmond offers many choices that have already been mentioned in this thread.

In the outer Richmond there is the Shanghai Dumpling King and Shanghai House for good XLB and PPQ Dungeness Island for excellent Vietnamese Crab. I believe the have a two person pre-fix for around $40.

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Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant
3132 Vicente St, San Francisco, CA 94116

Shanghai House
3641 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121

Shanghai Dumpling King
3319 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121

[ML8000]

I heard that Shanghai Dumpling King was sold and it went down hill. I have not confirmed this but if so...sad.

While it is over the budget, Aziza is in the Richmond and coming from NYC, Cal-Moroccan should be different. It has a Michelin star...not that pricey all things considered.

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Shanghai Dumpling King
3319 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121

[whiner]

How did I forget his, too?! Tacolicious. It is in the Marina. Quite inexpensive for food, though drinks might add up. Gourmet tacos and taco-like things. Really quite tasty and "fun" vibe. I'm 30 years old and was joking with my server about being "old" for the establishment... but really quite interesting and nice.

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Tacolicious
2031 Chestnut St, San Francisco, CA 94123

[scarmoza]

I'm sure your friend will have a lot of great recommendations for you. Here' my Sunset/Richmond cheap eats list:

(Sunset)
Dry Fry Chicken Wings and Green Beans at San Tung
Vegetarian Platter at Sunrise Deli
Nick's Crispy Tacos at Underdogs
Lunch or Brunch at Outerlands
Steamed Custard Buns (Lai Wong Bao) at Happy Bakery
Pho at Yummy Yummy

(Richmond)
You can have a Korean feast for under $15pp at Han Il Kwan
Bacon wrapped mochi & more yakitori at Halu
Brunch at Namu (dinner is out of the price range except Burgers)
super cheap dim sum at Good Luck Dim Sum Bakery (go there in the morning only)
American style Brunch at Q

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Nick's Crispy Tacos
1500 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94109

Namu
439 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA 94118

Happy Bakery
2253 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122

Yummy Yummy
1015 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122

Halu
312 8th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94118

Good Luck Dim Sum
736 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118

Sunrise Deli Cafe
54 2nd St # D, San Francisco, CA 94105

[lrealml]

"Brunch at Namu (dinner is out of the price range except Burgers)"

Yes, but their burgers with Kimchee are unique and completely awesome!
+1 for Old Mandarin and Aziza (worth every penny if you can manage).
Irving Street Cafe for Bahn Mi and Wonderful Foods Co. for bubble tea.
A lot of good Burmese places out that way... Mandalay is one of them.

[Robert Lauriston]

Namu's burger is the best. The kimchi didn't make much difference to me, it was the quality of the meat, the careful grilling over special charcoal, and the first-rate bun.

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Namu
439 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA 94118

[Robert Lauriston]

The Sunset and Richmond are the southwestern and northwestern quadrants of SF, that's about half the city.

[brighteyes00]

Thorough Bread and Pastry on Church between Market and 15th. Truly amazing almond croissants and other French pastries - I think it's connected to a cooking school. Better than most pastry shops in NY. And there's a nice little garden in the back.

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Thorough Bread and Pastry
248 Church Street, San Francisco, CA

[tiggermistyv]

I'm also a New Yorker coming to San Francisco, so I truly appreciate this list. Are any of these suggestions within a short walk from the Moscone West Convention Center?

[wolfe]

Closest to Moscone is Blue Bottle Mint. Closer is Tropisueno.

http://www.tropisueno.com/

[ceekskat]

The Sentinel is not far...great, creative sandwiches from a tiny space. Highly recommended for anyone visiting SF. Nearby & not too expensive is Zero Zero.

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Zero Zero
826 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94107

[scarmoza]

My list:

Croque madame at either Bar Tartine or Foreign Cinema (both serve Four Barrel Coffee).

One of the egg dishes and a siphon pot of (Ethiopian) coffee from Blue Bottle Mint Plaza.

4505 Hamburger at Saturday Ferry Plaza Market

Pozole from Gracias Madre

Pho Ga at Turtle Tower

Pork Belly Donuts and beer at The Sycamore

Tamales from the Tamale Lady at Zeitgeist

Vegetarian Burrito from CanCun or Quesadilla Suiça from El Farolito

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

Foreign Cinema
2534 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94110

Bar Tartine
561 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

Blue Bottle Cafe
66 Mint St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Four Barrel Coffee
375 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Gracias Madre
2211 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

[ML8000]

4505 burger is excellent. Also it'll give you the chance to look at the produce at the farmer's market.

[scarmoza]

Also:

A Mission Dog at Rosamunde on Mission

2 scoops at Humphry Slocombe.

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Zeitgeist
375 Alabama St # 490, San Francisco, CA

El Farolito
4817 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94112

Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream
2790 Harrison St, San Francisco, CA 94110

4505 Meats
1 Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA 94111, CA

Rosamunde Sausage Grill
2832 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

The Sycamore
2140 Mission St, SF, CA 94110

[billraymond]

Mmmm... Turtle Tower's Pho with the pan seared noodles are great and I haven't seen them elsewhere.

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

[scarmoza]

Do you do the pan fried noodles (plate) or the pan fried noodle soup?

Mr. scarmoza's favorite is the #6 Stir-fried Beef with Celery, Carrot, Onion, and Leek Pan-fried Noodle Soup.

[billraymond]

When I lived in NYC, one of my absolute favorite things to do late at night was to grab some grub at the Halal carts. Alas, I no of none here in San Francisco that come close but if you are craving some mediterranean food while out and about (not open late), check out Oasis Grill @ Drumm bw California & Market.

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Oasis Grill
91 Drumm St, San Francisco, CA 94111

[Robert Lauriston]

Oasis Grill's good for the Financial District but I think Truly Mediterranean has the best shawerma in town.

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Truly Mediterranean
3109 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

[ML8000]

$15-20 per/person isn't much. You might look at this, the annual Bargain Bites from the SF Chron: http://www.sfgate.com/food/bargains/

Might also look at Off the Grid (food truck pop-up) at Fort Mason, on Friday nights. For taco, El Tonayense Taco Truck at the Best Buy at 14th/Harrison (worth a lunch or snack).

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El Tonayense
2598 Harrison St, San Francisco, CA

Off the Grid
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA 94123

[Robert Lauriston]

The Chron list is pretty awful. It misses a lot of the best cheap places that any Chowhound regular could tell you about and includes some that seem totally random.

[Robert Lauriston]

This topic is old, but the recommendations are still mostly current:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/359937

[whiner]

L'Osteria del Forno would be the closest to 'must eat' in your price range for me. (Great rustic Northern Italian hole-in-the-wall in North beach... no reservations, cash only.) A nice sit-down restaurant in your price range (upper end) would be Helmand Palace (Afghani). My favorite burrito in the city is Papalote, but La Taqueria and Taqueria Cancun are more classic Mission style. Barney's makes good burgers, fries, shakes, and salads... cheap, too. If you are from the East Coast and have never been to an In-n-Out burger and find yourself near Ghirardelli Square you can walk down to the Wharf and eat there -- some people swear by it, but they'll put mayo on unless you ask them not to and it is still fast food, just much better than the big national chains. (It is a CA chain.) For Thai, I like Benjarong.

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L'Osteria del Forno
519 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

Taqueria Cancun
2288 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

La Taqueria
2889 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Helmand Palace
2424 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94109

Benjarong
1968 Lombard St, San Francisco, CA 94123

[Robert Lauriston]

In-N-Out is a *Southern* California chain, in business for 50 years before they got around to opening branches around here. Going to one while visiting SF would be kind of like going to White Castle in Manhattan.

[whiner]

Fair enough it is SoCal. The only one in the city I think is on the Wharf. That said, if she has never been to one and wants good, cheap, fast food and is in the area...

[Robert Lauriston]

There's no reason for anyone to go to the Wharf, particularly not someone on a short trip with a focus on food.

[whiner]

Sure, if the sole focus is food, skip the Wharf.

[mchien623]

Thanks whiner and Robert - I've been to SF before actually and went to the In-N-Out at the Wharf already - but will definitely be going for another visit this time! It was super yums and somewhat reminds me of the Shake Shack burger in NY.

[MeredithR]

Budget-conscious but yummy/fun restaurant(s): Monk's Kettle (Burgers + beer), Burma Superstar (Burmese - worth the wait), Little Star Pizza, Kan Zaman (Mid. Eastern), Nopalito (Mexican) , Puerto Alegre (Mexican), Tipsy Pig (comfort/bar food), Citrus Club (Thai), Polkers (American brunch/lunch), and Mama's (brunch - worth the long wait)... to name a few.

Shack/Hole-in-the-wall goodness: La Taqueria (Mexican), Yamo (Burmese), Dynamo (donuts), and Sam Wo (if you're drunk and want Chinese food past midnight).

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La Taqueria
2889 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Yamo
3406 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Sam Wo Restaurant
813 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

The Monk's Kettle
3141 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Kan Zaman Cafe
1793 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Citrus Club
1790 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Puerto Alegre Restaurant
546 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Tipsy Pig
2231 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA 94123

[nocharge]

The closest thing to a "must eat place" I can think of is the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building on Saturday mornings. Other than that, there are a lot of interesting places and approaching it by cuisine might be a good approach, like Burmese, maybe Mission burritos, etc.

[Robert Lauriston]

Burma Superstar's not worth the wait, the food at Burmese Kitchen is better.

[Civil Bear]

Pretty good list except for Burma Superstar (touristy) and Citrus Club (Americanized). I would add Park Chow for comfort food, Inka's for Peruvian rotisserie chicken, Los Ros for Thai, Burmese Kitchen, Poc Chuc for Mayan, and just about any of the numerous Vietnamese Pho places around town.

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Inkas Restaurant
3299 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Park Chow
1238 9th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122

Burma Superstar
1345 Park Street, Alameda, CA

Citrus Club
1790 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117

[billraymond]

I Second and Third Little Star Pizza and Puerto Alegre. Both of these places have a few locations (but don't worry, we would not consider them chains, just neighborhood expansions :-)

So now I'm going to tell you my favorite of these locations and I'm sure others will say differently, but I would go to Puerto Alegre @ 546 Valencia and Little Star @ 400 Valencia (of course Little Star @ Divisidaro has meatballs so perhaps that's a good choice too).

Being a New Yorker, I highly recommend getting the Deep Dish pizza at Little Star... the thin crusts are good but it is the Deep Dish that is the star here (pardon the pun) and will show you quite a difference between the slices you get in NYC.

For lunch, grab a locals sammy at Ike's Place @ 16th bw Dehon & Sanchez.

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Little Star Pizza
846 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Ike's Place
3489 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114

Puerto Alegre Restaurant
546 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

[Robert Lauriston]

The Divisadero branch of Little Star has meatballs? That's not on the online menu. I haven't noticed any difference in the food among the three branches. It might be the best deep dish pizza in the world (sorry, Chicago).

[wolfe]

Several yelpers mention the special meatball pizza in January this year. Maybe bill and they got lucky.

[Frosty Melon]

The Valencia location of Puerto Alegre is its only location. There was once another Mexican restaurant with the same name in the Mission, but it is or was not the same place.

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Puerto Alegre Restaurant
546 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

[Windy]

There is still a Puerto Allegre on Harrison near 25th. It's primarily a bar although they do have food.

[Frosty Melon]

Yes, that's the one I was thinking of. Thanks.

[globocity]

I checked out Monk's Kettle online and am curious enough to stop in. We are visiting from SD this weekend but are on a pretty tight budget for dinners out. We originally had reservations at Delfina but am beginning to suspect it is too pricey for what we want. Thanks for the recommendation!

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Delfina Restaurant
3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

The Monk's Kettle
3141 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

[Windy]

Delfina's not that expensive--just skip the entrees. The best items there are appetizers and salads, and pasta.

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Delfina Restaurant
3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

[artemis]

Agreed - that's always what I order when there. Never entrees, which are delicious, but not nearly as much as the pastas.

[globocity]

Good to know, thanks. I see pastas ranging in price from $10-$19. I made a reservation at Delfina based on my friend's recommendation and the rave reviews on Chowhound. My partner detests hyper trendy, loud places (good luck on a Friday night) but I am torn between Delfina and Monk's Kettle. I think since we have a reservation at the former, we'll stick with that. Cheers.

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Delfina Restaurant
3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

The Monk's Kettle
3141 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

[Windy]

Delfina isn't trendy, just popular and extremely consistent for 10+ years, which is very unusual in this city.

The food is simple compared to a lot of places. I mean that in a good way, but don't expect a lot of big surprises or bold choices. Hard to find a better salad than the campagna with radicchio and walnuts and parmesan and the tripe alla Fiorentina is always exemplary. And a fine place for fussy eaters, who can get perfect pasta with tomato and basil or roasted chicken.

I'm not sure where you've found raves on Chowhound except for Pizzeria Delfina, which is next door and not the same menu.

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Delfina Restaurant
3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Pizzeria Delfina
2406 California St, San Francisco, CA 94115

[globocity]

Windy,
I have read many comments about people recommending Delfina. Perhaps instead of indicating "rave" I should have written "consistently good reviews". Looking at the menu I found several options that sound intriguing. Nice to know it's not uber trendy. Thanks for the info.

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Delfina Restaurant
3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110