 Heirloom tomato salad at La Folie. From A16 to Za, here are our choices for
the best things to eat and where to eat them
Plus, our choices for the Northside's top chefs,
and our Chef of the Year, Roland Passot
“Tell me what you eat, and
I will tell you what you are.”
– Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, 1825
French gourmet and lawyer (1755)
I eat for a living. Whenever people ask what I do, that’s what I tell them. Invariably, they respond with one question: “How did you get that job?” The answer isn’t as conventional as it might be had I attended law school and become a lawyer. I did go to journalism school, and I was a reporter before I was a food writer. I don’t consider myself a foodie or a food nerd. Am I passionate about food? Yes. Am I obsessed with it? No. Am I a snob about it? Definitely not. I guess I would describe myself as an innately curious reporter who loves to eat. I don’t spend hours cruising food blogs or chatting in food forums, I don’t buy the latest Ruth Reichl memoir the minute it hits the bookstore, and I don’t get up at the crack of dawn to forage for the latest heirloom tomatoes at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market with digital camera in hand. I do sometimes eat Potato Buds for breakfast or a bowl of Lucky Charms for dinner, and once in a rare moon I satisfy a childhood craving by hitting the drive-through at KFC. (I don’t feel too bad about that – one of the Northside’s most prominent chefs confessed to me that he has Hot Pockets in his freezer at home.)
Was I destined for this job? Perhaps. My grandfather on my mother’s side was Sicilian, having arrived in the United States via Canada to escape working for the mob, and promptly ended up “driving a limo” in New York City. When he and my Welsh grandmother relocated to Riverside, Rhode Island, he put his love of cooking to use, making spaghetti and meatballs on the weekends for his buddies at the local bar. Word spread, and pretty soon there were lines around the block. My father’s heritage is Irish and some Ukrainian – nothing there that said “future gourmand,” but nonetheless, he was just that, way before it was cool. He planned our annual summer road trips back east to visit my grandparents around the restaurants where he wanted to eat – not just the restaurants, but the specific dishes at the restaurants. He loved the biscuits and gravy at a quaint wood-paneled truck stop in Cheyenne, the cheesy grits at his favorite dumpy diner in Atlanta, and the big steaks near the stockyards in Omaha. But the food frenzy didn’t stop once we hit the Ocean State – my mother and my grandfather would end up lugging our luggage into the house, my grandfather swearing in Italian (“Figlio di una femmina!”) as Dad and I drove off to get clam cakes at Crescent Park. Summers were filled with baked stuffies – quahog shells stuffed with minced clam meat, crushed crackers, celery, and onions – lobster rolls, buckets of steamers, baked-stuffed twin lobster dinners, and what my dad called “Greek wieners,” because the recipe started with a Greek immigrant named Gust Pappas in 1927. Though Gust passed away in 1936, his family still runs the business, a Providence treasure for nearly 80 years. I remember being 10 or so, staring up at the jovial man behind the long Formica counter and asking what was in the meat sauce. “I can’t tell you that, matia mou,” he said with a wink. “It’s a family secret.” I sat on the stool before him, little legs dangling off the edge, and scrutinized the sauce bite after bite. “I think there’s onions,” I announced, “and celery salt.” Turns out I was right. (The meat, however, remains a mystery and it’s probably better that way).
Looking back, I realize that food was always an important part of my family’s life, and mine. Is that why I became a food writer? I don’t know for certain, but the one thing that I do know for certain is that food criticism is purely subjective. I sometimes get letters from readers asking why I’m not “meaner” in my reviews, and subjectivity is one of the reasons. Just because I don’t like nutmeg shouldn’t color my review of a dish that people who do like nutmeg might love. I also believe in corrective criticism – if there is something off about a dish, I like to suggest ways that might make it better, at least for my palate. Some food critics relish being vicious just for the sake of being vicious, but that’s just not my style. From my perspective, it’s much easier to write a negative review than a positive one, and snide, malevolent reviews are a great way to mask less-than-stellar writing skills. I visit between 15 and 20 restaurants a month, but I only have room to write about five or six. I would rather not waste my ink or your time talking about where not to eat and instead tell you about the places I think are worth your time, effort, and money. So after spending the last few years eating my way through the Northside and beyond, I decided it was high time for the first annual, very subjective Best of Northside Food issue. I don’t consider it the “best of,” but I do consider it my “best of.”
Who made the grade – all the hippest, hottest spots? No, not all of them. Almost everyone I know raves about Bocadillos. I like it, but I don’t love it. I prefer the rustic, heartfelt cuisine of 24-year old phenom Mattin Noblia at Iluna Basque.
Will you see some places you’ve never heard of? Probably. Sushi Sam’s on Third and B streets in downtown San Mateo is my favorite stop for sushi in the entire Bay Area, but its hipper northern neighbor, Sushi Ran, gets all the glory. I like Sushi Ran, but I love the simple, pristine seafood at Sushi Sam’s, which is one of my “Best Reasons to Get Outta Town – South Bay Style.”
Will there be some old favorites on the list? Absolutely. Just because the ever-growing legion of very serious food nerds don’t frequent the Cliff House Bistro doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. While they’re spending a week’s pay on Michael Mina’s albeit fabulous lobster potpie, you’ll be tucked away in a cozy corner with a martini and a bowl of creamy clam chowder – with a killer view at no extra charge. The bottom line is that I like to go where there’s good food: fancy, not fancy, expensive, inexpensive, newest, oldest, cool, not cool, cool again – if it’s good, I’ll go.
My picks for the best chefs in the Northside were easy – I went with the people who created the dishes I loved, the ones that stand out in my memory, even a year or more later. Some of them are on the Fickle Foodie List of Cool like Michael Tusk, while others, like Gary Danko, are just consistently good year after year, whether they’re in or out, on or off the List of Cool – and that’s always cool in my book. I broke the chefs into three categories: Well-Done for the seasoned veterans; Medium-Rare for the guys who have served as executive chefs in the kitchens of others but are cooking in their own kitchens for the first time; and On the Rare Side for first-time executive chefs who have demonstrated serious chops and grace in a tremendously competitive field.
FAVORITE NEW
A16
2355 Chestnut St. (415) 771-2216
The pizza at A16 gets most of the press, but there’s much more to Christophe Hille’s cooking than tomatoes and mozzarella. Focusing on a single region in Italy may sound like a gimmick, but it’s far from it – Hille turns out a myriad of rustic dishes from Campania including pork breast braised with chestnuts, olives, garlic and herbs, and the house-made lamb sausage braised with onions and white wine. Cabbage and cece bean zuppa with pork meatballs is about as comforting as it gets on a cold summer night, and country-style maccaronara tossed in a light tomato ragu is properly chewy. I’m also a fan of the pappardelle rigate – the ridges help hold a well-balanced sauce of ripe, juicy cherry tomatoes, garlic, almonds, and a scant of Hille’s favorite ingredient, anchovies. The lunch menu features the much-lauded meatballs, which are deserving of every ounce of praise – they’re moist, delicate, flavorful, and as good as my grandfather’s version, which says a lot. Owner Shelley Lindgren is one of the Bay Area’s finest wine directors and has handpicked the best regional wine list I’ve seen of mostly southern Italian wines, including some obscure bottles from small family vineyards.
C & L
1250 Jones St. (415) 771-5400
C & L bills itself as a steak house, but the sides and starters are the real stars. Laurent Manrique and Charles Condy began their partnership at Aqua several years ago, and C & L is another in their ever-growing list of ventures. The space that formerly housed Condy’s Charles Nob Hill and is one of the few restaurants in The City where you can actually hold a conversation without having to shout. The concept at C & L drew much attention as a gimmick – diners do a visual road trip on a menu that stops in eight states, choosing from quintessential starters, entrées, sides, vegetables , and desserts. Once you get the hang of it the concept works, and more importantly the food is worth the trip. C & L serves Painted Hills natural beef with accents like andouille gumbo sauce in New Orleans or, for some strange reason, bérnaise sauce with a New York strip for Chicago (okay, not everything works). For dessert, I always head to Denver for the too-fun make-your-own Campfire S’mores.
El Raigon
510 Union St. (415) 291-0927
Hidden off the well-beaten path of Spaghetti Row, North Beach’s El Raigon serves natural Montana range-raised beef cooked “parilla style.” In Argentina, the parilla is a hut fashioned from mud bricks with a dirt floor and a gigantic grill inside, and El Raigon’s version, though it looks more sophisticated, uses the same wood and charcoal fire to produce a tender, smoky, extra-juicy steak. Sides are simple and fresh, including creamy mashed potatoes, crispy-charred spears of asparagus, and buttery mashed squash. And finally a restaurant got sautéed spinach right: Instead of the usual oily, soggy mess, this version is barely wilted and flecked – not overwhelmed – with minced garlic. Appetizers are refreshingly underseasoned and range from cumin-scented ground beef empanadas in a flaky golden crust to crunchy, garlicky prawns served head-on and stacked on top of each other like Legos.
Estia
1224 Grant St. (415) 433-1433
Estia is one of my favorite restaurants in the Northside for its superb combination of authentic Greek cuisine and warm ambiance. Brothers Taki Kaloterias and Spiros Peritos own the North Beach eatery, appropriately named for the Greek goddess of hearth, home, and gathering, and their talents complement each other, with Taki taking the role of charismatic front man while Spiros utilizes over 20 years in the kitchen creating family recipes for classic dishes like spanakopita and pastitsio. There are a lot of dishes I like including mousaka, layers of eggplant, potatoes, minced lamb, and beef in béchamel sauce, and youvetsi, a village-style dish of flavorful lamb shank with orzo in tomato sauce baked in a clay pot. But my favorite by far is the kleftiko – an aromatic, steaming stew of lamb cubes, potato, kefalograviera cheese, wine, and herbs wrapped in parchment paper and slow-cooked.
Iluna Basque
701 Union St. (415) 402-0011
Chef/owner Mattin Noblia is one of the freshest talents to hit the Northside in a very long time. At the tender age of 24, Iluna Basque was named one of 2004’s seven best San Francisco restaurants in the August issue of Food & Wine magazine alongside heavyweights like Quince, A16, and the Slanted Door. There’s good reason for all of this attention – Iluna Basque serves authentic, home-cooked Basque food in a charming, hip atmosphere, and Noblia cooks from the heart – traditional dishes like piperade, a comforting stew of tomatoes, peppers, and sautéed Serrano ham that’s topped with a poached egg, make you wonder if his grandmother isn’t with him in the kitchen. I never miss the belly-warming crab croquettes, made with a rich crab and béchamel sauce that oozes out of the crisp, lightly fried morsels with each bite.
Manga Rosa
1548 Stockton St. (415) 956-2902
Manga Rosa just celebrated one year of serving up Italian food with a Brazilian twist in one of North Beach’s coolest spots. The gnocchi is a wonder – delicate half-moons of potato-pasta made in-house are pan-fried “peasant style” with roasted garlic and local wild mushrooms and served with a rich Crescenza cream sauce. “Frango Assado” is chicken cooked with 10-year aged balsamic vinegar and has one of the crispiest skins you’ll find, but the meat underneath is juicy and the sauce adds some zing. The pièce de résistance, though, is the “Brazilian Steak Rechaud,” tender slices of seared “Butcher’s cut” hanger steak brought to your table on a sizzling cast-iron grill. You get your own tongs and three sauces for topping your meat. Cook your steak as little or as much as you like, top it or don’t top it, and fight your friends for the last slice. Food just shouldn’t be this much fun.
Luella
1896 Hyde St. (415) 674-4343
One of the most exciting restaurants to open in the last year is the realization of a 29-year dream for chef/owner Ben deVries. After honing his skills at restaurants like LuLu and mc2, deVries landed his first executive chef gig at Ristoranté Ecco to rave reviews. He next took the trendy small plate concept to a new level at Andalu and the national press took note, including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Gourmet, and The New York Times. His Mediterranean-inspired Luella, a charming gem in Russian Hill, is one of the few places I’ve eaten recently where nearly every dish hit a perfect note. Creamy artichoke soup, luscious salt cod brandade, crisp-skinned chicken al mattone, and delicate homemade capellini with spring squash and lemon zest were all stellar. The Coca-Cola-braised pork shoulder, deVries’ signature at Andalu, is sweet and fall-off-the-bone tender. Sous chef/partner Chris Wong has done everything from cook for Dave Matthews to work as a pastry chef, and his pastry experience shines on what I call “puffs,” orange and sweet ricotta fritters with wild honey for dipping that are quite possibly one of the most perfect desserts on earth.
Myth
470 Pacific Ave. (415) 677-8986
Sean O’Brien wasn’t the first choice for Myth and he almost didn’t take the job. After a long walk from the offices of then boss Gary Danko, a good cup of coffee at Café Greco, and a pep talk from his wife, he decided it was time to take the leap from Gary’s right-hand man to first-time executive chef. Nine years in the kitchen with Gary Danko is like getting a Ph.D. in cooking, and O’Brien skillfully combines fresh, seasonal ingredients to create deceptively simple dishes that truly dazzle the taste buds. Highlights include a pancetta-wrapped monkfish as well as what has become somewhat of a signature for O’Brien, mushroom-dusted scallops with black trumpet mushrooms and potato purée. By the time I reviewed Myth I was pretty much over scallops, but these are perfectly cooked, succulent, and barely translucent inside, and the dried ground shitakes add a subtle, earthy touch.
Nectar Wine Lounge
3330 Steiner St. (415) 345-1377
The sommelier/owners at Nectar are some of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. They’re young and enthusiastic, taking everyone from wine neophyte to seasoned snob on an unpretentious journey through an 800-selection bottle list and flights that have un-stodgy names like the “bad-assed red flight,” aptly described as “hedonism in liquid format.” That youthful exuberance translates to their appointment of twentysomething Armando Litiatco to his first executive chef position. Handsome and laid-back, Litiatco looks more like he should be a member of the band Linkin Park than heading up a kitchen, but there’s an underlying current of energy that definitely translates to his menu. He’s edgy and fearless, and while not all of his dishes work yet, he displays a natural gift for combining ingredients that serves him well. One of the more adventurous offerings, pan-browned prawns wrapped in napa cabbage and crispy udon noodles served with bonito dashi cream sauce, look like fancy pigs in a blanket but they taste a whole lot better.
Quince
1701 Octavia St. (415) 775-8500
Quince has been the darling of diners and critics alike since it opened, and there are a couple of good reasons for this. First, chef/owner Michael Tusk has a pedigree that would intrigue anyone who loves food – he’s been a chef at two highly regarded Bay Area restaurants, the legendary Chez Panisse under Alice Waters and Paul Bertolli’s Oliveto. He cooked in Europe for a couple of years in between the two, further sharpening his sense of the rustic cuisine that now defines him. The second reason people love Quince is, of course, that the food is fabulous. Tusk is a master of presentation and combination – his dishes manage to please all of the senses in a dramatic way, from the intoxicating plating to the eloquent marriage of flavors, textures, and aromas. The menu at Quince changes daily depending on the seasonal ingredients Tusk finds at the market, but his trademark homemade pastas are certainly a major draw.
Tartare
550 Washington St. (415) 434-3100
We have an interesting situation with Tartare – it is definitely one of my favorite new restaurants and George Morrone one of my favorite chefs, but after just over a year chef/owner George Morrone and partner Aabi Shapoorian have decided to change the menu and the name. Morrone says changing the name was purely a business decision – too many potential patrons assumed that Tartare meant an entirely raw menu. The new incarnation will be simply called “George,” and Morrone says, “The food will be edgier and more like what I was doing at the Fifth Floor.” He’s not giving up completely on raw dishes – his trademark ahi and hand-cut beef tartare will remain – but the new focus will be on a style that intrigued him on a recent trip to Spain, where he says they are creating three-ingredient dishes combining sweet, savory, and salty. He admits with almost childlike glee that he hasn’t been this excited about food since he first experienced Alice Waters’ cooking at Chez Panisse 15 years ago. Morrone is the only Bay Area chef to receive four stars twice (for Aqua and Fifth Floor) and Esquire magazine voted Tartare one of the best new restaurants of 2004.
U Street Restaurant and Lounge
1980 Union St. (415) 409-0150
First-time executive chef Michael Schley has taken the lounge food at U Street to a new level with his smart, creative menu. His pedigree is impressive – he spent time as sous chef under James Ormsby at PlumpJack Café and also cooked at The French Laundry with world-renowned chef Thomas Keller. His grilled Snake River Farms American-raised Kobe beef bivet is beautifully marbled, tender flat steak accompanied by stellar pommes frites, perfect for soaking up the rich juices. But the fried spring chicken, a clever and tasty take on the small plates craze, is destined to become Schley’s signature dish – half a poisson fried Southern-style, it is delightfully small but not small on flavor, and it made my list of top fried chicken dishes in the July issue of Northside.
FAVORITE TRIED & TRUE
Ana Mandara
Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach St. (415) 771-6800
It may be partly owned by actors Don Johnson and Cheech Marin and located at Fisherman’s Wharf, but there’s nothing cheesy about Ana Mandara. Executive Chef Khai Duong cooked with his family in his native Vietnam, but he is also a summa cum laude graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Academie Culinaire de Paris. He combines the two techniques to create a wonderful range of traditional and modern Vietnamese dishes. Ana Mandara means “beautiful refuge,” and the name fits – it is one of the most visually stunning restaurants I’ve ever been to, reminiscent of a French colonial plantation with greenery, bamboo, working fountains, multiple level, and high ceilings that still feature stage lighting from the building’s days as a movie theater in the early 1980s. Not-to-miss dishes include sweet Dungeness crab soup with hand-cut noodles, and Duong’s version of “shaking beef” – caramelized, medium-rare tournedos of beef tenderloin tossed in a wok with sweet onions and peppercress. The comparison to that other high-end Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building is inevitable, and I’ve adored Charles Phan’s cooking since his earliest days on Valencia Street. However, I adore Duong’s cooking even more.
Big 4 Restaurant
Huntington Hotel, 1075 California St. (415) 474-5400
The Big 4 on Nob Hill is one of the best kept secrets in the Northside, and Executive Chef Gloria Ciccarone-Nehls has been making great food there for 26 years. She made her name with wild game, but that’s definitely not the only thing she does well – she is a master of clean, bright flavors and utilizes the best of fresh seasonal ingredients. Chilled summer heirloom tomato soup turns even creamier with a dollop of avocado mousseline, while sautéed Alaskan halibut is flavorful and moist, unlike local varieties, and arrives topped with a round of ravioli filled with sweet corn and chunks of lobster. Her chicken potpie is the best I’ve eaten in The City – the server brings it to the table, removes the brown, flaky crust and scoops the rich gravy full of chicken and vegetables onto the plate. For years the stately, handsome restaurant has been known as the place to power lunch amongst The City’s elite, but it should also be known simply as a great restaurant.
Bobo’s
1450 Lombard St. (415) 441-8880
Most upscale steakhouses dry-age their beef up to 21 days, but Bobo’s has its certified prime dry-aged four to six weeks for a steak that cuts like butter and is melt-in-your-mouth good. Pan searing with a hint of garlic and rosemary creates a crispy caramelized exterior that keeps the juices—and the flavor—locked inside. My favorite is the bone-in filet mignon, which arrives at the table thick, sizzling hot, and medium rare. You don’t often see this cut in restaurants, but the bone adds immense flavor to the filet that sets it apart from its boneless brethren. To ensure even cooking, the New York and filet of the gigantic porterhouse are prepared separately and then placed on one plate before serving. Only Brooklyn’s famous Peter Luger and Bern’s of Tampa have a steak that can compare.
Gary Danko
800 North Point St. (415) 749-2060
On a recent episode of the PBS series Bittman Takes on America’s Chefs, host Mark Bittman says that Gary Danko is a food know-it-all, and he’s only half joking. Truthfully, Danko has forgotten more about food than most of us will ever know. He’s a consummate perfectionist when it comes to cooking and his eponymous restaurant, which is considered by many to be one of the finest dining experiences in the entire country. Danko has taken home numerous honors, including the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef – California award in 1995 for his work at the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room, but he’s never been flashy and neither has his food. While he may not be on the current Fickle Foodie List of Cool, he remains one of Bay Area’s greatest chefs with signature classics like seared foie gras with caramelized onions and Bing cherries, roasted Maine lobster with chanterelles, white corn and tarragon, and horseradish-crusted salmon medallion. Add an incredible wine list and impeccable service, and you’ve got a restaurant with six Mobil Five Star awards as well as an esteemed Relais & Chateau designation.
La Folie
2316 Polk St. (415) 776-5577
After over 35 years in the kitchen, nearly 20 of those at his Russian Hill charmer La Folie, Roland Passot is turning out some of the most phenomenal food of his brilliant career, earning him our Northside Chef of the Year award. The interior of La Folie has gone from dancing marionettes to NYC chic, but the inevitable comparison between his upgraded ambiance and his reinvigorated menu is too easy. The fact of the matter is that Passot is in his kitchen every night, turning out perfect dishes like foie gras lollipops, snowy pan-roasted sturgeon, and l’assiette de boeuf. But even after nearly 40 years of cooking for a living, he’s still having fun. While the cuisine at La Folie is decidedly French, the rest of the experience is not: Portions are generous and the food, while elegant, has a sense of whimsy I often describe as a culinary Cirque du Soleil. The wait staff gets it, too, capable of floating seamlessly between unobtrusive precision robotics for a table of serious socialites and friendly up-tempo banter for regulars and laid-back locals. Julia Child once said, “All good cooks learn something new every day,” and if there is a poster chef for this simple but eloquent proclamation, it has to be Roland Passot.
PlumpJack Café
3127 Fillmore St. (415) 563-4755
PlumpJack sometimes falls off the restaurant radar because there are no bells and whistles and nothing trendy – just consistently delicious food. Executive Chef James Ormsby now spends his nights at the very hot Jack Falstaff, but Chef de Cuisine Jeff Smock has no problem holding down the fort. A 10-year veteran of New York City’s culinary scene, Smock refined his talents at places like Le Cirque as well as Danny Meyer’s Union Square Café and Blue Smoke. While you will still find favorites like Ormsby’s signature ahi tartare cones and the Maine peekytoe crab cakes, Smock adds personal flair with a few signature dishes of his own. Smock’s pan-seared velvety-smooth applewood-smoked French foie gras is exceptional, and it would be hard to imagine more succulent beef short ribs than his overnight-marinated Cabernet-braised version. Needless to say, the PlumpJack wine list is a winner too.
Sushi on North Beach
745 Columbus Ave. (415) 788-8050
Chef-owner Katsu Matsuda features the sweetest, freshest seafood available and he serves some of the best sushi and sashimi in the entire city out of his casual, cozy North Beach restaurant. Creamy hamachi, barbecued unagi, and pristine fresh scallops are all winners, but the place to look is the specials board where you’ll find delicacies such as velvety otoro, fresh sea urchin, and sweet, mild amberjack, a favorite of sushi connoisseurs in Japan that’s not often seen in the States. You’ll also find creative maki rolls, teriyaki, tempura, and curries. Definitely try the sawakani, a platter of fried whole Japanese freshwater crabs the size of quarters that are as addictive as potato chips. Matsuda is not only a talented, artistic chef but he’s also a great showman, familiar to many from frequent stints on local cooking shows like Joey Altman’s Bay Café. Sit at the bar for the most fun and try one of nearly 50 sakés in stock with Matsuda and his crew.
Vivande
2125 Fillmore St. (415) 346-4430
I think Carlo Middione is one of the Northside’s most underrated chefs, and he definitely serves some of the most authentic southern Italian fare I’ve had outside my grandfather’s house. Middione is a noted cookbook author who came to national prominence on television as the host of The Learning Channel’s Carlo Cooks Italian. He’s been quietly serving his simple, satisfying fare in Pacific Heights since 1981, and he also runs a well-stocked gastronomia up front that sells meats, cheeses, and spit-roasted chickens as well as homemade pastas, sausages, salads, and sweets like his famous cannoli. Even after a satisfying meal, I’ve never been able to resist taking home a pint of the paper-thin fresh fettuccine dotted with bright green English peas. Specialties of the house include pollo al mattone, chicken marinated in rosemary, sage, and garlic and seared under weights, but I love the unfussiness of the aglio e olio, spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes, and the Romana, pasta tossed with cream, butter, and Parmesan. Those are the comfort dishes of my childhood, and it doesn’t get better than that.
OVERHYPED, UNDERHYPED, LIVED UP TO THE HYPE…
Most overhyped: Frisson
244 Jackson St. (415) 956-3004
When Frisson opened, the hype was out of control – Daniel Patterson’s fussy, foamy food was lauded in virtually every print publication and on almost every foodie website.
Most underhyped: Frisson
244 Jackson St. (415) 956-3004
When Patterson left, you could hear a pin drop. Management quietly promoted Chef de Cuisine Sarah Schafer hoping that her more approachable cuisine would be a match and it paid off – her simple, laid-back food feels fresh and complements the loungey feel of the room.
Lived up to the hype:
A16 and Myth
A16: 2355 Chestnut St. (415) 771-2216, Myth: 470 Pacific Ave. (415) 677-8986
No matter how much you heard about A16 and Myth in the press, on the Internet or on the street, there was no denying that the food was just that good.
Stop the hype: Barkers in front of Panta Rei
431 Columbus Ave. (415) 591-0900
I walk by Panta Rei on the corner of Columbus and Stockton more than a dozen times each month, and still the barkers beckon me to look at the menu. I know there’s a lot of competition for tourists on Spaghetti Row, but for the sake of the locals, please zip it.
Most improved: Cozmo’s
2001 Chestnut St. (415) 351-0175
When the folks at Cozmo’s brought Erik Hopfinger on as executive chef, the place changed from a bar with food to a restaurant with a bar. Hopfinger’s two decades of culinary experience includes opening his own venture, Spoon on Polk Street, which earned Hopfinger critical praise for his sophisticated take on comfort food. Diners took note as well, earning him a faithful following. Hopfinger arrived at Cozmo’s in 2004 and immediately made an impression with signature items like Hoppy’s mac-n-cheese and tuna tartare with wasabi aioli. His inventive cooking and utilization of local and organic meats, seafood, cheeses and produce continues to elevate the menu at Cozmo’s, and a recent visit proved that Hopfinger’s food just gets better and better.
Best undiscovered: Cinque Terre
641 Vallejo St. (415) 402-0895
Charming Ristorante Cinque Terre suffers from location-impairment – located at 641 Vallejo Street near Stockton, the only hope of walk-in traffic lies with people on their way to and from the Vallejo Street garages or those just released from the Central Police Station. But the rustic Italian cuisine at Cinque Terre is far better than the mediocre fare of the many tourist traps along the North Beach strip.
Emperor’s New Clothes award: Betelnut
2030 Union St. (415) 929-8855
More and more people join the procession, proclaiming the string beans and dumplings the best in all the land! In China, the number ׆” is lucky, and Betelnut is indeed lucky that people continue to pay over $8 for dumplings and green beans that you can find at a restaurant in Chinatown for half the price, including rice and a fortune cookie.
Most overdone underdone dish: Tuna tartare
Will it take a McTartare on the menu at McDonald’s to stop the insanity?
Most overdone dish: Salmon done any way
Roasted, broiled, pan-fried – any way you serve it, I’m over it.
Most overdone dish, honorable mention: Seared scallops
Thank goodness for Sean O’Brien’s mushroom-dusted scallops for making me realize there are still ways of making this mollusk interesting, but for the most part you could send me screaming with one more pretty plating of pan-seared day boats.
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Food & Wine 
