San Francisco: A Food and Drink Guide to the City by the Bay

San Francisco does not care about your diet. The city built its food reputation on sourdough starter that predates the gold rush, Dungeness crab pulled from waters cold enough to hurt, and Mission burritos the size of a newborn. You do not come here to eat light. You come here to eat specific.

Start in the Mission District, where the burrito was effectively weaponized. La Taqueria at 2889 Mission Street has won every "best burrito in America" poll that matters. The super burrito comes with rice, beans, meat, sour cream, and guacamole wrapped in a foil package that weighs close to a pound. It costs $11.50. El Farolito down the street at 2779 Mission is open until 3:00 AM and serves a similar construction for $9.75. The distinction between them is mostly tribal. Both use freshly pressed tortillas and carnitas cooked in lard. Both will ruin your appetite for the next six hours. Walk it off at Bi-Rite Creamery at 3692 18th Street, where salted caramel ice cream made from Straus Family Creamery dairy runs $5.25 for a single scoop.

Tartine Bakery at 600 Guerrero Street is the other Mission institution. Chad Robertson's country loaf has a burnished crust and an interior crumb that looks like a coral reef. A whole loaf is $12. The line forms at 10:30 AM and does not thin out until mid-afternoon. Tartine Manufactory nearby serves full meals, but the original bakery is where you understand why San Francisco sourdough became a global standard. The wild yeast here is different from what you get in New York or Paris. The fog, the salt air, and the ambient bacteria from the Bay create a flavor profile that bakers elsewhere spend years trying to reverse-engineer.

Cross town to Chinatown, the oldest in North America. The entrance gate on Grant Avenue is a photo stop. The actual eating happens on Stockton Street, where the markets sell live crabs, dried abalone, and durian. Golden Gate Bakery at 1029 Grant Street makes egg tarts with a flaking pastry shell and custard that wobbles like a plate of unset jelly. They bake in batches and sell out by 2:00 PM most days. A single tart is $3.25. R&G Lounge at 631 Kearny Street is the Cantonese restaurant locals still admit to liking, despite its fame. The salt-and-pepper Dungeness crab is $48 for a whole crab and feeds two. Order it. For dim sum, head to Hang Ah Tea Room at 1 Pagoda Place, operating since 1920. Shrimp har gow and pork siu mai run $6.50 to $8.00 per basket. The space is tight and the service is brisk. You share tables.

The Richmond District, west of Golden Gate Park, is where San Francisco's Asian food diversity becomes undeniable. Burma Superstar at 309 Clement Street serves tea leaf salad with fermented laphet, fried garlic, and peanuts for $14.95. The wait averages 45 minutes and they do not take reservations. Further north on Geary Boulevard, Korean tofu houses and hand-pulled noodle shops operate at prices ten dollars lower than downtown. A bowl of jjigae with rice and banchan runs $13 to $16.

Swan Oyster Depot at 1517 Polk Street is a marble counter with twelve stools that has not changed since 1912. The stools fill by 11:00 AM. The menu is on a chalkboard above the fish case. Dungeness crab cocktail is $22.95. The combination salad—crab, shrimp, and prawns with Louie dressing—is $34.50. They do not take reservations. They do not have a phone that gets answered consistently. You stand on the sidewalk and wait. The sourdough bread they serve with every order comes from a bakery across town and tastes better here than anywhere else because it is used to mop up crab juices and horseradish cocktail sauce.

Tadich Grill at 240 California Street is older than Swan, dating to 1849. It claims to be California's oldest restaurant. The cioppino is $38 and arrives in a bowl the size of a hubcap. Tomatoes, white wine, Dungeness crab, clams, mussels, shrimp, and calamari in a broth that stains the tablecloth. The sourdough on the side is free and unlimited. Tadich does not take reservations either. The wait at lunch runs 45 minutes on weekdays. The bar area fills first.

The Ferry Building Marketplace at the foot of Market Street is where the city's food logic becomes coherent. Hog Island Oyster Co. shucks Pacific oysters at $3.75 each during happy hour, 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Monday through Friday. The Saturday farmers market spreads onto the Embarcadero and includes everything from organic strawberries in April to fresh-caught salmon in October. Acme Bread Company has a permanent stall. Their pain de mie is $6.50 a loaf and disappears by noon.

Coffee in San Francisco is not an afterthought. Blue Bottle started here in 2002 at a kiosk in Hayes Valley. Ritual Coffee Roasters opened on Valencia Street in 2005 and helped define the West Coast third-wave style. Sightglass Coffee on 7th Street occupies a converted warehouse with a roaster visible from the seating area. A pour-over is $4.50 to $6.00 depending on the bean. Four Barrel Coffee on Valencia grinds in small batches. The line moves slowly because the baristas treat each cup like a chemistry experiment.

The Buena Vista Cafe at 2765 Hyde Street, near the cable car turnaround, has served Irish coffee since 1952. The story is that the owner reverse-engineered the drink from Shannon Airport after a trip to Ireland. The presentation is theatrical: two sugar cubes, hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and cream aged for 48 hours before floating on top. Each glass is $11.00. They serve hundreds per day. The counter seats fill by 10:00 AM on weekends.

For beer, Anchor Brewing on Mariposa Street invented steam beer in 1896. The style uses lager yeast at ale temperatures, producing a crisp, copper-colored beer that became the city's default pour. Their tap room serves pints for $7.00. Cellarmaker Brewing on Howard Street specializes in hazy IPAs and experimental small batches. Pints run $8.00 to $10.00 and rotate weekly. Mikkeller Bar on Mason Street imports Danish craft beer culture with 42 taps and a minimalist design. A flight of four is $16.

For wine, you do not need to drive to Napa. The urban winery movement has planted tasting rooms in SOMA and Dogpatch. Bluxome Street Winery at 53 Bluxome Street pours Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Russian River Valley fruit. Tastings run $25 to $35. These rooms close early, usually by 8:00 PM, so plan an afternoon.

State Bird Provisions on Fillmore Street serves dim sum-style small plates from a California pantry. The pancakes with sourdough, sauerkraut, and ricotta are $14. The fried quail is $18. The restaurant opens at 5:30 PM and the queue starts at 4:45 PM. They do not take reservations for parties under six. Zuni Cafe on Market Street is the classic California bistro. The roast chicken for two, served over bread salad with currants and pine nuts, is $78 and takes an hour. They start serving at 5:00 PM and stop at 10:00 PM. The chicken runs out.

Skip Fisherman's Wharf. The crab stands there sell reheated Dungeness at tourist prices. The sourdough bread bowls filled with clam chowder are $12 and exist mostly for photography. Walk ten minutes south to the Ferry Building instead. Skip Boudin Bakery at the Wharf too. The sourdough is authentic but the chowder bowls are a gimmick. Buy a loaf at their original bakery on 10th Avenue if you want the history without the performance.

A day of serious eating in San Francisco runs $75 to $120 per person including coffee, one big meal, and snacks. The Mission and Chinatown keep the bill lower. Fine dining pushes it higher. Public transit—the Muni Metro and bus system—gets you between neighborhoods for $3.00 per ride. Walking is better. The hills burn off the burritos.

The Dungeness crab season runs November through June. Come in January if you want the meat at its sweetest and the restaurants at their least crowded. The fog rolls in by 3:00 PM most summer days. It does not affect the food, but it will affect your photos. Eat indoors.