Here's a fairly good guide to late night dining in San Francisco created by 7x7 Magazine's Bits and Bites blog earlier this year.
The list only deserves a "fairly good" rating because 7x7 Magazine assembled a list that seems to exclude some of San Francisco's better-known late-night gay restaurants in the Castro. So, what's up with that, 7x7? Did you intend to prepare a "straight only" list or did that happen by accident?
The 7x7 list is good for visitors, people who don't know anything about San Francisco, and straight folks, but it's not adequate for gay visitors or locals. Try the Bay Area Reporter's Out and About column to see what's going on in the LGBT Community. Obviously 7x7 isn't going to give the queer community much coverage.
The 7x7 list is good for visitors, people who don't know anything about San Francisco, and straight folks, but it's not adequate for gay visitors or locals. Try the Bay Area Reporter's Out and About column to see what's going on in the LGBT Community. Obviously 7x7 isn't going to give the queer community much coverage.
The list lacks the nuance of local wisdom and experience
The 7x7 list is a "snapshot" kind of collection. It takes a look at restaurants in a frozen moment of time. It fails to include history, background, local popularity and the restaurant's relationship with the people of San Francisco. The list appears to have been prepared by someone who has not really lived in San Francisco very long and hasn't quite yet got the real feel for the City. So, the list only gets a "fairly good" rating from me.
San Francisco is my hometown. I'm not qualified in most culinary skills and I'm not a foodie fanatic, but I do know San Francisco pretty well.
A better list, a better choice
San Francisco Menupages is a much better source for most folks when it comes to finding the right San Francisco restaurant. You can view the actual restaurant's menu online. You'll know the menu and the prices before you go. There are also reviews for each restaurant so you can see what other people think. You can choose to review the restaurants sorted by type of cuisine, by menu or by neighborhood. They also have a nice iPhone app available. Give them a try.
Forget Yelp
Yelp, unfortunately, is just not as helpful. People who just arrived in San Francisco "yesterday" and who are struggling to find themselves in the City are the same people who rate restaurants on Yelp. Great. We have newbies who don't know the City posting advice for other newbies who know even less. I don't find Yelp very useful and I question their objectivity. The site seems to have some confusing paid-placement policies.
SF Weekly published a good column, SFoodie, which often has some very good inside tips for dining in San Francisco. I follow and have found many good tips.
SF Weekly published a good column, SFoodie, which often has some very good inside tips for dining in San Francisco. I follow and have found many good tips.
By the way, that spectacular photo of the San Francisco nightime skyline is courtesy of Declan McCullagh
The 7x7 Magazine list
Now that I have knocked the 7x7 list, I want to balance the scales a bit and tell you that I did find the 7x7 list to be useful for people who are not really interested in finding the "San Francisco" experience. With that in mind (and assuming you are not a member of the LGBT community), there are some really good choices in this list. A few are among my own favorites.
A few of the restaurants listed have clique-ish followers and some of them are annoyingly noisy, neither of which are San Francisco traits. It's a mixed bag, but the food will likely be good. Check the comments on Menupages for questions like ambiance, noise levels and what age and social groups tend to frequent the place.
Here they are . . .
A few of the restaurants listed have clique-ish followers and some of them are annoyingly noisy, neither of which are San Francisco traits. It's a mixed bag, but the food will likely be good. Check the comments on Menupages for questions like ambiance, noise levels and what age and social groups tend to frequent the place.
Here they are . . .
Betelnut (Marina)
Eats: lettuce cups, hand-pulled hoisin pork, Happy Buddha dumplings
Last call for food: 11 pm, Sun–Thurs; midnight, Fri and Sat
Beretta (Mission)
Eats: pizza, eggplant caponatina, meatballs
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
Bix (Jackson Square)
Eats: hand-cut steak tartare, deviled eggs, mini lamb burgers
Last call for food: 9:30 pm, Sun–Wed; 10:30 pm, Thurs–Sat; bar menu until midnight, Thurs–Sat
Brazen Head (Marina)
Eats: oysters on the half shell, crab cakes, pepper steak
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
Cav (Hayes Valley)
Eats: steamed clams with chorizo, marrow bones, roasted kurobuta pork
Last call for food: 11 pm, Mon–Thurs; midnight, Fri and Sat
Last call for food: 11 pm, Sun–Thurs; midnight, Fri and Sat
Beretta (Mission)
Eats: pizza, eggplant caponatina, meatballs
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
Bix (Jackson Square)
Eats: hand-cut steak tartare, deviled eggs, mini lamb burgers
Last call for food: 9:30 pm, Sun–Wed; 10:30 pm, Thurs–Sat; bar menu until midnight, Thurs–Sat
Brazen Head (Marina)
Eats: oysters on the half shell, crab cakes, pepper steak
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
Cav (Hayes Valley)
Eats: steamed clams with chorizo, marrow bones, roasted kurobuta pork
Last call for food: 11 pm, Mon–Thurs; midnight, Fri and Sat
Delarosa (Marina)
Eats: proscuitto and argula pizza, carpaccio of beets, gnocchi with rock shrimp
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
District (SOMA)
Eats: cambazola cheese fondue, pear and endive salad, lamb meatballs in charmoula
Last call for food: 10:30, dailfull menu until 10:30; late night menu until midnight (closed Sun)
El Farolito (Mission)
Eats: three-ton burritos
Last call for food: 3 am, Sun–Thurs; 4 am, Fri and Sat
El Zocalo (Bernal Heights)
Eats: pupusas, plantains and beans
Last call for food: 4 am, daily
Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack (Bernal Heights)
Eats: caesar salad, spaghetti and meatballs
Last call for food: 10:45 pm, Sun–Thurs; 11:45 pm, Fri and Sat
Gaspare (Outer Richmond)
Eats: old-school thin-crust pizzas; old-school antipasto misto
Last call for food: 11 pm, Sun–Thurs; midnight, Fri and Sat
Genki Ramen (Richmond)
Eats: kimchi ramen, shrimp tempura, seaweed salad
Last call for food: 11 pm, Sun–Thurs; 1 am, Fri and Sat
Globe (Jackson Square)
Eats: tuna tartare, salad lardon, rib-eye with potato gratin
Last call for food: 1 am, Mon–Sat; midnight, Sun
Gitane (Union Square)
Eats: bacon bonbons, Pacific wild swordfish, French lentils
Last call for food: 11 pm, Tues–Wed; midnight, Thurs–Sat
Golden Boy Pizza (North Beach)
Eats: pesto pizza, clam pizza
Last call for food: 11:30 pm, Sun–Thurs; 2:30 am, Fri and Sat
Grubstake (TenderNob)
Eats: linguisa with eggs, French dip sandwich
Last call for food: 4 am, daily
Heaven’s Dog (SOMA)
Eats: soup dumplings, kung pao tofu, chicken curry claypot
Last call for food: 1 am, Mon–Sat
Kasa Indian (Marina)
Eats: turkey kebabs, kati rolls, lamb curry
Last call for food: 11 pm, Sun–Wed; 2 am, Thurs–Sat
Katana-Ya (Tenderloin)
Eats: kimchee fried rice, chasu ramen, sushi
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
King of Thai Noodle (Union Square)*
* several locations
Eats: wonton noodle soup with greens, yellow chicken curry
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
Magnolia Pub + Brewery (Upper Haight)
Eats: house-made jerky, Spanish chorizo, cobb salad
Last call for food: midnight, Mon–Thurs; 1 am, Fri; midnight, Sat
The Monk’s Kettle (Mission)
Eats: house-made veggie burger, giant pretzel, fire-grilled chicken breast
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
Namu (Inner Richmond)
Eats: cold soba noodles, shiitake dumplings, crispy vegetable tempura
Last call for food: 10:30 pm, Sun–Tues; 1 am, Wed–Sat
Nombe (Mission)
Eats: ramen, chicken wings with honey and chili, blood orange salad
Last call for food: 11 am, Sun, Mon, Wed, Thurs; 2 am, Fri and Sat
Nopa (NOPA)
Eats: warm chicory salad, Moroccan vegetable tangine, hamburger
Last call for food: 1 am, daily
Oola (SOMA)
Eats: slow-cooked confit of duck, goat cheddar mac and cheese
Last call for food: midnight, Sun–Mon; 1 am, Tues–Sat
Panchitas #2 (Mission)
Eats: pupusas!
Last call for food: 2:30 am, daily
Ryoko’s (Nob Hill)
Eats: sushi, sushi, sushi
Last call for food: 2 am, daily
Starbelly (Castro) Eats: chicken liver terrine, porchetta Last call for food: 11 pm, Sun–Thurs; midnight, Fri and Sat
Tacolicious (Marina) Eats: carnitas tacos, albondigas soup, drunken beans Last call for food: 12 am, daily
Yuet Lee (North Beach) Eats: clams in black bean sauce, salt-and-pepper squid Last call for food: midnight, Thurs–Sun; 3 am, Fri and Sat; closed Tues
Zuni Café (Hayes Valley) Eats: roasted chicken and bread salad, ricotta gnocchi, shoestring potatoes Last call for food: 11 pm, Sun, Tues–Thur; midnight, Fri and Sat; closed Mon.
2 comments:
Gaspare's out in the Richmond district has some of the best pizza in San Francisco. It's also a popular place with high school and college kids, so it's often crowded and animated.Take the pizza to go. You won't be far from Ocean Beach, so how about taking the pizza out to the beach and enjoy it there.
I had a very nicely prepared halibut steak at Zuni, but it was insanely noisy and the tables were placed shoulder-bumping close. It had the ambiance of eating dinner in a BART station during rush hour. No more for me!
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