There were so many fun and fascinating new restaurants in San Francisco in 2023. I didn’t get to much of the higher end stuff (Aphotic, Dalida etc.) but was lucky to hit up plenty of off the radar joints, including these seven that kept my faith high.
My favorite new restaurant is AaHa, a zero frills, BYOB Indian dive on 17th St. off Mission. This was the kind of find that kept me so enthused about our food scene despite the SF Chronicle’s incessant doom loop narrative. Any of the dosas, naans and biryanis are exemplary as are the other usual suspect dishes. But for something more unique, definitely try the tandoor fish Pomfret, the Kathiriaki Pulambu (smoked eggplant) and the Chicken 65. Service is a friendly mess and having a “reservation” doesn’t mean much. The menu on their website is barely half of what they offer.
Donaji, on 24th near South Van Ness, is a sit-down Oaxacan spot with easily the best mole I’ve had in San Francisco. We get the chicken enchiladas, doused in the mole, every time as well as an assortment of their tamales and tacos to share. Finish with the fresh fried churro donut.
Staying in the Mission district, check out Tacos El Charro, a street operation with variable hours on Mission and 19th (sometimes closer to 18th) serving my favorite al pastor tacos in town. The meat is dramatically carved from a giant trompo, reminiscent of Mexico City, and then capped with a slice of gently charred pineapple. $4 a pop is a steal for these gems! Shout out to Chris Rupright for leading me here after the Zeitgeist reunion after the Friends School reunion. Keep in mind that there are a few similar but inferior street taco spots in the vicinity so make sure you’re at the right place.
Us local old timers who grew up eating Chinese food more in the Richmond District and less in Chinatown mourned the 2019 loss of Hong Kong Lounge II on Geary. There was a massive fire and the structure still sits in ruins. Strangely, they reopened last year, as HK Lounge Bistro, in a generic, kind of out of the way space in a new SOMA apartment complex. The dining room is tiny and is painted the same salmon pink as the original. And the prices have gone up quite a bit but it’s so worth it. Dim sum is made to order all day and I’m addicted to their dessert-like baked pork buns as well as their rice noodle squares, each cradling a gigantic, perfectly cooked shrimp. $28 seems crazy for beef chow fun but the quality of the beef and the perfect sear on the noodles had me in plotting mode…when could I sneak back on my own for more?
Though we don’t have the quantity of bagel and pizza joints that New York does, I think that we’ve now caught up in quality. Way out on Balboa Street is The Laundromat, where they nail the balance of just enough of a crust with a soft interior. As important for me, they offer hardly seen (at least out here) salt bagels, rye bagels and egg bagels. Even my Delray Beach, FL parents only slightly balked at the $3/bagel pricetag. Don’t skip Laundromat’s Calabrian chili cream cheese and definitely try to go for dinner, where they compete strongly in the Detroit pizza game.
If you’re looking for casual pizza slices in a counter setting, head to Outta Sight in the Tenderloin. They typically have 6–8 styles ready for a quick reheat. I veer toward the plain and the vodka sauce slices but they’re all great. Also, utilizing Rize Up’s exemplary sesame seeded semolina rolls, Outta Sight’s Italian combo hoagie is now in my regular rotation. This summer, we schlepped out to Red Hook in Brooklyn to try the legendary Defonte’s Italian combo and, I gotta say that I like Outta Sight’s better.
Finally, I’ll throw in my wild card for the year which is Social Cafe. Was the city begging for a new Cuban sandwich and coffee place? No, not really. But I’ve fallen for Social’s cubanos, and, perhaps even more, their guava pastelitos, which somehow costs only $2.
