A Food Lover’s Guide to San Francisco’s Most Delicious Neighborhoods

What to Eat & Where?

San Francisco’s culinary neighborhoods end with a good food story.

One minute you’re sitting at a Michelin-starred establishment in the Mission District, the next you’re zipping past shoulders in Chinatown’s narrow 160-year-old dim sum alleys. Even the busiest people in the Financial District stop at a French bistro.

And it’s all shaped by generations of families who brought their recipes from around the world. Here’s everything you need to know.

The Mission District

Mexican and Central American immigrants in the 1950s created the Mission’s vibrant food scene. La Taqueria’s crispy-wrapped carne asada burrito was named America’s Best Burrito by FiveThirtyEight in 2014.

Not far away, Taqueria Cancún serves al pastor tacos until 2 AM, with meat that marinates for 24 hours before being sliced from a spinning vertical spit.

Tartine Bakery, opened by Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt in 2002, changed local bread-making with their 24-hour fermented country loaf.

Chinatown

North America’s oldest Chinatown, started in 1848, keeps cooking methods alive that have disappeared even in China.

Hang Ah Tea Room, the oldest dim sum spot from 1920, still uses original bamboo steamers from the 1920s. House of Nanking became world-famous for their sesame chicken, a recipe owner Peter Fang keeps so secret he won’t even tell his daughter.

The Great Eastern Restaurant has been serving Cantonese since 1930 (it’s the oldest establishment) in Chinatown. Try congee (rice porridge) from small Chinese pastry shops.

Good Mong Kok Bakery makes 3,000 shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings every day (Yong Hong’s special recipe from 1969).

North Beach

Italian immigrants, mostly from Liguria, started San Francisco’s first Italian restaurants here in the 1880s.

Tony Gemignani keeps his pizza oven at exactly 900 degrees Fahrenheit to make perfect Neapolitan pizzas. His joint, Tony’s Pizza Napoletana has won 13 World Pizza Championships.

Original Joe’s reopened after a fire in 2012 but still makes their 1937 veal parmigiana recipe, pounding and breading the meat fresh each morning.

Molinari Delicatessen is especially famous for house-cured meats, such as salami and soppressata. Their Italian Combo sandwich, featuring six different house-cured meats, hasn’t changed since 1933.

Hayes Valley

This neighborhood’s food scene took off after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake led to removing the Central Freeway.

Step into Bistro Central Parc, a cozy French gem that whisks you away to Paris. Enjoy classic dishes like escargots, beef bourguignon, and duck confit, all crafted with love and tradition.

Rich Table, opened by Evan and Sarah Rich in 2012, earned a Michelin star for creative dishes like porcini doughnuts dusted with mushroom powder and served with melted raclette cheese.

Suppenkuche has been a staple of the Hayes Valley neighborhood since its opening in 1996, offering authentic German food and beer.

Japantown

This six-block neighborhood started in 1906 when the earthquake moved the Japanese community here.

Marufuku Ramen’s famous pork bone broth takes 20 hours to make and uses exactly 24 ingredients, including special cuts of Berkshire pork bones and aged garlic.

Headed down to the New People building’s Cinema Café to sample its recent addition, Onigilly. You’ll be treated to one of three styles of onigiri (rice balls).

Kissako Tea comes straight from a 300-year-old farm in Uji, Japan. Their curry bread recipe comes from the owner’s grandmother, who opened one of SF’s first Japanese bakeries in 1947.

The Richmond

Richmond, just a 20-minute drive from Oakland, has tacos to waterfront seafood from a Chez Panisse alum.

Speaking of tacos: five Richmond eateries were recently named on an EaterSF list called, ’22 Destination-Worthy Tacos in the East Bay.’

Burma Superstar introduced tea leaf salad to San Francisco in 1992, getting fresh tea leaves weekly from a special producer in Myanmar’s Shan State.

Hong Kong Lounge has seven dim sum chefs prepping early morning to make fresh dumplings.

Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery Store, opened by Georgian immigrants in 1980, still makes their beef-and-cheese piroshki using a 1920s recipe from St. Petersburg.

The Marina

Built on rubble from the 1906 earthquake, the Marina first served fresh seafood to workers building the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

Perry’s, a neighborhood landmark serves classic breakfast in a backyard atrium seating. Try their grilled artichokes with lemon aioli and French onion soup (complete with crispy cheese on top!).

Delarosa is beloved for its Italian and Californian wines. A16, named after the highway from Naples to Canosa, gets Italian buffalo mozzarella flown in twice weekly from Campania.

Lucca Delicatessen, opened by the Stanghellini family in 1929, still uses their original hand-operated meat slicer for their famous mortadella.

The Tenderloin

Vietnamese refugees transformed this area’s food scene in the 1970s, bringing recipes from their homeland.

Wander through Jackson Square and down Gold Street, and step into Bix, a two-story restaurant that immerses diners into a sleek, speakeasy, jazz club-type space, serving steak tartare or the infamous ‘Potato Pillows.’

Turtle Tower specializes in northern-style pho, making clear broth that simmers for 14 hours with flat noodles imported from a special maker in Hanoi.

At Yemen Kitchen on Jones Street, for just $10, you can savor salteh, topped with a fiery, salsa-like spice blend that packs heat. Mr. Holmes Bakehouse became world-famous in 2014 for creating the ‘cruffin,’ a croissant-muffin mix that still draws lines before dawn.

Noe Valley

Named after Don José de Jesús Noé (the last Mexican mayor of Yerba Buena) you’ll find James Beard-nominated Malaysian restaurants, dynamic upstart Mexican spots, and fine-dining Chinese spin-offs gracing the streets.

Noe Valley Bakery, opened by Mary and Michael Gassen in 1995, makes 24 kinds of bread daily with a 25-year-old sourdough starter recipe.

At La Ciccia, owners Massimiliano Conti and Lorella Degan serve rare spaghetti with cured fish roe and spicy oil, using ingredients from small producers in Sardinia.

Novy, a Greek restaurant since the 70s, now run by the granddaughters, gives you cucumber-tomato salad, chicken wraps, lamb burgers, and eggplant moussaka to go.

The Busy Financial District

Kokkari Estiatorio, known for rustic Greek food is right on the border of where the business lunches of the FiDi cross over into the date-night dinners of historic Jackson Square. Order the lemon-oregano lamb riblets.

Home to Tadich Grill, California’s oldest restaurant (from 1849), the same family still serves their seafood stew since 1925. The House of Shields (opened in 1908) keeps its original hand-carved mahogany bar and didn’t allow women until 1976.

While Kusakabe presents an elegant multi-course meal of sushi (omakase-style), The Vault Steakhouse’s underground diner tempts you with tomahawk steaks and caviar tots.

The Haight

The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, known for its counterculture history, delved into food during the Summer of Love in 1967 when communal restaurants first appeared.

Pork Store Cafe (opened by a Czech couple) is still here to fill you with chicken fried steak and its signature dish: pork chops for breakfast.

The restaurant is the oldest free-standing restaurant on Haight Street since 1916. The Alembic (from 2006), led the craft cocktail movement, serving an in-house specialty: bone marrow three ways with house-pickled vegetables.