Food focus: San Francisco

San Francisco eat your heart out!

San Francisco is a wonderful melting pot of hoodie wearing tech-bros, Mexican and Latino immigrants, a huge LGBTQI+ community and your everyday progressive American. This assorted mix of people, found nowhere else in the USA, is the perfect recipe for some incredibly diverse and exciting food.

By Kate Burgess

This list is the food the locals love, that isn’t going to break the bank. While we’d usually do anything to avoid a crowd, we’re making some exceptions with these popular spots. Anywhere you may have to queue for is worth the wait! Most of these restaurants are based in the Mission District where eating, drinking and partying is the number one priority.

La Taqueria - The Mission District

When you’re in California, Mexican restaurants spots are a dime a dozen. Admittedly (in the fear of making this section redundant) you’re going to get very delicious Mexican food if you pick one at random. But, I want to make sure you get the BEST Mexican food.

La Taqueria on 24th and Mission, you’ll know you’re at the right spot because of the curling line that is always out the front, is a no frills family run restaurant with Miguel Jara as the head honcho. Boasting a vast open kitchen, you can watch the preparation of the succulent meats and tortillas that will have you drooling by the time you order. Please for me, order the super carne asada burrito - you will not regret it. I highly recommend you take your burrito, walk to Dolores Park and indulge while enjoying the best view in the city.

Oh, did I mention that this unassuming family restaurant has a Michelin Star? Yeah, it’s THAT good.

Brenda’s French Soul Food - Little Saigon

If you don’t have time to make it to the Southern US, don’t fear because you can still experience the authentic soul, Creole and French food of New Orleans right here in San Francisco. Brenda’s French Soul food on Polk Street is a local legend.

I highly recommend booking a table for brunch one morning and indulging in the Shrimp & Grits with spicy Tomato and Bacon Gravy, the Chicken and Andouille Gumbo and finishing off your meal with the famous Beignets: plain, apple and chocolate! Señor Sisig wows with it’s delectable drunken Filopino food.

Señor Sisig wows with it’s delectable drunken Filopino food.

Señor Sisig - The Mission District

From the humble beginnings of a food truck created by two best buds, Senor Sisig now has five brick and mortar stores and three food trucks that roam the whole bay area. Sisig is a rugged Filipino drunken food - a heavily seasoned mixture of meat from the pig’s snout. However, Señor Sisig adapted the traditional meal for Western audiences and used pork shoulder, and adapted the method to chicken and tofu.

In true Californian fashion you will get a Mexican twist with your meal. Keeping their menu simple you have your choice of meat, prepared in typical Sisig fashion, and can have it as a burrito, taco, nachos, fries, rice or a salad. After your meal, head round the corner to El Techo for the greatest rooftop bar in The Bay.

Tartine Bakery - The Mission District

Can you tell by this point that The Mission is the place to go for food?! Tartine Bakery - yes another spot that you may have to queue up for but the wait is so worth it. Using a wood-fire brick oven Tartine is baking elegant and oldsoul bread with methods learnt abroad. Tartine now has locations across California but the spot on Guerro is the original.

You MUST try the country loaf. Yes, you can eat just bread as a meal. Go next door to Bi-Rite, an organic grocer, for some butter to slather on this heavenly life-changing bread. Of course it must be followed by a pastry. I recommend the frangipani croissant with almond cream and brandy. Enjoy having your life changed after visiting Tartine!

Burma Love, famous for its Tea Leaf Salad

Burma Love - The Mission District

The best Burmese (Myanmar) food in the US hands down. Burma Love (little sister of Burma Superstar in Downtown SF) is known for its legendary wait times and there’s a reason for that. Whether you’re heading out there for a big family dinner or it’s a first date, Burma Love is the place for you.

Their legendary Tea Leaf Salad has returned after COVID-19 related supply chain issues, was voted by Sunset Magazine and the Best of the West-Salad and winner of the “Good Food Award” in 2017. A fermented lead leaf with a crispy mixture of nuts, beans and garlic with lettuce will awaken your palette like you’ve never experienced before.