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Bon Appétit magazine - San Francisco Is the Best Food City in the Country Right Now

August 11, 2015 / Written by Andrew Knowlton

In anticipation of our annual Hot 10 list of America’s Best New Restaurants (August 18!), we announced the 50 nominees last week. Now, we’re making another big announcement: the best food city in the country.

It started with spiced lamb tartare and ended with roasted chicken served family-style with house-made brown butter couscous. In between there were pickled french fries, mussels escabèche served in a tin, Manila clams in coconut curry with garlic naan, black cod wrapped in chard, grilled beef tongue, and an omelet made with freshly shaved katsuobushi dashi.

Over four days and 15 meals, San Francisco proved itself on culinary fire in 2015.

I visited the city both before and after April 16–19, but that four-day trip while on assignment for the Hot 10 (launching August 18!) was like a (delicious) punch in a mouth. It’s easy to be jaded when you eat out more than half the year, when you feel like you’ve seen it all before—and not just on Instagram! It sounds horrible, but when you eat for a living, cities—and menus—start to blend together. Are new-fangled deviled eggs (at $4 a pop) and toast with avocado sprinkled with Aleppo pepper requirements to open a restaurant these days? Do we need another version of a fried chicken sandwich?

And then it happens: You go somewhere and have a dish or a meal—or in this case, several meals—that reenergizes you, jolting you out of the same old same old. That was San Francisco this year. I’ve been doing this professionally for several years now, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a concentration of exciting and invigorating restaurants in a single year, in a single season. Not even in New York.

I know what you’re thinking: East Coast kid heads West after months of winter (no farmers’ markets, lots of potatoes) and goes nuts over a few fava beans and some microgreens. Oh no. My excitement went well beyond a few pristine ingredients. Yes, eating in the Bay Area can sometimes feel like a farm tour, and you know exactly when green garlic is in season because every single restaurant has it on the menu. This time around was different. The ingredients were all there, but more importantly, there was also a point of view, a voice behind all the peaches and plums and charred spring onion purée.

And that figures. It was a breakout year for a number of chefs I’ve long admired. Aaron London (ex-Ubuntu) opened his first solo project, the veg-focused AL’s Place; Ravi Kapur also struck out on his own at Liholiho Yacht Club, a globe-trotting spot with a heavy nod to his native Hawaii; sophomore efforts from Melissa Perello at Octavia and Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski at The Progress impressed; and there was a return to fine dining at Mourad from Mourad Lahlou. The list goes on and on: Aatxe, Aster, Cockscomb, Californios. Hawker Fare, Lazy Bear, Lord Stanley, Monsieur Benjamin, Rintaro…

Aatxe (pronounced ahh-CHAY), a Basque-style tapas bar that serves pintxos (one-bite snacks)

The open kitchen at Lazy Bear:

Beef tongue–filled poppy-seed steam buns at Liholiho Yacht Club:

Baked Hawaiian at Liholiho Yacht Club:

Rintaro, a Japanese Izakaya:

Grilled Chicken Oyster (front), and Chicken Thigh skewers from Rintaro:

Aromatic spiced squab with salted chilli paste at The Progress:

Al’s Place in SF’s Mission named nation’s top new restaurant by Bon Appétit

On any given evening, Aaron London can be seen whirling around the cramped kitchen of Al’s Place, his quirky restaurant on the oft-overlooked corner of 26th and Valencia.

To this point, the 6-month-old restaurant has been on some, but not all, diners’ radars, but that is likely to change in a big way this week. On Tuesday, Bon Appetit declared the humble Al’s Place the country’s best new restaurant. The magazine also touts San Francisco as the best food city in the country right now.

The last time a Bay Area restaurant made such headlines was 2011, when State Bird Provisions won that same honor. Almost overnight, the Fillmore Street restaurant exploded into a viral sensation. Lines snaked down the block; computer hackers even created programs just to procure reservations.

Whether that drastic transformation happens at Al’s Place — which takes its name from the chef’s initials — remains to be seen, but the national attention should be a boost for the little independent restaurant.

Modest budget

Al’s Place is an anomaly in the city’s current food landscape, built on a shoestring budget amidst multiplying big-budget competitors taking advantage of the restaurant boom.

“Suddenly in the last year, things have really, really blown up here,” said London. “We’ve always had an unfair advantage with the amazing products, but we just always weren’t taking advantage. Nothing has changed; we’re just cooking harder and better now.”

However, the surge has proved to be a blessing and a curse for the restaurant industry.

“It’s made cooking in San Francisco super-competitive,” continued London. “There’s an oversaturation of restaurants. It’s forcing everyone to be at their absolute A game. There’s plenty of money to open restaurants in San Francisco right now, but there are not unlimited staff and guests.”

Distinctive menu

The charismatic, wild-eyed London, whose long hair is usually pulled back into a bun, serves up eclectic dishes like pickled french fries with smoked applesauce, or a savory cod curry made with stone fruit, blueberries, green beans and charred lime. The menu at Al’s Place centers on seasonal vegetables and seafood. Meat is billed as a side dish here, and starters are dubbed “snackles.” Influences span the globe, from the sweet-and-sour sauce that accompanies the roasted fish head to the burrata served with fig oil, squash and almonds.

“It’s a fun place to dine. That’s a big thing for me,” said Andrew Knowlton, the deputy editor at Bon Appetit who spearheaded the list. “There’s something about every dish that you realize that there’s something going on here. Someone is smart and excited about what he’s doing. I feel like (London) is on 26th and Valencia doing his own, weird thing.

“It’s literally his place. He built it himself. He runs it himself.”

A Sonoma native who now lives in San Francisco, the 31-year-old London made his name at Ubuntu, the pioneering vegetarian restaurant in Napa made famous by Jeremy Fox. When Ubuntu closed in 2011, London — who took over the kitchen when Fox left in 2010 — went on a self-imposed sabbatical from restaurant cooking.

Al’s Place is just one of many great new restaurants in the city this year, though, making for a breakout year that has not gone unnoticed from a national perspective.

A second Mission restaurant made Bon Appetit’s top 10 list as well: Japanese Izakaya Rintaro.

“San Francisco knows it has good food, and I’m not telling them anything they don’t know, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been so excited about a city and its restaurants all at once,” said Knowlton, rattling off the local chefs who have opened restaurants in the last 12 months: Ravi Kapur, Melissa Perello, Mourad Lahlou, Chris Cosentino, Ryan Pollnow, Thomas McNaughton, Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski.

As he points out, these aren’t up-and-coming chefs; these are established talents who already have run top-tier kitchens for years.

London says the surge is just part of a natural ebb and flow, but it hasn’t been an easy first six months for his restaurant.

As with many other local restaurants, staffing has been an issue; he persuaded a number of friends to help open the restaurant, but still felt the sting of the cook shortage sweeping the Bay Area. For a month and a half, he ran the restaurant without any full-time cooks.

Amid a surge of new restaurants in San Francisco — many of them higher-profile and better-funded — Al’s Place has occasionally been lost in the mix.

That shouldn’t be the case anymore.

These days, the hyperactive London has two cohorts cooking alongside him in the open kitchen of the Best New Restaurant in America, in the Best Food City in America.

He is still putting in marathon days in the tiny kitchen, and breathlessly pursuing his version — and vision — of California cuisine.

“It’s like the most driven athlete or musician in the world: Here’s one person who believes incredibly in what he’s doing,” said Knowlton. “I don’t think Al’s Place could exist anywhere else other than San Francisco.”

Chef/owner Aaron London plates a dish of Stone Fruit Curry, Black Lime-cod, Green Bean and Blueberry:

Grilled salmon head under the brick with sweet and sour sauce:

Tonnarelli with green garlic, bergamot, and bottarga:

Hangar steak:

Sunchoke curry:

Lightly cured Trout with crispy potatoes and sedate mousse:

Warm Brownie with "Payday" filling and ice cream:

Meyer Lemon tart with Strawberry and Lavender ice cream:

 

[MidnightCowboy]

Yeah but LA has better Mexican food

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I look forward to next year's arbitrary choice.

 

[Stinkles]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

 

[v1lla21]

Yeah but LA has better Mexican food

No

 

[entremet]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

You sure love bringing it up every food thread ;p

 

[BlueTsunami]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

But where else can you get a single slice the size of a conventional large pizza YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID

 

[Stinkles]

You sure love bringing it up every food thread ;p

You mean of course preemption of the inevitable.


Also San Francisco does have the best burritos. Or did about ten years ago.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

talk about projecting. humans are so weird when it comes to food. it's just fuel, means to an end.

 

[LyleLanley]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

This post seems ironic.

 

[Angry Grimace]

What's the deal with Bay Area folks having this crippling inferiority complex toward NYC, anyways? Don't live in either place, I've just noticed it consistently in people I know from SF.

 

[entremet]

SF is a great food town.

The U.S. Is pretty fortunate to have so many. It has a lot to with the greater cooking talent.

 

[Valnen]

You sure love bringing it up every food thread ;p

Better than the people that bring up diarrhea every food thread.

 

[richardhawk]

San Francisco has 1 Restaurant in the top 5 of the US. Los Angeles has 2 (and both are better than AL's).

 

[Fugu]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

I don't live in New York and I find the notion that any other city in the US can really compete with NYC, as a whole, in terms of restaurants very outlandish. It would be like Manhattan losing a tall building contest because SF has some nice tall buildings too.

The fact is, of course, that there's a venerable chorus of voices labeling NYC as the culinary capital of the United States and it's not a big mystery why.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

Ain't no 30 dollar Italian meal...


Man, I want to try every damn meal pictured.

 

[richiek]

That grilled salmon head is the stuff of nightmares.

 

[tearsintherain]

Pretty good looking food, although honestly nothing made me jump up and say I MUST EAT THAT RIGHT NOW. I love reading, watching, eating, and talking about food but honestly unless the food is just awful awful awful I love it all and would have a hard time saying A is better than B.

Plus so much of it seems more tied to emotion and stuff, like who you are eating with or if you were having a good/bad day and the food made it better.

 

[Stinkles]

I don't live in New York and I find the notion that any other city in the US can really compete with NYC, as a whole, in terms of restaurants very outlandish. It would be like Manhattan losing a tall building contest because SF has some nice tall buildings too.

The fact is, of course, that there's a venerable chorus of voices labeling NYC as the culinary capital of the United States and it's not a big mystery why.

You didn't see me bitch about French, basque, Italian or Japanese did you? New Yorkers' obsession with their long damp slices of inauthentic and mildly vomit flavored lowest common denominator pizza, and their attribution to "magic" water is second only to Chik Fil A worship in terms of objectively disappointing hyperbole.

Don't get me wrong, both things are tasty, just wildly overhyped.

This post seems ironic.

But I'm not from San Francisco and your team are cheats and liars.

 

[Poodlestrike]

That grilled salmon head is the stuff of nightmares.

This.

Has food as art gone too far?

You didn't see me bitch about French, basque, Italian or Japanese did you? New Yorkers' obsession with their long damp slices of inauthentic and mildly vomit flavored lowest common denominator pizza, and their attribution to "magic" water is second only to Chik Fil A worship in terms of objectively disappointing hyperbole.

Don't get me wrong, both things are tasty, just wildly overhyped.

The water is special, though. Try making a Bialy in Seattle, you can't do it; lord knows I tried.

 

[No Love]

I'd agree. Some of the best food I've ever had was when I lived in SF. I always think of it as a place where you HAVE to try the food.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

NYCers stay trying to hype themselves in these threads

accepted your Washed status

 

[badb0y]

You didn't see me bitch about French, basque, Italian or Japanese did you? New Yorkers' obsession with their long damp slices of inauthentic and mildly vomit flavored lowest common denominator pizza, and their attribution to "magic" water is second only to Chik Fil A worship in terms of objectively disappointing hyperbole.

Don't get me wrong, both things are tasty, just wildly overhyped.





But I'm not from San Francisco and your team are cheats and liars.

What city are you from? Please be Chicago.

 

[BennyBlanco]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

The irony is palpable

 

[LyleLanley]

But I'm not from San Francisco and your team are cheats and liars.

You're the one that brought up NY though.

 

[Stinkles]

You're the one that brought up NY though.

I'm prescient. And you're basically arguing.

What city are you from? Please be Chicago.

Seattle. Our pizza, Chinese and burritos are bad. Seafood, Greek and beer. That's about it.

 

[wenis]

Great, now I'll never get a table at Al's again. goddammit.

 

[LyleLanley]

I'm prescient. And you're basically arguing.

Fair enough.

 

[Yaboosh]

Welp, Als will be a miserable place to go now.

 

[kingocfs]

I'm surprised there hasn't been a Fuck, That's Delicious episode or two filmed in SF yet.

 

[richiek]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

Congratulations San Francisco, you ruined pizza!

 

[BumRush]

In before New York autofellates itself and shows its main export is insecurity and hyperbole.


PS your Pizza is overrated.

This is one of the saltiest posts I've ever read on the OT side...lol

 

[DarkFlow]

You mean of course preemption of the inevitable.


Also San Francisco does have the best burritos. Or did about ten years ago.

San Diego says hello.

 

[LifeLike]

I wanted to eat a good pizza and went to Tony's pizza while visiting SF...
I tried the Margherita and it was really good. He even offered us 2 pints...
Loved the food and the generous people I encountered during my trip in SF.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

San Diego says hello.

Keep your damn french fries out of my burritos!

 

[Stinkles]

San Diego says hello.

I love San Diego burritos and you have fish tacos and carne asada fries on lock, but uncontroversially I prefer mission style burritos.

 

[hateradio]

Most of that seems good, but I don't know about some of those ingredients.

 

[pigeon]

I didn't realize that this was up for debate. I know the Bay Area is the center of good food because every time I travel anywhere it's a huge bummer to go out for dinner. And I don't just mean because they don't have tacos.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

The only thing that looked good to me were the desserts.

:/

 

[Verger]

Overpriced and Overrated IMO.

At least the majority of the restaurants around here certainly are.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

The downside is to eat the food you'd have to go to San Fran.

 

[MetatronM]

You didn't see me bitch about French, basque, Italian or Japanese did you? New Yorkers' obsession with their long damp slices of inauthentic and mildly vomit flavored lowest common denominator pizza, and their attribution to "magic" water is second only to Chik Fil A worship in terms of objectively disappointing hyperbole.

Don't get me wrong, both things are tasty, just wildly overhyped.

Maybe don't eat the pizza in Penn Station next time you're here, then?

Also, San Francisco has seemingly always had great food and a vibrant, ultra-competitive restaurant market. This is hardly news.

 

[0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55]

RVA

 

[Toki767]

Now tell me who has the best food at affordable prices.

 

[gatling]

What would be considered a native food to SF? I mean, when I think of New England I think of clams, New Orleans oysters, Chicago and NY pizza. The south, BBQ.

I dined at some great places in SF, but I'm not exactly sure of a specific identity it has. Maybe that is its charm and cultural mash-up but it lacked a certain comfort.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Now tell me who has the best food at affordable prices.

As Bourdain put it, "If Los Angeles is the king of low-end eateries and New York dominates with its sheer number of high-end, then San Francisco is undisputed champion of the middle."

 

[entremet]

As Bourdain put it, "If Los Angeles is the king of low-end eateries and New York dominates with its sheer number of high-end, then San Francisco is undisputed champion of the middle."

That's a great summary actually.

Chicago is no slouch either.

What would be considered a native food to SF? I mean, when I think of New England I think of clams, New Orleans oysters, Chicago and NY pizza. The south, BBQ.

I dined at some great places in SF, but I'm not exactly sure of a specific identity it has. Maybe that is its charm and cultural mash-up but it lacked a certain comfort.

Sourdough bread, Mission Burritos, Chinese food.

 

[Meier]

My wife and I didn't go anywhere fancy when we vacationed in San Francisco, but I was absolutely blown away by Brenda's French Soul Food. It was absolutely fantastic.

 

[Toki767]

What would be considered a native food to SF? I mean, when I think of New England I think of clams, New Orleans oysters, Chicago and NY pizza. The south, BBQ.

I dined at some great places in SF, but I'm not exactly sure of a specific identity it has. Maybe that is its charm and cultural mash-up but it lacked a certain comfort.

SF is basically the place for "fusion" meals.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Ah, please stay away from LA and the secret that it has the most affordable 'great' food. Your dollars go a long way here compared to SF and NYC gastronomically speaking.

Also San Francisco does have the best burritos. Or did about ten years ago.

Nah, you do not know what you are talking about. They never had it. San Diego does and will continue to have the superior burrito.