Guidebook for San Francisco

Chanda
Guidebook for San Francisco

Food Scene

It's a favorite for a lot of people for the same reason: it's just really good food. I always get the Plow Plate, which is two lemon ricotta pancakes with their house potatoes and your choice of meat (go with chicken apple sausage). They have some outdoor tables and bar seating, but overall it’s a pretty small place. On weekends, they open at 8:00am, but I always get there at 7:30, and I'm already the third person in line. So I'd say get there at 7:30 or earlier if you can—nobody wants to wait in line, but you'll be waiting for 30 minutes versus an hour and a half.
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Plow
1299 18th St
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It's a favorite for a lot of people for the same reason: it's just really good food. I always get the Plow Plate, which is two lemon ricotta pancakes with their house potatoes and your choice of meat (go with chicken apple sausage). They have some outdoor tables and bar seating, but overall it’s a pretty small place. On weekends, they open at 8:00am, but I always get there at 7:30, and I'm already the third person in line. So I'd say get there at 7:30 or earlier if you can—nobody wants to wait in line, but you'll be waiting for 30 minutes versus an hour and a half.
Everyone needs a good dim sum spot, and a lot of people might think you have to go to Chinatown to find one, but I would actually advise against that. This spot is really easy to find and it's no frills, just relatively cheap, solid food. They give you a checklist, you write down everything you want, and then you get it super fast. I definitely suggest the soup dumplings, the pork buns, the potstickers, and the pork and shrimp siomai.
Dim Sum Club
2550 Van Ness Ave
Everyone needs a good dim sum spot, and a lot of people might think you have to go to Chinatown to find one, but I would actually advise against that. This spot is really easy to find and it's no frills, just relatively cheap, solid food. They give you a checklist, you write down everything you want, and then you get it super fast. I definitely suggest the soup dumplings, the pork buns, the potstickers, and the pork and shrimp siomai.
It's a great spot to go before you go shopping or to Yerba Buena Center; they have a really solid menu the entire day. The menu changes seasonally, and they’re always reinventing popular favorites. You might not think to come here for brunch, because it's set up as a bar, but there’s a good amount of seating in the back. Go with the short rib hash, chicken and waffles, or pancakes—they're really, really big and fluffy, which is delicious.
The Keystone Social House
68 4th Street
It's a great spot to go before you go shopping or to Yerba Buena Center; they have a really solid menu the entire day. The menu changes seasonally, and they’re always reinventing popular favorites. You might not think to come here for brunch, because it's set up as a bar, but there’s a good amount of seating in the back. Go with the short rib hash, chicken and waffles, or pancakes—they're really, really big and fluffy, which is delicious.
The owner is very eccentric, and he shuts down whenever he wants, so I would say the best time to go is 10:00am on Saturday or Sunday because that's normally when he’s opening. He treats his restaurant as his home, and he gives you these dolls when you're in line to acknowledge that you're waiting. He's really funny, and it’s super San Francisco. It’s only open on the weekends; it’s closed Monday through Friday.
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Red Door Cafe
1608 Bush St
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The owner is very eccentric, and he shuts down whenever he wants, so I would say the best time to go is 10:00am on Saturday or Sunday because that's normally when he’s opening. He treats his restaurant as his home, and he gives you these dolls when you're in line to acknowledge that you're waiting. He's really funny, and it’s super San Francisco. It’s only open on the weekends; it’s closed Monday through Friday.
It's a pretty small place with delicious Acai bowls and seating for about 15 people. There’s always a line. I always get their basic bowl, which is acai blended with berries, honey, granola, and bananas. They're sizeable bowls. There are two different options for bowl sizes, and the biggest size is a quart. So if you're really hungry, you could go for that one, but the smaller one always fills me up.
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Basik Cafe
1958 Polk St
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It's a pretty small place with delicious Acai bowls and seating for about 15 people. There’s always a line. I always get their basic bowl, which is acai blended with berries, honey, granola, and bananas. They're sizeable bowls. There are two different options for bowl sizes, and the biggest size is a quart. So if you're really hungry, you could go for that one, but the smaller one always fills me up.
For the brunch scene, this place is generous and cheap. It gets busy, but they turn tables pretty fast. I always just get their basic breakfast plate, which is two eggs, any style, meat, and hash browns with either fruit or toast. They squeeze their juices fresh, so I always get one of those. Grab a coffee from Contraband, right next door, to drink while you wait in line. (The line goes fast -- 20 minutes tops!)
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Mymy
1500 California St
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For the brunch scene, this place is generous and cheap. It gets busy, but they turn tables pretty fast. I always just get their basic breakfast plate, which is two eggs, any style, meat, and hash browns with either fruit or toast. They squeeze their juices fresh, so I always get one of those. Grab a coffee from Contraband, right next door, to drink while you wait in line. (The line goes fast -- 20 minutes tops!)
It's really delicious and a lot of people say that it's comparable to solid New York bagels, and I’d say they’re right. They have some bar seating and one central table, but I would say only about ten people can probably fit in here at a time, so it can get a little crowded. I always get their smoked salmon sandwich on a plain bagel with plain schmear, and my boyfriend always gets their pastrami open-faced sandwich—we get the same thing every single time we go and we're always extremely satisfied.
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Wise Sons Bagel & Bakery
1520 Fillmore St
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It's really delicious and a lot of people say that it's comparable to solid New York bagels, and I’d say they’re right. They have some bar seating and one central table, but I would say only about ten people can probably fit in here at a time, so it can get a little crowded. I always get their smoked salmon sandwich on a plain bagel with plain schmear, and my boyfriend always gets their pastrami open-faced sandwich—we get the same thing every single time we go and we're always extremely satisfied.