This Lower Haight pizza restaurant is already booked solid thanks to their stellar sourdough pies. After building a cult-like following obsessed with their perfectly tangy tomato sauce, the former pop-up has landed a brick-and-mortar, complete with glowing Pizza Hut lamps and Snoopy-eating-pizza wall art. Focus on the pizzas, naturally, with crusts glistening with delicate, audibly crunchy bubbles. We love the pepperoni with hot honey, along with the mushroom pie.

After months of serving only coffee and matcha drinks—which are worth a visit on their own—the long-teased dinner service has arrived at Shoji. The Japanese cafe-restaurant hybrid in SoMa has a tight menu of fantastic small plates like knockout uni amaebi donburi (one of our favorite recent dishes), and a fried chicken and egg salad sandwich that we wish was available all day. Thanks to its proximity to downtown offices and BART, Shoji is a convenient all-day option.

Yes, Side A draws crowds for their fancy speakers, rotating DJ sets, and shelves with enough vinyl to wallpaper a studio apartment. But it’s the stellar bistro dishes at this Mission spot, like the ridiculously decadent bone marrow burger, or the juicy chicken cutlet with honey mustard and hazelnuts, that keep us coming back. Set up your next solo meal or date night here and fall prey to the charm of the cozy space with friendly staff, and—our preferred nightcap—the carrot cake.

Sungho has become one of our favorite fancier Korean spots in town, and where to go for a blissful couple of hours with bossam, glossy 24-hour pork bone soup, and crispy kimchi pancakes the size of a home plate. The Tenderloin spot focuses on comfort staples and should be your next pick when you want to spend serious quality time with fork-tender pork and a spread of banchan.

Bar Brucato is from the people behind Brucato Amaro, the local liqueur brand that’s gained a cult following for their Californian ingredients, like elderberries and yerba santa. But even if you have no idea what a digestif is, the airy second-floor spot is the ideal place to bring a date you want to impress with cocktails and approachable amaro flights. And don’t skip the seasonal dishes, like decadent gnocchetti in a white wine sauce or the puffy charred bread with cacio e pepe butter.

Smoke Soul Kitchen is a Bayview brunch spot filling the Auntie April’s-sized hole in the neighborhood’s heart—it’s in the same space, and, like its predecessor, also serves chicken and waffles that should be added to the state flag. The menu also covers other excellent soul food staples, like shrimp and creamy, bacon-dotted grits, dense biscuit sandwiches, and fluffy pancakes with a sheen of powdered sugar. Head here for a relaxed group brunch that doesn’t require making a reservation weeks out.

A platter of lahmacun the size of a MacBook is a centerpiece on every table at this Turkish spot in the Mission. It’s a mandatory order here, along with the buttery mantarli pide with mushrooms and a sprinkling of za’atar. The lamp-lit restaurant has enough tables and bar seating for any waves of post-Dolores groups. It’s perfect for debriefing a particularly dramatic week over hot and cold meze, or date nights involving a bottle of wine.

This Fillmore French bakery has your standard issue danishes, croissants, and croque monsieur—but they also make what can only be called “statement pastries,” like a pile of stacked macarons and succès topped with pistachio cream-filled fingers that would catch the eye of a curator from de Young. Just avoid Sundays when the selection tends to be more limited, and head to the nearby O’Farrell plaza if you want a place to sit.

A trip to Leo’s is all about al pastor. It’s easily the best thing at this LA taco truck transplant, which just found its first home outside of SoCal on the Great Highway. The marinated pork with flame-roasted edges is at its peak form in a taco, crowned with a hunk of pineapple and a dollop of orange salsa. Nothing says West Coast supremacy like eating quesadillas, California burritos, and tacos a few hundred feet from the Pacific.

The latest addition to our Power Ranking Of Every Two-Word SF Restaurant That Starts With Dumpling? Dumpling King in the Richmond. Anything in a wrapper that’s been boiled, steamed, and pan-fried is solid, especially the shengjianbao with thick, golden-brown bottoms. But don’t come with dumpling blinders on—the entrees and fresh noodle dishes also deserve your attention. When in doubt, go for the zhajiang mien in a silky black bean sauce.

While you certainly won’t be disappointed by the juicy kebaps and doner at Turquaz in SoMa, you’ll be thoroughly impressed by the pastries and desserts. The turquoise-hued Turkish restaurant and bakery houses a pastry case half the length of a city block, filled with traditional Turkish desserts like malaga and over a dozen types of baklava, as well as other sweets like chocolate cake and tres leches.

Hot, new French restaurants have been showing up all over (looking at you, Verjus and Bon Délire) but none do seafood like Caché. The Inner Sunset spot is already a neighborhood destination, where you’ll see dates in the low-lit dining room splitting flaky skate, beef carpaccio topped with chopped oysters, and an olive oil-kissed sea bream sashimi served inside the fish it came from. If you can’t snag a reservation, they also save space for walk-ins.

After a two-year hiatus, Turtle Tower is back—this time in the Financial District—and SF’s chicken noodle soup drought is finally over. Their gigantic bowls of phở gà are as good as ever, with the same deeply layered broth and tender strips of chicken that will trigger deja vu for the experienced and convert newcomers into devotees. Lines form before the doors open, so plan to get here early, but waits do go by quickly as most people are in and out in about half an hour.

Paper Son makes a compelling case to permanently change your morning routine. Replace your usual drip with a frothy pandan aerocano or a fizzy guava puree foam-topped coffee with a hit of Li Hing powder. Follow it up with equally excellent pastries made daily by a Jina Bakes alum (Wednesdays to Fridays only). The chewy black sesame chocolate chip cookies, butter-packed sogeum-ppang, and extra-soft miso everything scones have quickly become our favorite breakfast.

Unlike most, this sequel is actually worth an hour of your time. The Chinatown location of Outta Sight nails the same New York-ish style pizzas as the original, and this outpost brings with it new additions, including grandma slices that swap their usual tomato sauce with butter chicken or Peking duck and hoisin. While the creative specials are well-executed, it can be hard to beat a classic.

Smashburger enthusiasts no longer have to cross the Bay Bridge to get their hands on the ones from Lovely’s—the beloved Oakland restaurant has landed in Cole Valley, sharing a space with Woods. The family-friendly spot is a welcome addition to the neighborhood, thanks in large part to the lacy-edged patties and thick, hand-cut fries. Get the Drive Thru, which is an extra decadent knockout with schmaltz onion and a patty blanketed in melty cheese.

Verjus is back, and it’s just as excellent as it was before it closed in 2020. This candle-lit Jackson Square wine bar—from the Cotogna and Quince team—will inevitably transform “just one glass” of after-work wine or a pre-date night drink into a long, relaxed dinner over duck confit with creamy lentils, a silky Boursin omelette, and bread with slabs of fancy imported butter you’ll want to smuggle home. Just make sure to end any meal here with the custardy pain perdu.