Mamahuhu is Mister Jiu’s casual restaurant in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco. You order at the counter and they bring the food to you.
They’ve opened more locations including one in Mill Valley. Their motto: “We envision a future in which delicious, affordable, sustainably-sourced food is the norm and Chinese-American cuisine plays a central role.”
Several years delayed because of the Pandemic (2022 was the last one), The New 2024 Michelin Guide California was released on 8/5/2024. It now covers all of California, not just San Francisco.
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Reviews from our Summer 2024 trip to Paris. It has been about 15 years, so it was time to see Olympic ready Paris.
Here are Restaurant Reviews and Notes from our Summer 2024 trip to Greece – Athen and Naxos.
Horn BBQ Is a legendary barbecue restaurant in Oakland, California. It has 3.5 stars on yelp and had long lines at the old location whenever it’s open. A fire closed them down and made them re-open in April 2024 at 464 8th St. near Chinatown, Oakland at their former burger joint. You now order using the computer tablet by the entrance, then sit down.
Horn BBQ Definitely serves up barbecue that was not as good as the old location. Top-notch barbecue the San Francisco Bay area. Breakwater BBQ in El Granada is really good. 4505 in San Francisco is also good for ribs.
Last Update: 7/28/2024
Where does a San Francisco Foodie eat in New York? Follow our journey and learn from our experiences over several trips.
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Breakwater Barbecue is an American craft barbecue carvery specializing in all wood smoked high quality meats. They’ve been around since 2020 and were listed in the SF Chronicles top BBQ list. We were biking nearby (God’s Trail is legendary) and dropped in for lunch. They are located 2 blocks from the beach. We’ve been back already in June!
One of San Francisco’s charming restaurants.. Chapeau! is a French Bistro located in the San Francisco Richmond district in the middle of the Clement Street shopping district. Chapeau! SF opened in 1996 and it means hat or wow in French.
Why did we dine here? – Routier is a Hot Frenchish restaurant from the folks at nearby B patisserie. A friend recommended this restaurant, and we’ve been back twice. Highly rated at 4.5 stars on yelp. Belinda Leong and Michel Suas joined forces with JP Carmona, formerly chef de cuisine at Manresa, to lead the kitchen of this elevated neighborhood joint in the former jazz club location. Last visit was in Fall 2024.
SAINT-JEAN is a plant based bakery and deli in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam. They have a deli across the street. The baked items are stellar, unlike any we’ve had before. Their deli is across the street. Another nearby vegan baker spot that is closeby is Margo’s – Not as exceptional, but they serve nicer sandwiches. No gluten free options here. Prices are great, items would be at least 2-3x in San Francisco.
Why did we dine here? – Four Kings is a Cantonese Chinese restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown. It is started by alumni Franky and Mike from nearby Michelin starred Mister Jius. Considering that this is one of our native cuisines, we just had to give it a try. The spot has also garnered extremely high reviews on Yelp.
Prik Hom is a small Thai restaurant in San Francisco’s inner Richmond district. It has 4.5 stars on Yelp right now. It was recommended by a friend and was also on the NY Times 25 best restaurants in SF 2023. Reservations are a must unless you want to walk in right when it opens. We’ve eat here twice.
The menu has limited selections in each of its different section, not like the usual Thai spots. No pad thai or pad see ew here! Simple concise menu with several options for vegetarians. Their spring menu saw several new dishes.
Great choice for reasonably priced, solid dim sum in San Francisco.
Hong Kong Lounge is a popular Chinese Restaurant located in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond district that opened in late 2008. They serve dim sum at lunch time and are quite busy. We ate here last in 2010, so it was great to catch up with the changes. Last meal was summer 2024.
Why did we dine here? – Hummus Mediterranean Kitchen has become our goto place when looking for this type of food. They have expanded to four locations including Palo Alto, San Francisco and Mountain View.
Why did we dine here? – Twelvemonth is a new plant-based vegan restaurant in downtown Burlingame. It has been hotly anticipated as there are no such restaurants in this area. We had to previously drive to SF or Palo Alto to get quality vegetarian food. We have dined here multiple times with the last in summer 2024.
Blue Sky Cafe is a casual Hong Kong style Chinese eatery in the middle of an industrial park in Belmont. Weird location but solid food and a popular destination. If you appreciate this type of food, run here as there is nothing like it on the Peninsula. Everyone knows now, because the place is really busy on the weekend. Takeout on a Saturday night had a 2 hour delay, so order early.
Party fun!
Why here? – Good Good Culture Club is a hot restaurant from the folks behind Liholiho Yacht Club. They serve Lao, Filipino fusion cuisine and has a party atmosphere. This restaurant is located in the heart of the Mission District, where Farina once stood.
Josephine Chez Dumonet is a popular old school Bistro in the 6th Arrondissement, St. Germain, not far from the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was open in 1898 and is run by 3rd generation Jean-Christian Dumonet. We came to this restaurant to feel what Paris felt like in the old days. They serve half portions so you can sample lots of cuisine. They are known for excellent boeuf bourguignon, steak tartare, and roasted saddle of lamb. Our first visit was in 2009 and we returned in 2024.
Prospect is a long-awaited new restaurant from the Boulevard restaurant team – Nancy Oakes, Pam Mazzola, and Kathy King – located in the posh residential Infinity Tower complex of San Francisco’s Financial district / SOMA district. They named it with anticipation, expectation, and looking forward. Prospect is near the Millennium tower.
Spoon is one of those rare finds in the Lake Tahoe region. The food is simply really good. Its easy to pay a lot up here, but not easy to find a spot like this. We’ve dined at all the stalwarts that have existed for decades and none match up. “Spoon is a funky, off-beat and cozy restaurant with an eclectic american dinner menu.” Closed Tu/Wed
Gluten free and vegetarian options. Specials change daily. Last visit end of 2023.
Must goto for City vegans/vegetarians. Plant based cuisine satisfying even Carnivores.
Why did we dine here? – Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar & Izakaya has remarkable 4.5 stars on Yelp. With the plant based revolution booming, we just had to try this spot. We’ve returned a couple times.. Must go for vegans and vegetarians. They started offering takeout during the pandemic.
Why did we dine here? – Dumpling Home was featured in the SF Chronicle for Xiao Long Bao or Soup Dumplings making us really want to try it.
They’re back!
We have been coming here for years to Boulevard San Francisco Restaurant near the Ferry Building in the Embarcadero waterfront area. It is one of our favorite places as it is pretty consistent.. Always a candidate for the short list of best restaurants. It earned One Michelin Stars last in 2015. Nancy Oakes open Boulevard, a New American/French comfort food restaurant way back in 1993. She opened nearby Prospect in 2010. Alumni Ravi Kapor now runs Liholiho Yacht Club.
When we get asked, “where do we get the dim sum in Chinatown?” The answer usually is.. Great Eastern Restaurant San Francisco has been serving Cantonese Chinese food in this location for many years. They serve dim sum during lunch and traditional items during dinner. We visited for dim sum lunch lunch, early on a weekend day. Great Eastern Dinner was reviewed on a separate visit. President Obama famously ate here in 2012. Our last visit for dim sum was in the fall of 2024.
Reviews for restaurants, bakeries and other spots we deemed not important enough for their own.
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Last Update: 5/10/2024
Where does a San Francisco Foodie eat in the Durham – Chapel Hill – Research Triangle, North Carolina? Follow our journey and learn from our experiences. We have family there and will return again.
Cotogna (meaning ‘quince’ in Italian), offers a seasonally-changing menu featuring spit-roasted or grilled meats and game birds, wood-oven pizzas, house-made pastas, fresh local fish and seafood, salads, salami and cheeses in the warm atmosphere of the restaurant’s refined urban design. This hot spot is the more affordable sister restaurant to Quince, which is located next door.
Why did we dine here? – Pho Ha Noi is a Vietnamese restaurant located in an outdoor mall Vietnam Town Plaza in San Jose. The area is full of high quality Asian restaurants and shops. Their pho is some of the best in the SF Bay Area. This restaurant also has a location in Cupertino and added Palo Alto in 2023.
Why did we dine here? – Flour & Water Pizza is the pizza only specialty restaurant from the folks at famous Flour and Water. This location opened in 2023, the previous one is run by a former employee and is now called Yellow Moto Pizza. Tony’s Pizza is right around the corner!
We visited Osaka, Japan in December 2023 and made a list of interesting finds. Our goals are to eat local and seek out authentic experiences. Sushi, udon, soba, yakitori, oden, whatever! Yelp and Trip Advisor were not helpful in spotting places to eat at, only Google reviews were useful. We did not seek our Michelin rated spots.
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Added review of Che Fico Parco Menlo, Menlo Park
Hot Spot in the City. Why did we dine here? – Che Fico (Kay-Feeco) means what a fig – is a new Jewish Italian restaurant in San Francisco that has garnered a lot of hype. There is a long line queuing up for unreserved tables everyday. It has fallen to 3.5 Yelp stars, but we still wanted to try it out. Prices have appreciated significantly during the pandemic.
Cutting Edge Cal-Indian in Palo Alto.
Why did we dine here? – Ettan, Palo Alto open one month before the Pandemic. Talk about bad timing. Open/close – Open close syndrome. Things were opening up again, so we decided to give them a try. This was one of our first high end sit down meals in quite a while. They are tucked away in a small alley in Downtown Palo Alto. Beautiful restaurant, inside and out. Great spot to eat outside in their large patio. East Asians have discovered the spot, helping to validate the cuisine in our book.
Cheung Hing replaces China Village Seafood Restaurant in Belmont, California located just off the Highway 101’s Ralston Exit. The former had been around since 1996, serving dim sum during both lunch and dinner, as well as standard Cantonese Chinese cuisine, but changed hands in 2022. It appears that they may have a similar menu and chef from before. The interior and exterior are still the same too, so is the phone number.
Cheung Hing has several locations in San Mateo, Millbrae, and San Francisco. Those concentrate on Chinese barbecue dishes and don’t serve dim sum.
Harris’, The San Francisco Steakhouse has been located since 1984. The restaurant has Old school steakhouse traditional decor with tall banquettes, and high quality 21 day dry aged, Mid-western, corn-fed meats. This is one place I think about when folks ask for a Steakhouse in San Francisco.
Exciting food in an energetic atmosphere.
Why did we dine here? – Liholiho Yacht Club is a Hawaiian influenced restaurant from Ravi Kapur, formerly of Prospect and Boulevard. He returned to Hawaii and found inspiration in the cuisine he grew up with. It is a very popular restaurant with hard to get online reservations, so book on Resy weeks in advance.
Best cornbread in town! House of Prime Rib opened in 1949 and concentrates on one dish, Prime rib. We have been coming here for many decades, whenever we have a desire for beef. They use corn-fed Prime beef Midwestern beef that is aged for 21 days and cooked in coarse rock salt.
4505 Burgers and BBQ is run by chef and artisan butcher Ryan Farr. Ryan formerly was executive chef at Fifth Floor. They used to have a stand at the Ferry building but have since setup permanently on Divisadero in SF’s Nopa neighborhood. 4505 also has a thriving business in meat snacks and fried pork rinds.
Decor, Vibe – 4505 Burgers and BBQ has a outdoors picnic area for dining, very casual. Great for during Pandemic. Order at the window and the food comes to you
Why did we dine here? – Din Tai Fung is a popular Xiao Long Bao (It means small bamboo steamer bun in Chinese) – Shanghai Steamed Soup dumpling restaurant with locations in Bellevue, Seattle, Southern California, Taiwan, Japan, China, Indonesia, Macau, Singapore, and several other countries. Few Chinese dishes generate so much obsession. Think of it like a quest to find the best burger or pizza. We have been to this location several times.
Why did we dine here? – Best Restaurant in the USA? Tips to Dine here on the cheap! Eleven Madison Park is a well respected American restaurant situated at 11 Madison Avenue in the Flatiron District of New York City. Three Michelin stars were awarded in 2023. The restaurant was ranked #3 in the World by The World’s 50 Best Restaurant list.
City View Restaurant is a Chinese dim sum restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown. that only serves lunch.. Our last visit was in the middle of 2023 when they moved in to a new location next to Portsmouth square.
Be sure to read our Introduction to Chinese Dim Sum
Lai Hong Lounge Restaurant is a Cantonese Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of Chinatown. They have been around since Lichee Garden closed, 2012. They are VERY popular for lunch (Noon had a Wait for a Monday lunch), but it was much more quiet at dinner. We were in the neighborhood so we decided to try it out, being big Chinese food fans. Last visit was in Winter 2024.
One of our favorite Italian restaurants in San Francisco. Perbacco is a popular Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s financial district that opened in 2006. We had been to their sister restaurant next door Barbacco recently, and felt it was high time that we came back to Perbacco. Founder Chef Staffan Terje left in 2022 but is still an owner.
Why did we dine here? – Copra is run by Srijith “Sri” Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar (who also own Ettan in Palo Alto) so we had to give it a try. The chef last had two Michelin stars at Campton Place. It is located across from Japantown in the location that used to be Dosa.
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