Hamburguesa Bar. Photo by Virginia Miller. These 10 new(ish) restaurants — plus two bonus takeout/delivery spots — offer affordable, sometimes fun and delicious casual eats. These 12 cover the gamut: burger bar, Korean-Japanese katsu and udon, Yucatacen Mexican, hoagies, vegan Filipino, Chinese, Middle-Eastern, Indian and Tunisian-influenced wraps. Coffee shop tip: my favorite new neighborhood cafe is Yardsale Equipment Company in… Read more →
Fu Hui Hua tangyuan. Photo by Virginia Miller. Along with Eater and the SF Chronicle, I’d rather not name eight-to-nine-seat restaurant Fù Huì Huá as the best of the year because it’s already impossible to get in. But it is one of the best anywhere… and there is no Chinese restaurant like it on the continent. Thus, it’s on my… Read more →
Happy Crane firecracker shrimp, my favorite dish. Photo by Virginia Miller. Dining at The Happy Crane just one month after it opened on August 8, 2025, it was packed on a weeknight, already booked weeks-ahead. The intimate restaurant glowed, though minimalist, centered by the bar, with glass walls framing a colorful Hayes Valley alley mural outside. What is clear immediately… Read more →
KAIYO Restaurant & Bar’s nigiri. Photo by Virginia Miller. These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from modern Colombian to an Italian tavola calda/osteria. Alongside my latest restaurant reviews — Alora (Mediterranean), Sonoma County eats, five fine dining standouts — these ten are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here. As always, I’ve personally vetted and visited each: Prospect’s whipped feta garlic dip.… Read more →
These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from dim sum to traditional Irish or Russian food. Alongside the latest full restaurant reviews — why SF is the U.S.’ best food city, The Halfway Club, Nick’s Cove, Movida/Bar Gemini/Stoa, Canela, Chotto Matte, 2023’s top new restaurants and bars — these seven are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve personally vetted and visited each one): Read more →
Rise Over Run solarium and rooftop view. Photo by Virginia Miller. The Tenderloin’s (TL) roughly 7-by-5 blocks get a massive amount of bad press as the center of San Francisco’s worst drugs and homelessness. As it has everywhere, pandemic has made conditions worse as Tenderloin’s decades-old issues have expanded a few blocks. But the TL remains a tiny part of our… Read more →
Mamahuhu’s sweet & sour cauliflower. Photo by Virginia Miller. Whether you’re going out with your own kids, friends with kids or taking out local niece and nephews as I do, you don’t want to compromise what you eat. And you shouldn’t ever have to in San Francisco. There is no end to the wealth of food education one can casually participate… Read more →
Published at Food Republic in June 2015, my article on Chinese food and American Chinese food’s history coming to the U.S. via San Francisco: www.foodrepublic.com/2015/06/10/the-history-of-san-franciscos-chinatown-in-10-dishes Read more →
These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from elevated German beer hall fare to Sichuan Chinese. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews, these six are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve personally vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →
Boundary-Pushing Asian Food at Two Newcomers: Taiwanese-Inspired Piglet & Co. & Chinese-Venezuelan Cantoo Piglet & Co.’s shrimp pork toast (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller) COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/boundary-pushing-asian-food-at-two-newcomers-taiwanese-inspired-piglet-co This week, I share experiences at two newcomers playing with the boundaries of Asian cuisine.… Read more →