These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from cocktail havens to SF’s first Georgian restaurant. Alongside October’s full restaurant reviews — SSAL (Michelin-starred Korean), Molti Amici in Healdsburg, modern Turkish Dalida in the Presidio, Absinthe turns 25, all-day Mexican breakfasts and homey meals at El Mil Amores — these five are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve personally vetted and visited each one):
Cozy Italian Comfort: Che Fico Alimentari, NoPa
Che Fico Alimentari may not be quite at the creative level of upstairs original Che Fico. But as it has evolved since opening April 2019, Alimentari is its own unique and special Italian destination. Downstairs under a pressed-tin ceiling, the cozy dining room feels like basement dining in NYC with high quality pastas, lovely pizzas different from chef David Nayfeld’s excellent pizzas upstairs, and a travel-around-Italy wine list, including complex, skin contact orange wine like 2018 Matrone-Lacryma (80% Caprettone, 15% Falanghina, 5% Greco grapes) from Campania.
While Che Fico’s killer suppli (fried risotto balls) and pitch-perfect focaccia with whipped mascarpone and Sicilian olive oil are also here, the rest of the menu is unique to Alimentari. Their Sungold tomato pizza, dotted with burrata, basil and garlic, is the best of the few dishes I tried on my recent return after they made more menu changes. While you can’t top Nayfeld’s iconic fermented pineapple chili pizza upstairs, this is top-notch pizza in its own right and worth coming for alone. Leftover slices the next morning were still no less than fabulous. Pastas comfort, whether a caper-anchovy-laden veal and pork ragu spaghetti Napoletana, or a hefty pork sausage and broccolini lasagna, layered in Double 8 Dairy ricotta.
// 834 Divisadero Street, www.cheficoalimentari.com
Georgian Food Rarity: Georgian Cheese Boat, North Beach
I’ll always miss decades-old North Beach classic, The House, but was delighted when Georgian Cheese Boat (GCB) opened in the same space in March 2023. Previously, I’ve had to trek to Sebastopol in Sonoma County to the special Piala Georgian Cuisine, or Bevri in Palo Alto for Georgian food. While Georgian wines have trended in SF a good 15 years — SF is where I first learned of the country’s rich, ancient wine production and unique natural wines — these are among the few Georgian restaurants serving the wine and traditional food of the Eastern European country. Pink-walled and lined with traditional Georgian paraphernalia, Shalva Dzotsenidze opened this humble restaurant, his second as owner of Tamari Authentic Georgian Cuisine in San Carlos. He wanted to come to the City because as he aptly stated, San Francisco is “the food capital of the United States.”
GCB is blessedly open for lunch as well as dinner, an easy, order-at-the-counter stop for khachapuri, filling Georgian bread “boats” with a rich cheese and raw egg center. Hot cheese cooks the egg and all is scooped up with the bread. Their various khachapuri keep up with the best I’ve had, but there are other treats here, including round-shaped breads to share like kubdari, filled with Georgian spice-laden chopped beef, pillowy khinkali (Georgian dumplings) or comforting chakapuli, a Georgian lamb stew laced with green plums, tarragon and herbs. A couple Georgian dishes I’ve enjoyed elsewhere are here, too, like lobio, pinto beans in a clay pot with pickled garlic and cucumber, or fresh, gratifying eggplant rolls lathered in walnut pesto. Affordable Georgian wines by the glass and bottle round out the authentic experience where you can casually learn about the cuisine. If I weren’t dining everywhere, I wish I had time to try the whole menu, but I’ll slowly work my way through.
// 1224 Grant Avenue, https://georgiancheeseboat.com
Fillmore Seafood House Gets a Remodel: Woodhouse Fish Co., Pacific Heights
Since the first Castro Woodhouse Fish Co. opened in 2006, followed by the Pac Heights Fillmore Street locale in 2009, they’ve been a longtime go-to for New England-style seafood house fare. Think clam chowder, fried Ipswich clams, lobster rolls, as well as San Francisco-style dishes: cioppino, crab Louie, local halibut, Dungeness crab rolls, seafood-stuffed artichoke, local beer-battered fish and chips.
The remodel looks fresh and crisp: pressed tin ceiling, whites and blues, stools at the oyster bar, Bay Area maritime artifacts, an ocean mural and a screen showing local fisherman making their catch. While there is amazing seafood all over town, this is easy comfort food seafood. Fish and chips and their chowder are still among the highlights. A specials board also brought new-to-me dishes like breaded trout, ahi tuna tostadas and grilled Monterey squid in romesco sauce.
// 1914 Fillmore Street, http://woodhousefish.com
Tiny Thai Hit: Prik Hom, Laurel Heights
Just recently making the Michelin recommends list, tiny, intimate Prik Hom in Laurel Heights has been drawing accolades since they opened in February 2023. The tiny place is in demand and the kind staff are working hard. Only two wines by the glass is far from enough, especially when they’re not what interests compared to the also short couple bottles of funky, natural wines that pair better with the food, like 2022 Bheeyo Tinto Amorio orange wine with its intense hit of lychee. Hopefully they can expand by-the-glass options to more than two so we might have a choice of what we want with the food.
Handmade curry pastes, high quality local seafood and off-the-beaten path Thai dishes — none of it available for takeout — confirm why siblings Tanya and Bangkok-trained chef Jim Suwanpanya’s cooking draws raves, even if all of the dishes I tried on my visit weren’t overwhelmingly great (Monterey shrimp in chili jam sauce was more lackluster than I expected). But the top two dishes impressed. Black cod and clam curry shows off fish from the Monterey Fish Market in a spicy Southern Thai style fish-meat curry. Miang kham has long been one of my all-time favorite Thai dishes. Prik Hom’s two-piece miang grilled shrimp are wrapped in green mustard leaves with fish sauce caramel, toasted coconut, young ginger, key lime, tobiko and macadamia nuts. Perfection. Their signature finish is memorable: coconut ice cream doused in candied palm seeds and pandan rice crisps, finished in smoky, waxy drips from a traditional Thai candle.
// 3226 Geary Blvd., https://linktr.ee/prikhomsf
SJ Cocktail Pioneer: Paper Plane, San Jose
Opened in 2014, downtown San Jose’s Paper Plane has been one of SJ’s pioneering craft cocktail bars after Haberdasher, retaining some of the same staff since day one, including owners George Lahlouh, Dan Phan and Johnny Wang, also of Original Gravity Public House and wonderfully playful 80s/game tribute bar Miniboss. Paper Plane’s lofty space is home to an incredible spirits selection of hundreds and killer bites like their popular fried brussel sprout tacos packed with garam masala-spiced pepitas (pumpkin seeds), yogurt dressing, cilantro, pickled onions, Fresno chilies and cotija cheese.
Their cocktail menu — categorized by flavor profile like sour, fruity, creamy, herbal — holds many delights, both easy drinking and cocktail geek-worthy complex. On their latest menu, a few highlights jumped out, including the savory, cumin-foward Amba Mamba: Sipsmith London Dry Gin, mango, fenugreek, cumin, sumac, apple cider vinegar, lime, splash of Villa Sandi Prosecco. Creamy-yet-light Little Lad is a joyous, frothy-pink cocktail of Ron Zacapa 23 Rum, Copalli White Rum, zinfandel, strawberry, orgeat, lemon and condensed milk.
// 72 S. 1st Street, San Jose; www.paperplanesj.com
Food Recommends
Jack and Remi Chef-Crafted Ice Cream
When Michelin-starred chefs create an ice cream line, I’m in. Not a big sweet tooth, maybe it’s my Italian-Sicilian side that finds ice cream/gelato the ultimate dessert and craves unique flavors. I was sad to see Michelin-starred restaurant Marlena close this summer. But Marlena pastry chef, Serena Chow Fisher, and chef/husband David Fisher, with Hi Neighbor group, are back with vengeance. I’ll soon be visiting their new restaurant, 7 Adams, which just opened in Japantown November 1st. They also launched Jack & Remi Ice Cream late summer with eight flavors ($12 per pint). You can buy at all Hi Neighbor SF restaurants (The Madrigal, Trestle, The Vault Steakhouse, The Vault Garden), plus Luke’s Local Grocery, Three Babes Bakeshop (where you can get the ice cream with pie pairings through December 31st) and Good Eggs for delivery.
There’s not a slouch in the eight flavors. Strawberry or marshmallow fans will love flavors dominated by those ingredients. I did want more sour and even a little more punctuation — the sparse raspberry jam — in the Sourdough Toast & Jam ice cream. But there are five flavors I’m in love with: Shiso Mint Chip especially, Orange Bay Leaf, tart Chamomile Greek Yogurt, earthy cold brew/Valrhona chocolate-laced Coffee Cocoa Nib, and 4X Chocolate rich with Vahlrona, Devil’s food cake and more.
// https://scoopjackandremi.com
Van Van Vietnamese Ingredients
Just brought to the U.S. this August 2023 by a NYC-based importer, Vân Vân is a line of single-origin Vietnamese herbs and spices sourced from small farmers and producers across Vietnam. And there’s nationwide shipping. I’m impressed with the quality ingredients sourced via direct relationships by founders Thảo Bùi and Duy Võ, of food pop-up Ăn Xôi. I recently tried five ingredients cooking at home. I could just snack on Coastal Purple Shallots (phan rang) from Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm on Vietnam’s central coast, with winning horseradish and umami notes. Citrusy Delta Lemongrass (tien giang), aromatic Sparrow Ginger (lam dong), spicy-acidic Heaven-Facing Chili (lam dong), nutty Northern Mountain Garlic (hai duong)… there’s not a slouch among them. I can taste the regional terroir of a country that changed my life as I spent a month there in my early 20s.