My family and I will be traveling to the Bay Area this December. We’ve planned 2 nights in Berkeley and 4 nights in San Francisco. I would appreciate some assistance narrowing down our dining options as there are too many old favorites and new places we’d like to try and my intel is generally outdated. Note - we will be traveling from Los Angeles and are all adventurous eaters.
East Bay:
Is Chez Panisse – café not restaurant - still worth it? I’ve been before but not since the early 2000s. Neither my wife nor boys have ever been. While a mecca for California cuisine, the reviews I’ve read on the board have been good but not inspiring. What’s the state of play? If we don’t do CP then we’re thinking of some options that are new to us including Burdell, Reem’s and/or Bombera. What is the opinion about these diverse options? We’re open to all cuisines.
In terms of East Bay Chinese options, two of my long-time favorites are East Ocean Seafood in Alameda and China Village on Solano Avenue. My memory is that if dim sum is a consideration we’re better heading out to Alameda and East Ocean Seafood. It’s also a possibility that we do both as I recall China Village (at least they use to) served some nice lunch specials. Perhaps we do a lunch there and dinner the next night at East Ocean? Thoughts?
I recently read that Homemade Café has reopened. Has anyone been? Is the coffee cake as good as I remember?
San Francisco:
My wife and I were in SF last April and really enjoyed our meal at State Bird Provisions so we’re gonna try to grab a dinner reservation when it becomes available.
Jackson Filmore is a longtime favorite, but I haven’t been in over a decade. Moreover, I find no reviews on the Board. If we make it there, I will report back but if someone has more recent intelligence, I’d appreciate it. If we don’t do JF, then I’ve dined at Flour + Water a few times and would book a reservation there or try Cotogna as I’ve never been and have read glowing reviews.
I recall that Scoma’s, Sotto Mare and Tadich were the best spots for Cioppino. Does that remain the case? As among the three, which restaurant is currently serving up the best bowl? If we end up touring Alcatraz (our boys want to check it out) we may scratch the itch by heading to Scoma’s for lunch after the tour.
For dim sum in San Francisco, is Yank Sing still the move? I read Robert’s review of HK Lounge Bistro from 2024, and it seems like a serious contender and worth a meal.
Chez Panisse Cafe is still excellent. Hasn’t changed at all, really, which makes it more of a standout since a lot of more-or-less similar places have closed.
Burdell’s unique and absolutely worth a visit. That and San Ho Won are the two places I’d recommend first for out-of-town foodies.
If you’re coming from LA, I’m not sure Chinese is worth it, but Great China is to my knowledge not like anyplace down south, classic Cantonese plus some Shandong / Korean-Chinese dishes. Great wine list.
My favorite / regular dim sum places these days are Harborview, Yank Sing, and HK Lounge Bistro. Reservations pretty much essential at all of them.
Cotogna is great. Best Cal-Italian in the area. I don’t think there’s anything like it in LA. Closest might be Bestia.
Tadich is a tourist trap. You want classic SF seafood, go to Sam’s Grill. Scoma’s is maybe the only good restaurant at the Wharf.
Chez Panisse Cafe, Cotogna, Burdell, Bombera, Sam’s Grill, Flour + Water are all spots I’ve been in the last few years and agree they’re great. Scoma’s used to go a bunch when younger.
I haven’t been to RT Bistro yet but really want to try, have had some great dinners at Rich Table the last few years and Chefs Sarah and Evan were always around
Also maybe Wood Tavern for an institution that’s going out on their own terms
Oh yeah, reserve at Wood Tavern for lunch and split a pastrami sandwich. Nothing like Langer’s but unique and great and maybe gone at the end of the year.
Seconding, thirding, etcing, Burdell. Chez Panisse was good but not a place I feel called to return to (at $175 a head, at any rate). Haven’t been to either the cafe or Bar Panisse; can’t speak to them. At the high end, I’d rather go to Commis, but even though it’s very good it doesn’t fundamentally feel like the kind of thing you can’t get elsewhere (except in the sense that at 2 stars that’s always true to some degree). In the East Bay, I’d also consider:
Kiraku
Sfizio
Both are just very very good at what they do.
I’d rather get dim sum in SF than try to make it work in Alameda, but maybe given your schedule there’s a comparative advantage argument…? Still, the East Bay isn’t so impoverished that you can’t find better things to eat, imo. (I haven’t eaten at East Ocean Seafood.)
I’ve only ever gotten delivery from Belotti, and while it was good, it wasn’t that good. Maybe it holds up to delivery unusually badly?
IMO Sfizio’s rotating pastas are generally between 70-95% as good as the best pastas I’d ever had in LA. (Their spaghetti is fine but not what I’d recommend unless someone’s a fussy eater.) The vegetable dishes can be a bit hit or miss but the hits are very strong. I don’t remember ever having a disappointing dessert there.
My one meal at Sfizio was fine but didn’t have any memorable dishes or leave me wanting to go back. I didn’t like waiting in line (no reservations except a few at 5:00).