18 | EDIBLE SF SUMMER 2025 A question I’m constantly asked in my global travels as a dining and drink writer, judge, and consultant: What’s your favorite restaurant? For many, it seems a simple question. Surely one place must reign supreme? But when you’ve dined at nearly 15,000 restaurants over a couple of decades, as I have, that’s impossible. There are hundreds of cuisine styles and cultural contexts: traditional to mashups, high to low, endless cuisine subcategories. Even asking about a favorite pizza prompts more questions: which style? Neapolitan? NY? Chicago deep dish or tavern-thin? Detroit? St. Louis? I can list favorites in each. Though San Francisco spans just 49 square miles (7x7 across)—1/7 the size of New York, 1/10 of Los Angeles—the city is densely packed with excellence across virtually every category, thanks to three essential factors many cities lack as a package: • Some of the best ingredients in the world • Innovative chefs in a city built on boundary-pushing • Historic, deep diversity in tight, interwoven neighborhoods Yes, SF has faced tough challenges: from pandemic and inflation to being unfairly scapegoated as a stand-in for perceived “leftist” ills with outsized “doom loop” talk mostly from people who don’t live here or visit. Facts speak: violent crime rates remain among the lowest for major U.S. cities, and independent, creative small businesses still dominate our neighborhoods, not chains. I grew up in NYC and LA suburbs, both titans of American cuisine. But I’ve long said without hesitation: SF is the city that most “schooled me.” It’s the best food city in the U.S. and one of the best in the world. That’s not hyperbole. As an Academy Chair for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and for just-launched North America’s 50 Best—to name but a few places I judge—I travel globally half of every month, obsessively researching dining and drink. I log spreadsheets, studying context, history, and evolution. SF continues to check every box. Still, colleagues from everywhere ask me, “Is SF okay?” with a tone of pity. Despite the same struggles facing the entire industry, we remain a vibrant dining city, led by a New Guard pushing forward, long-time veterans holding firm, and chefs from the last 10 to 15 years fully hitting their stride. Don’t even get me started on drinks and other edible realms. Dozens of classic restaurants (some over a century old) still shine. Some from the last 50 years remain iconic, like Zuni Café, Anchor Oyster Bar, and Chez Panisse. At Acquerello since 1989, one of the nation’s greatest female chefs, Suzette Gresham, keeps two Michelin stars. Boulevard continues its legacy by reinventing itself under Dana Younkin, partnering with Nancy Oakes, a pioneer in California Cuisine since the ’90s. SF’s past 15 years have birthed many of the nation’s best restaurants, better than ever now: State Bird Provisions and The Progress, Nightbird, Atelier Crenn, Rich Table, Californios, Saison, Angler, Prubechu, Aziza, Liholiho Yacht Club, Sorrel, Sons & Daughters, Flour + Water, Who’s carrying forward the Bay Area’s trailblazing ethos since the 1960s of farm-fresh ingredients, seasonal menus, diverse cultural roots, with a vision for this Brave New World? Previous page: Merchant Roots' 'In Bloom' hummingbird dessert. Photo—Merchant Roots. Above: Catfish Dumplings at Prelude. Photo—Annette Chu. NEW GUARD
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