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Patricia Chang

These Are the Hottest New Restaurants in San Francisco, March 2023

A list of San Francisco’s newest and buzziest restaurants

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At the top of a fresh month, it’s time to revisit that long list of restaurants you’ve been meaning to try across the city. For longtime staples to check off, you’ll want this map of classic San Francisco restaurants or perhaps the Eater San Francisco 38, a guide to some of the city’s best destinations for anything from modern Filipino food to iconic bowls of cioppino. This list, however, the Eater San Francisco Heatmap, highlights recently opened spots or ones we’re particularly excited about for one reason or another. In short, it’s the answer to that ever-burning question: Where should I be eating right now?

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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Popi's Oysterette

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The Marina welcomed a slick new spot for seafood classics with the opening of Popi’s Oysterette on the high-traffic corner of Steiner and Chestnut. Chef Melissa Perfit helms the ship, coming off of stints at Bar Crudo and Sister in Oakland. Open for lunch service to start, the restaurant serves raw bar standards including oysters, mussels, clams, and crab, plus hot dishes like fish and chips, clam chowder, and cioppino. Check the restaurant’s Instagram for updates. 

Bar Sprezzatura

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TableOne Hospitality’s second San Francisco venture brings an Italian oasis to the One Maritime Plaza office tower in FiDi. It’s a California-ized version of a Venetian bacaro, a traditional bar that serves wine and small plates called cicchetti. The beverage list leans into the theme with Italian wines, spritzes, and updated classics including an entire section of negroni riffs. To pair, explore chef Joseph Offner’s menu of savory bar snacks and larger plates including delicate beet-filled casunziei and sepe al nero starring light-as-air whipped Biancoperla polenta.

Patricia Chang

Peaches Patties

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Shani Jones started Peaches Patties as a catering outfit in 2013 and now, she’s taking Jamaican food to center stage with an outpost at the historic Ferry Building. Choose from individual patties, a pastry shell stuffed with fillings like beef, curry chicken, or spinach, or meals starring jerk chicken and vegan “Rasta Stew.” Beverage options include fresh brewed non-alcoholic ginger beer and sorrel, a Jamaican drink made with sweetened hibiscus. 

Carly Hackbarth

Juniper

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Coffee fanatics already know the Saint Frank name, but as of February, the game-changing coffee business has entered the bakery scene. Juniper on Polk Street comes from Saint Frank owner Kevin Bohlin, with Andrea Correa of Parallel 37, formerly of Noma and El Bulli, helping to set up the opening menu. The new bakery focuses on all things choux — think Tiramichoux, a take on the Italian dessert; a cinnamon-scented caramel apple choux crowned with thin petals of apple skin; and, on the savory side, a Parmesan anchovy choux capped with an herb salad. Classic pastries including croissants are on the menu, too, as well as top-notch coffee and espresso drinks. 

Albert Law

Treasured San Francisco sushi restaurant Akiko’s moved into an elegant new space in the East Cut earlier this year, transitioning to an omakase-only format at the same time. For both lunch and dinner, guests gather around the dramatic open kitchen — which the restaurant calls a Chef’s Stage — to enjoy dry-aged fish and small plates featuring seasonal ingredients from both Japan and the Bay Area. 

Five different kinds of nigiri sushi on a black plate. Joseph Weaver

Bay Area chef Srijith Gopinathan (Ettan, Little Blue Door) re-enters the San Francisco dining scene with the debut of Copra, his latest restaurant with partner Ayesha Thapar. In a lush space bursting with climbing vines and swinging macrame, Gopinathan explores the food traditions of his home state of Kerala in southwestern India. Start with a sharable chutney palette, which allows diners to select four chutneys, before diving into larger plates such as black cod pollichathu, a dish he enjoyed on special occasions back home in India, and Konkan crab curry. 

Patricia Chang

Anomaly SF

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Chef Mike Lanham has been running his fine dining pop-up Anomaly for years and as of January, he’s giving the restaurant a permanent home. The chef specializes in what he calls “post-modern American cuisine,” which diners can experience via an 11-course tasting menu ($121) with optional fish or caviar supplements. Expect playful plates such as a delicata squash egg custard with Asian pear and filet mignon with beet millefeuille and roasted celery root puree. 

Andrea Bartley

Suragan

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After working as a sous chef at Marlena while shoring up the idea for his own restaurant, chef Jongmoon Choi and the ever-expanding Mins Group opened Suragan in the Tenderloin in December. The fine-dining Korean restaurant serves a 12-course tasting menu ($135) that features dishes inspired by ancient cookbooks. The restaurant is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday with two seatings per evening. 

Dishes of braised beef short rib, walnut ssamjang, rice, and lettuce leaves, from Suragan, a new restaurant in San Francisco. Nathan Choi

Outta Sight Pizza

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This much-anticipated restaurant extension of chef Eric Ehler’s pizza pop-up Outta Sight rolled open slowly during the fall, but as of the top of the new year, it is open for expanded hours from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, with delivery available after 5 p.m. On the menu look for floppy slices and excellent whole pies — plus hoagies, wings, salads, and fries expected to be added to the lineup soon.

A pizza topped with spinach and mortadella. Outta Sight

HK Lounge Bistro

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Four years after its previous location was destroyed in a fire, a beloved San Francisco destination for dim sum has returned. The San Francisco Chronicle has the full story of HK Lounge Bistro’s big comeback. It’s open for lunch and dinner on the ground floor of a resident highrise at 99 Rausch Street in SoMa, and the menu resurfaces many fan-favorite dishes including crispy baked pork buns and steamed har gow. 

The Laundromat SF

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Though the restaurant’s name might call to mind baskets of warm laundry, not hot bagels, the former is exactly what you’ll find at the Laundromat SF, which opened just up the block from the historic Balboa Theather in the Outer Richmond in November. It’s a joint venture from Jaimi Holker, who owns CinemaSF and runs the Balboa Theater with her partner Adam Bergeron, and Jenna O’Connell and Kevin Rodgers, the duo behind Holey Roller Bagels. The result is a busy bagel operation by day and a neighborhood pizzeria — with a beverage list of beer, natural wine, and low-ABV cocktails — by night. 

Lauren Saria

The former 20th Century Cafe space is now home to Loquat, a bakery from the folks behind Four Barrel Coffee and the Mill and a former pastry chef from Tartine Bakery. The Chronicle reports the Hayes Valley cafe serves “baked goods inspired by the Jewish diaspora and Levantine flavors.” Coffee, of course, comes from Four Barrel, which is now owned by Tal Mor and Jodi Geren, who took over the business after the former CEO was ousted on the heels of allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

Mohammad Gorjestani

Piglet & Co.

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At long last, chef Chris Yang and partner Marcelle Gonzales Yang put down roots for their formerly itinerant businesses Hen-Zhi and El Chino Grande. Piglet & Co., the couple’s first restaurant, serves “Asian comfort food” out of a moody space that’s inspired by Taiwanese night markets. The tight menu is still in flux but standouts include sweet-savory honey walnut shrimp and pork toast, confited Savoy cabbage, and chashao pork ssam. With a liquor license still in the works, beverage options include tea and sodas for now. Sunday brunch, a multi-course set menu for $45, launched in late February. 

Sliced pork belly on plate with leaves of lettuce and herbs. Patricia Chang

LUNA Kitchen & Cocktails

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Less than two years after its debut on Valencia Street, Luna is back with a new menu and a focus on serving Mission District locals. The team behind the restaurant banished the old American brasserie vibes in favor of a “very Twin Peaks” aesthetic (bold red accents and quirky art) and a menu where almost every entree comes in under $20. There’s an emphasis on approachable and shareable plates, including koji-marinated fried chicken and adobo chicken wings.

Shandru Photography

Delfina Restaurant

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After taking a years-long break spurred by the pandemic, Delfina is back in action on 18th Street — and the more-than-20-year-old restaurant has a fresh new look. Co-owners Annie and Craig Stoll are proud to show off a new bar and a new private dining room, where fans old and new can get a taste of the restaurant’s pioneering Cal-Italian cuisine. The spaghetti pomodoro returns to the menu, of course, along with mortadella pizza, porcini and cippolini spiedi, and dry-aged duck breast from Liberty Ducks.

Damansara Co.

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Tracy Goh found a permanent home for her Malaysian pop-up Damansara in Noe Valley, opening her first petite restaurant in mid-October. There are no reservations and just a few small tables so you’ll need to be patient if you want to be rewarded with small plates like cereal and salted egg fried chicken, sticky barbecue pork sandwiches, and the spicy noodle dish laksa, made with either meat or done vegetarian. 

Aron Pruiett

Popi's Oysterette

The Marina welcomed a slick new spot for seafood classics with the opening of Popi’s Oysterette on the high-traffic corner of Steiner and Chestnut. Chef Melissa Perfit helms the ship, coming off of stints at Bar Crudo and Sister in Oakland. Open for lunch service to start, the restaurant serves raw bar standards including oysters, mussels, clams, and crab, plus hot dishes like fish and chips, clam chowder, and cioppino. Check the restaurant’s Instagram for updates. 

Bar Sprezzatura

TableOne Hospitality’s second San Francisco venture brings an Italian oasis to the One Maritime Plaza office tower in FiDi. It’s a California-ized version of a Venetian bacaro, a traditional bar that serves wine and small plates called cicchetti. The beverage list leans into the theme with Italian wines, spritzes, and updated classics including an entire section of negroni riffs. To pair, explore chef Joseph Offner’s menu of savory bar snacks and larger plates including delicate beet-filled casunziei and sepe al nero starring light-as-air whipped Biancoperla polenta.

Patricia Chang

Peaches Patties

Shani Jones started Peaches Patties as a catering outfit in 2013 and now, she’s taking Jamaican food to center stage with an outpost at the historic Ferry Building. Choose from individual patties, a pastry shell stuffed with fillings like beef, curry chicken, or spinach, or meals starring jerk chicken and vegan “Rasta Stew.” Beverage options include fresh brewed non-alcoholic ginger beer and sorrel, a Jamaican drink made with sweetened hibiscus. 

Carly Hackbarth

Juniper

Coffee fanatics already know the Saint Frank name, but as of February, the game-changing coffee business has entered the bakery scene. Juniper on Polk Street comes from Saint Frank owner Kevin Bohlin, with Andrea Correa of Parallel 37, formerly of Noma and El Bulli, helping to set up the opening menu. The new bakery focuses on all things choux — think Tiramichoux, a take on the Italian dessert; a cinnamon-scented caramel apple choux crowned with thin petals of apple skin; and, on the savory side, a Parmesan anchovy choux capped with an herb salad. Classic pastries including croissants are on the menu, too, as well as top-notch coffee and espresso drinks. 

Albert Law

AKIKOS

Treasured San Francisco sushi restaurant Akiko’s moved into an elegant new space in the East Cut earlier this year, transitioning to an omakase-only format at the same time. For both lunch and dinner, guests gather around the dramatic open kitchen — which the restaurant calls a Chef’s Stage — to enjoy dry-aged fish and small plates featuring seasonal ingredients from both Japan and the Bay Area. 

Five different kinds of nigiri sushi on a black plate. Joseph Weaver

Copra

Bay Area chef Srijith Gopinathan (Ettan, Little Blue Door) re-enters the San Francisco dining scene with the debut of Copra, his latest restaurant with partner Ayesha Thapar. In a lush space bursting with climbing vines and swinging macrame, Gopinathan explores the food traditions of his home state of Kerala in southwestern India. Start with a sharable chutney palette, which allows diners to select four chutneys, before diving into larger plates such as black cod pollichathu, a dish he enjoyed on special occasions back home in India, and Konkan crab curry. 

Patricia Chang

Anomaly SF

Chef Mike Lanham has been running his fine dining pop-up Anomaly for years and as of January, he’s giving the restaurant a permanent home. The chef specializes in what he calls “post-modern American cuisine,” which diners can experience via an 11-course tasting menu ($121) with optional fish or caviar supplements. Expect playful plates such as a delicata squash egg custard with Asian pear and filet mignon with beet millefeuille and roasted celery root puree. 

Andrea Bartley

Suragan

After working as a sous chef at Marlena while shoring up the idea for his own restaurant, chef Jongmoon Choi and the ever-expanding Mins Group opened Suragan in the Tenderloin in December. The fine-dining Korean restaurant serves a 12-course tasting menu ($135) that features dishes inspired by ancient cookbooks. The restaurant is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday with two seatings per evening. 

Dishes of braised beef short rib, walnut ssamjang, rice, and lettuce leaves, from Suragan, a new restaurant in San Francisco. Nathan Choi

Outta Sight Pizza

This much-anticipated restaurant extension of chef Eric Ehler’s pizza pop-up Outta Sight rolled open slowly during the fall, but as of the top of the new year, it is open for expanded hours from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, with delivery available after 5 p.m. On the menu look for floppy slices and excellent whole pies — plus hoagies, wings, salads, and fries expected to be added to the lineup soon.

A pizza topped with spinach and mortadella. Outta Sight

HK Lounge Bistro

Four years after its previous location was destroyed in a fire, a beloved San Francisco destination for dim sum has returned. The San Francisco Chronicle has the full story of HK Lounge Bistro’s big comeback. It’s open for lunch and dinner on the ground floor of a resident highrise at 99 Rausch Street in SoMa, and the menu resurfaces many fan-favorite dishes including crispy baked pork buns and steamed har gow. 

The Laundromat SF

Though the restaurant’s name might call to mind baskets of warm laundry, not hot bagels, the former is exactly what you’ll find at the Laundromat SF, which opened just up the block from the historic Balboa Theather in the Outer Richmond in November. It’s a joint venture from Jaimi Holker, who owns CinemaSF and runs the Balboa Theater with her partner Adam Bergeron, and Jenna O’Connell and Kevin Rodgers, the duo behind Holey Roller Bagels. The result is a busy bagel operation by day and a neighborhood pizzeria — with a beverage list of beer, natural wine, and low-ABV cocktails — by night. 

Lauren Saria

LOQUAT

The former 20th Century Cafe space is now home to Loquat, a bakery from the folks behind Four Barrel Coffee and the Mill and a former pastry chef from Tartine Bakery. The Chronicle reports the Hayes Valley cafe serves “baked goods inspired by the Jewish diaspora and Levantine flavors.” Coffee, of course, comes from Four Barrel, which is now owned by Tal Mor and Jodi Geren, who took over the business after the former CEO was ousted on the heels of allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

Mohammad Gorjestani

Piglet & Co.

At long last, chef Chris Yang and partner Marcelle Gonzales Yang put down roots for their formerly itinerant businesses Hen-Zhi and El Chino Grande. Piglet & Co., the couple’s first restaurant, serves “Asian comfort food” out of a moody space that’s inspired by Taiwanese night markets. The tight menu is still in flux but standouts include sweet-savory honey walnut shrimp and pork toast, confited Savoy cabbage, and chashao pork ssam. With a liquor license still in the works, beverage options include tea and sodas for now. Sunday brunch, a multi-course set menu for $45, launched in late February. 

Sliced pork belly on plate with leaves of lettuce and herbs. Patricia Chang

LUNA Kitchen & Cocktails

Less than two years after its debut on Valencia Street, Luna is back with a new menu and a focus on serving Mission District locals. The team behind the restaurant banished the old American brasserie vibes in favor of a “very Twin Peaks” aesthetic (bold red accents and quirky art) and a menu where almost every entree comes in under $20. There’s an emphasis on approachable and shareable plates, including koji-marinated fried chicken and adobo chicken wings.

Shandru Photography

Delfina Restaurant

After taking a years-long break spurred by the pandemic, Delfina is back in action on 18th Street — and the more-than-20-year-old restaurant has a fresh new look. Co-owners Annie and Craig Stoll are proud to show off a new bar and a new private dining room, where fans old and new can get a taste of the restaurant’s pioneering Cal-Italian cuisine. The spaghetti pomodoro returns to the menu, of course, along with mortadella pizza, porcini and cippolini spiedi, and dry-aged duck breast from Liberty Ducks.

Related Maps

Damansara Co.

Tracy Goh found a permanent home for her Malaysian pop-up Damansara in Noe Valley, opening her first petite restaurant in mid-October. There are no reservations and just a few small tables so you’ll need to be patient if you want to be rewarded with small plates like cereal and salted egg fried chicken, sticky barbecue pork sandwiches, and the spicy noodle dish laksa, made with either meat or done vegetarian. 

Aron Pruiett

Related Maps