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Jim Sullivan

Smoky, Savory, and Unexpectedly Flavored Desserts Around San Francisco

For anyone indifferent to chocolate and cream

by Flora Tsapovsky
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by Flora Tsapovsky
Jim Sullivan

After a fantastic meal, dessert should be the sweet finale that can really secure a meal’s memorability. But what if it’s too sweet, too rich, or simply too overwhelming? What if your options are another bread pudding, another galette, or yet another chocolate-and-cream concoction? While this can sometimes be the case even in the finest San Francisco restaurants, there are stunning desserts for those who love a light, unusual, tangy, or even savory dessert. Here are 10 rebellious desserts that don’t play by the usual rules.

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Tapioca pudding at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

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Not all puddings are created equal. This one, from the popular waterfront restaurant La Mar, isn’t too sweet and extremely light. The silky tapioca pudding is gently flavored with coconut and topped with cubed mango, frozen raspberries, and a scoop of vegan avocado ice cream. The tapioca pearls do wonders to the pudding’s texture, while the fruit puts a tangy spin on this comforting dessert. 

PIER 1 1/2 The Embarcadero N, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 397-8880
(415) 397-8880

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Fruit cup at Boulevard

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Not enough desserts in the city rely on the power of nuanced bitterness — but the sophisticated fruit cup at this Ken Fulk-designed restaurant remedies that. The dessert consists of blood orange sorbet, cultured coconut yogurt, slivers of winter citrus, and, to finish out with a bang, Campari caramel. After a rich meal, it’s almost impossible to crave anything else. 

1 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 543-6084
(415) 543-6084
Boulevard

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Date cake at G O Z U

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This intimate, open-fire FiDi restaurant artfully weaves wagyu beef throughout its tasting menu, so why not feature it in a dessert, too? Date cake might sound ordinary, but the miniature Medjool date pastry, also available a la carte, gets a tableside pour of “tallow scotch” — caramel sauce made with wagyu beef tallow instead of butter and scorched with special charcoal. The result is smoky, a bit savory, and pleasantly unusual overall. 

201 Spear St #120, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 523-9745
(415) 523-9745

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Mochi cake at Bodega SF

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The springy, chewy texture of mochi makes a really fun alternative to dough-heavy pies and cakes. This excellent family-run Vietnamese restaurant perfumes its cake and colors it electric-green thanks to pandan and serves it with a scoop of lychee gelato. The play of textures and flavors is as memorable as it is refreshing. 

138 Mason St, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 655-9341
(415) 655-9341
Lauren Saria

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Hibiscus granita at Tenderheart 

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At the new restaurant at the Line hotel, this chilly and surprising dessert makes the ideal antidote to saccharine treats. Floral hibiscus granita meets carbonated, biting, nearly-frozen grapes, with a tiny dollop of soft, lightly sweetened almond ice cream to tie it all together.  Each spoon wakes up the taste buds, instead of putting them into an end-of-the-meal food coma. 

970 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 523-9797
(415) 523-9797
Jim Sullivan

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Oyster ice cream at Aphotic

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Ice cream might be a vanilla option, but you probably haven’t had ice cream quite like this. The menu at Aphotic, SoMa’s moody new tasting menu restaurant, is fish and seafood-centric, which led to this playful dessert. Fresh oysters get cooked in milk, cream, and sugar, then the mixture is blended and frozen into ice cream that tastes a bit like the ocean. The decision to serve the ice cream, adorned with mignonette “air”, on oyster shells adds to the mind-bending qualities of this dessert. 

816 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 865-0529
(415) 865-0529
A quenelle of ice cream in an oyster shell topped with foam and a sea bean. Aphotic

Seared goat cheese at Uccello Lounge

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Uccello Lounge, the new post-symphony or ballet retreat helmed by chef Loretta Keller, has some surprises up its sleeve when it comes to dessert. Sure, we’re all familiar with the dessert cheese course, but squeaky, seared goat cheese served in a sweet iteration is another story. At Uccello, it’s a slice of Cypress Grove’s excellent Bermuda Triangle cheese, served with satisfying honeycomb and crunchy seeded crackers — a dish of beautiful salty-sweet balance. 

200 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 503-6345
(415) 503-6345

Sunchoke creme brulee at Rosemary and Pine

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While creme brulee normally falls in the rich register, the version at this new Design District restaurant is a bit different, with a seasonal veggie twist. Charred sunchoke skins get steeped into the cream, giving this dessert a savory nuttiness that takes away from any would-be-dense sweetness. The malted vinegar-flavored whipped cream on top adds an acidic kick.

1725 Alameda St, San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 757-0594
(415) 757-0594

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Poached pear at Birch & Rye

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It doesn’t get more decadent than the menu at Birch & Rye, which is why, for dessert, you’d be glad for this super-light, aromatic poached pear. It’s not easy to find a boldly fruit-centric dessert these days, especially not one so intricate. The Anjou pear, cored and served whole, is poached in birch sap — a floral, syrupy liquid derived from the birch tree — and filled with marzipan. For an additional kick of acidity, it’s served with sea buckthorn sorbet.

1320 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 796-2265
(415) 796-2265
Sarah Felker

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Pumpkin wreath at Marlena

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The pastry team at Marlena knows that pumpkin as dessert deserves consideration way beyond Thanksgiving. The tasting menu at the Bernal Heights restaurant ends with two dessert options, and the less typical would be the pumpkin wreath, a gorgeous, moist, and delicately sweetened cake that plays up the earthy qualities of the winter veggie. Yogurt, kumquats, and persimmons lighten up things further. 

300 Precita Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 400-5997
(415) 400-5997

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Tapioca pudding at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

PIER 1 1/2 The Embarcadero N, San Francisco, CA 94105

Not all puddings are created equal. This one, from the popular waterfront restaurant La Mar, isn’t too sweet and extremely light. The silky tapioca pudding is gently flavored with coconut and topped with cubed mango, frozen raspberries, and a scoop of vegan avocado ice cream. The tapioca pearls do wonders to the pudding’s texture, while the fruit puts a tangy spin on this comforting dessert. 

PIER 1 1/2 The Embarcadero N, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 397-8880
(415) 397-8880

Fruit cup at Boulevard

1 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105

Not enough desserts in the city rely on the power of nuanced bitterness — but the sophisticated fruit cup at this Ken Fulk-designed restaurant remedies that. The dessert consists of blood orange sorbet, cultured coconut yogurt, slivers of winter citrus, and, to finish out with a bang, Campari caramel. After a rich meal, it’s almost impossible to crave anything else. 

1 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 543-6084
(415) 543-6084
Boulevard

Date cake at G O Z U

201 Spear St #120, San Francisco, CA 94105

This intimate, open-fire FiDi restaurant artfully weaves wagyu beef throughout its tasting menu, so why not feature it in a dessert, too? Date cake might sound ordinary, but the miniature Medjool date pastry, also available a la carte, gets a tableside pour of “tallow scotch” — caramel sauce made with wagyu beef tallow instead of butter and scorched with special charcoal. The result is smoky, a bit savory, and pleasantly unusual overall. 

201 Spear St #120, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 523-9745
(415) 523-9745

Mochi cake at Bodega SF

138 Mason St, San Francisco, CA 94102

The springy, chewy texture of mochi makes a really fun alternative to dough-heavy pies and cakes. This excellent family-run Vietnamese restaurant perfumes its cake and colors it electric-green thanks to pandan and serves it with a scoop of lychee gelato. The play of textures and flavors is as memorable as it is refreshing. 

138 Mason St, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 655-9341
(415) 655-9341
Lauren Saria

Hibiscus granita at Tenderheart 

970 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102

At the new restaurant at the Line hotel, this chilly and surprising dessert makes the ideal antidote to saccharine treats. Floral hibiscus granita meets carbonated, biting, nearly-frozen grapes, with a tiny dollop of soft, lightly sweetened almond ice cream to tie it all together.  Each spoon wakes up the taste buds, instead of putting them into an end-of-the-meal food coma. 

970 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 523-9797
(415) 523-9797
Jim Sullivan

Oyster ice cream at Aphotic

816 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94107

Ice cream might be a vanilla option, but you probably haven’t had ice cream quite like this. The menu at Aphotic, SoMa’s moody new tasting menu restaurant, is fish and seafood-centric, which led to this playful dessert. Fresh oysters get cooked in milk, cream, and sugar, then the mixture is blended and frozen into ice cream that tastes a bit like the ocean. The decision to serve the ice cream, adorned with mignonette “air”, on oyster shells adds to the mind-bending qualities of this dessert. 

816 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 865-0529
(415) 865-0529
A quenelle of ice cream in an oyster shell topped with foam and a sea bean. Aphotic

Seared goat cheese at Uccello Lounge

200 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

Uccello Lounge, the new post-symphony or ballet retreat helmed by chef Loretta Keller, has some surprises up its sleeve when it comes to dessert. Sure, we’re all familiar with the dessert cheese course, but squeaky, seared goat cheese served in a sweet iteration is another story. At Uccello, it’s a slice of Cypress Grove’s excellent Bermuda Triangle cheese, served with satisfying honeycomb and crunchy seeded crackers — a dish of beautiful salty-sweet balance. 

200 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 503-6345
(415) 503-6345

Sunchoke creme brulee at Rosemary and Pine

1725 Alameda St, San Francisco, CA 94103

While creme brulee normally falls in the rich register, the version at this new Design District restaurant is a bit different, with a seasonal veggie twist. Charred sunchoke skins get steeped into the cream, giving this dessert a savory nuttiness that takes away from any would-be-dense sweetness. The malted vinegar-flavored whipped cream on top adds an acidic kick.

1725 Alameda St, San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 757-0594
(415) 757-0594

Poached pear at Birch & Rye

1320 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114

It doesn’t get more decadent than the menu at Birch & Rye, which is why, for dessert, you’d be glad for this super-light, aromatic poached pear. It’s not easy to find a boldly fruit-centric dessert these days, especially not one so intricate. The Anjou pear, cored and served whole, is poached in birch sap — a floral, syrupy liquid derived from the birch tree — and filled with marzipan. For an additional kick of acidity, it’s served with sea buckthorn sorbet.

1320 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 796-2265
(415) 796-2265
Sarah Felker

Pumpkin wreath at Marlena

300 Precita Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

The pastry team at Marlena knows that pumpkin as dessert deserves consideration way beyond Thanksgiving. The tasting menu at the Bernal Heights restaurant ends with two dessert options, and the less typical would be the pumpkin wreath, a gorgeous, moist, and delicately sweetened cake that plays up the earthy qualities of the winter veggie. Yogurt, kumquats, and persimmons lighten up things further. 

300 Precita Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 400-5997
(415) 400-5997

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