San Francisco's Best New Restaurants

San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer's guide to San Francisco's best new restaurants, including Central Kitchen, Ramen Shop, Redd Wood, Rich Table, Saison, Abbot's Cellar, Bull Valley Roadhouse, Campo Fina, Comal, and Original Joe's.

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Looking for the best restaurants in San Francisco? Look no further. Whether you're hungry for the best burgers, the best pizza, or the best ramen, we've found the city's top new dining spots making the culinary scene. In fact, we didn't stop at San Francisco—we're spotlighting the top new eateries all over the world. Read our full list of the world's best new restaurants or tour them vicariously via our photo slideshow.

The nominator: Michael Bauer

His credentials: Restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle; director of the largest food and wine staff of any U.S. newspaper; member of the James Beard Foundation Restaurant Awards Committee. Follow him on Twitter @michaelbauer1.

Central Kitchen

The scene: A back-to­-basics Californian 60-seat place from the owners of very-popular Flour & Water. A roof garden yields the vegetables, herbs, fruits, and honey used in the kitchen, and a covered patio is heated for year-round alfresco eating.

The food: Simple classics, like radishes with cultured butter and sea salt, and elaborate combos such as roasted hen with smoked-oyster relish and green puree.

Dish to get: Nothing’s perennial, but the $89 six-course tasting menu has the most intricate medley of tastes (3000 20th St.; 415-826-7004; entrées from $24).

Ramen Shop

The scene: Three Chez Panisse veterans bring the feel of a tiny Tokyo noodle shop to an Oakland place with a long Douglas fir counter and rusted stools.

The food: The three ramen on the menu change nightly along with a couple of appetizers such as citrus and greens topped with flakes of wok-smoked cod. Order an exceptional ice-cream sandwich for dessert.

Dish to get: Ramen with pork broth, spit-roasted pork, a soy-marinated egg, pickled ginger, and Mendocino nori (5812 College Ave.; 510-788-6370; entrées from $13).

Redd Wood

The scene: The owner of the elegant Redd in Yountville, California, took a casual turn for this pizza-centric 90-seater with a sun-warmed bar and dining room lit by fixtures set in massive copper buoys.

The food: There’s excellent pizza, of course, as well as house-cured meats (displayed in a glass case by the bar), meatballs in tomato sauce, and seasonal pastas.

Dish to get: Chopped salad with salami, chickpeas, black olives, and red wine vinaigrette—a mashup of California freshness and rustic Italian zest (6755 Washington St.; 707-299-5030; pizzas from $11).

 
Rich Table

The scene: The city’s best chefs spend off-hours at this 50-seat storefront by married duo Evan and Sarah Rich. Its farmhouse feel—whitewashed barn-wood walls, scarred-wood tables—belies the four-star service and food.

The food: The changing New American menu might feature lasagna with chicken, artichokes, and chanterelles with a hint of Douglas fir; or spaghetti with goat cheese, peas, and mint.

**Dish to get: **Sardine chips—thin potato slices stuffed with fish, then fried and served with horseradish cream (199 Gough St.; 415-355-9085; entrées from $17).

Saison

The scene: A pop-up turned into one of the Bay Area’s most expensive eateries—the 18-seat Mission District restaurant serves an 18- to 20-course menu for $298, plus wine pairings for $148. The anti-luxury look—concrete floors, 35-foot unfinished ceilings—appeals to the rich Internet set.

The food: Most dishes are touched by a flame tableside. Before that, intense preparations mean that blue-wing sea robin might be draped with a gelée made from its roasted bones and topped with fried seaweed and a dusting of herring roe.

**Dish to get: **The brassica category—dehydrated, raw, fried, and toasted veggies with smoky broth and grains (178 Townsend St.; 415-828-7990; tasting menu, $298).

Abbot's Cellar

The scene: Beer is at the center of this 100-seat Mission District restaurant’s manifesto, where dozens of filament lights hang from the 25-foot trussed-wood ceiling like stars in the sky, and affluent start-up guys come for the $55 four-course menu ($75 with beer pairings).

The food: Simple classics, like radishes with cultured butter and sea salt, and elaborate combos such as roasted hen with smoked-oyster relish and green puree.

Dish to get: If it’s on the menu, the bone marrow topped with pastrami and served with pickled mustard seeds and lacy greens (742 Valencia St.; 415-626-8700; entrées from $23).

Bull Valley Roadhouse

The scene: A restaurant that turned a ghost town into a food destination. In Port Costa—a tiny valley off I-80 that had a brief moment of glory as a wheat-shipping center in the 1800s—the lovingly restored dining room is all Victorian touches and nods to the past: As he presents the pork stew topped with a wedge of lime, a waiter points out that sailors needed citrus to combat scurvy.

The food: Everything is served family style: fried chicken with mashed potatoes and country gravy, or whole fish cooked in parchment. The pre-Prohibition cocktails include a Bee’s Knees, with gin, lemon, and local wildflower honey.

Dish to get: Deep-fried green beans dusted with chili salt—a perfect bite to go with just about any cocktail (14 Canyon Lake Dr.; 510-787-1135; entrées from $26).

Campo Fina

The scene: Right off Healdsburg’s main square, this place capitalizes on Sonoma’s fine weather with a kitted-out patio—there’s a full bar, a wood-fired oven, a prep kitchen in a wood-framed shed, and a boccie court.

The food: “Tiny Bites” of tuna-stuffed peppers and hard-boiled eggs with salsa verde and pickled celery, or “Larger Bites” of braised lamb shanks and outstanding pizza.

Dish to get: Crispy fried quail with sautéed spinach, cardoncello mushrooms, roasted potatoes, and a drizzle of saba (330 Healdsburg Ave.; 707-395-4640; entrées from $15).

Comal

The scene: An authentic Mexican restaurant that doesn’t feel like one, Berkeley’s 140-seat Comal trades serape prints for raw-concrete walls. There’s a party vibe, but it’s not noisy thanks to innovative acoustics by audio lab Meyer Sound.

The food: Chef Matt Gandin’s refined style is visible in quesadillas with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and epazote, and tacos with wood-grilled rock cod and pickled cabbage.

Dish to get: Whole spit-roasted chicken with fire-roasted fingerling potatoes (2020 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley; 510-926-6300; entrées from $9).

Original Joe's

The scene: An institution for more than 75 years, Original Joe’s was destroyed by a fire in 2007; its new North Beach iteration has the tufted red booths and tuxedo-clad waiters for which the original was known.

The food: Classics like Joe’s Special—scrambled eggs, spinach, and ground beef—and an updated liver and onions topped with strips of crisp bacon.

Dish to get: Joe’s Famous Hamburger Sandwich—a 12-ounce patty mixed with onions and mesquite grilled—is tasty and ergonomic: The buttered, toasted baguette is scooped out so it can cradle the meat (601 Union St.; 415-775-4877; entrées from $12).

Photographs of Redd Wood, Ramen Shop, Rich Table, and Saison by Erin Kunkel

Photographs of Abbot's Cellar, Bull Valley Roadhouse, Central Kitchen, Campo Fina, and Comal by Julien Capmeil

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