Foodie Favorite: The Roasted Chicken & Warm Bread Salad at Zuni Café

Zuni Café is a San Francisco classic, serving wonderful Californian fare since 1979. One of the restaurant's most celebrated dishes is the incredible whole brick oven roasted chicken, served over a warm bread salad and greens, and dressed with currants, pine nuts, and scallions.  We love trying their seasonal starters, but always want this as our main at dinnertime - you can never go wrong with the delicious dish on a cool autumn night.

Make a reservation at Zuni Café here, or learn to make the chicken at home.

Recipes from our Favorite San Francisco Restaurants

Swan Oyster Depot - Crab Louie

 The classic Polk Street seafood joint serves a perfect version of this old school dish.

Delfina - Broccoli Rabe Pizza

Delfina has become the standard in a city with a strong Italian heritage.

AL's Place - Galangal-Braised Pork Belly With Trout Roe

AL's Place was named the best new restaurant in the country in this year's Bon Appetit - this inventive Asian dish is just one of the reasons it took the top spot.

Tartine - Country Bread

This recipe takes some time, but once you get the hang off it it's fairly simple and reliable - it makes an incredible loaf of bread.

Craftsman & Wolves - Valrhona Chocolate Chip Cookies

This bakery makes so many delicious and unique pastries.  This cookie recipe is one that's easy enough to make at home.

What We're Talking About This Week

The San Francisco food scene has been blowing up lately, but the most in the know group of the best dining spots are the chefs.  This list of their ten favorite local restaurants is a great reference.

Los Angeles is a great place for a staycation, especially on a long weekend.  There are plenty of things going on, from the fair to theater to live music, over the next few days to keep Angelenos in town...

If you're up in NorCal for the weekend, Goop just released their updated guides to the Bay Area.  We like this one for the Napa Valley.

Also in NorCal is the Sausalito Arts Festival.  This annual event features the promised arts, along with lots of food and several bands.

LA hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984, and they are bidding on it a third time for 2024.

Foodie Favorite: The Pasta at Farina

San Francisco's Farina is an airy, light filled space in a prime part of the Mission - just around the corner from Tartine, and a couple of blocks from Dolores Park.  It's an elegant restaurant for the neighborhood, but still has a very local charm - NorCal meets Northern Italy.  We love their wine list and they have great starters, but we keep going back for their pastas.  The menu changes regularly, but it's always a good day when their incredible Mandilli di seta al pesto Ligure di mandorle is available.  The Mandilli is a handmade handkerchief pasta, covered in a generous green coating of basil and almond pesto - one of us is not a fan of pinenuts, used in most pesto we see in the U.S., and was completely won over by this dish.  We would also highly recommend Farina's Pasta ripiena alla norma.  Another handmade pasta, this dish is similar to a ravioli, filled with a delicious eggplant mousse, covered in a tomato-basil sauce, and topped with shaved ricotta salata.

Mandilli di seta al pesto Ligure di mandorle

Pasta ripiena alla norma

You can learn more about the restaurant here.

Foodie Favorite: Gjusta

If you live in Los Angeles and work anywhere near Venice Beach, we recommend heading to Gjusta for lunch. From the same co-owners who run Gjelina (which we also love), it features breads baked on site, charcuterie, cheese, salads, pastries and fresh juices.

Everything is on display in really fantastic glass cases, grouped as little individual shops.

Grab a little of everything and head to the beach for a lunchtime picnic. We got a caprese sandwich, blondie, herbed goat cheese, salad and sparkling limeade. You can view their menu here, and preorder to save time.

Foodie Favorite: The Commissary at The Line Hotel

Located in Koreatown, The Commissary is our favorite of the three restaurants in The Line Hotel. Heading out towards the pool on the second floor, this eatery is housed in a greenhouse. The decor is very eclectic, with multiple varieties of plants, mismatched silverware, and many different styles of cloth napkins. There are a variety of seating options from the bar, to small tables that can accommodate four, to family style tables able to accommodate large groups.

The menu consists entirely of pictures of main seasonal ingredients, and the waiters explain what the dishes are for whichever item interests you. The drink menu has a variety of cocktails served in recycled containers, and also offers fresh juice (that you can spike).

The roasted carrots were our favorite. They had a rich, meaty flavor.

A light, tasty salad.

Followed by a giant tasty burger.

More information on their website here. 

For a reservation call 213.381.7411 or book through Open Table.

Five Los Angeles Restaurants on Our To-Eat List

A Feast from Night + Market Song

1. Night + Market Song - This Northern Thai spot in Silverlake expands upon the Night + Market restaurant already in West Hollywood, with more street food treats and delicious noodle dishes.  We can't get enough of their flavors.

The Foie Gras at Redbird

2. Redbird - Chef Neal Fraser's Redbird occupies a beautiful space in DTLA, and has an enticing cocktail menu to go with his new-American cuisine.  Fraser also brought in a Bottega Louie-veteran pastry chef, so desserts are sure to be magical as well.

Pok Pok Phat Thai's Storefront

3. Pok Pok Phat Thai - Portland chef Andy Ricker took his take on Thai and wings first to NYC, and now he's finally bringing his dishes to LA's Chinatown.  Unfortunately we will have to wait until after their Springtime expansion for the famed Pok Pok wings, but we will be trying his Phat Thai first.

A Cassell's Milkshake

4. Cassell's Hamburgers - This old school hamburger joint in Koreatown has a classic soda fountain menu and some delicious looking burgers.  Our only in-advance gripe is that they don't serve fries.

Union's Porchetta

5. Union - This Italian gem in Pasadena was recently featured on Bravo's Best New Restaurant, and we could not get over how amazing everything looked.  We are dying to try their porchetta, meatballs, and Sunday sauce.

All images via Instagram

Five San Francisco Restaurants on Our To-Eat List

Oysters at Sous Beurre

1. Sous Beurre - This French Bistro seems to be a sleeper hit.  Their menu is seasonal, but features a wide variety of the standards we know and love - everything from their SF-style take on the classic French bouillabaisse, to a rabbit rillette tartine, to duck confit. 

Liloliho's Roasted Octopus with curried raisins, castelvetrano, butterball potatoes, & cilantro

2. Liholiho Yacht Club - This Hawaiian eatery is in all of our favorite SF-foodie's Instagram feeds right now.  The menu is inventive, the space looks gorgeous, and we need to get a reservation ASAP.

Aatxe's mushrooms a la plancha with smoked yolk and nettles

3. Aatxe - This Basque-Californian restaurant is expected to open this month, and we are dying to see what delights are in store from Nor Cal native, Chef Ryan Pollnow, and the rest of the team from the Ne Timeas restaurant group.

Brunch at Schmidt's means waffles, eggs, and Schnitzel

4. Schmidt's - This German spot in the Mission has a menu full of delicious sounding treats - featuring pretzels, pickles, and schnitzel.  We can't wait to try pretty much everything, but are struggling to decide if we should go for brunch or dinner first.

Burma Love's Tea Leaf Salad

5. Burma Love - A dressed up version of the beloved Burma Superstar, Burma Love also features Myanmar cuisine in its Mission location.  We are going to be sampling the Tea Leaf and Rainbow Salads, along with all of the curries we can eat.

All photos via Instagram