Where to dine near Ballet, Opera
Thirty years ago, restaurants in Hayes Valley were heavily dependent on feeding diners before or after the San Francisco Opera, Symphony and Ballet. But with each passing year, the area has become a more coveted place to live. The result is a wider variety of restaurant options that cater to residents, adding to Hayes Valley’s neighborhood character. Here are my favorites of the new restaurants that have further enriched the dining scene.
Little Gem: An all-star team struck out from the Thomas Keller group to open this bright, airy restaurant that answers the prayers of many people on restricted diets.
The food is not only satisfying but it’s also made without gluten, dairy or refined sugar, not even the Valhrona chocolate pudding where coconut cream makes the dessert every bit as good as the more conventional version.
Specialties include rice bowls with such things as Korean-style grilled beef; spiced hummus with non-bread; and Asian-style fried chicken. The more substantial chef ’s plates include salmon with corn and cherry tomato relish, and roast chicken breast with marble potatoes, melted leaks, mushrooms and sorrel pesto.
400 Grove St. (at Gough) (415) 914-0501 or www.littlegem.restaurant. Open daily for lunch and dinner (9 a.m. on weekends). Beer and wine. Main courses: $12.75-$27.50.
Souvla: Sometimes you simply want a quick bite, but you don’t want to skimp on quality. Souvla fulfills that desire.
The Greek-inspired restaurant may offer only counter service, but the food is memorable. Pork, chicken and lamb are spit roasted, and the meat, along with appropriate vegetables and sauce, is wrapped in pita or served on top of salad greens. Vegetarians can order roasted white sweet potato.
Sides include excellent fries and traditional avgolemono soup. There’s also an all-Greek wine list and Greek soft-serve yogurt for dessert.
517 Hayes St.; (415) 400-5458 or www.souvlasf.com. Open daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Beer and wine. Main courses: $10-$14.
Lers Ros: While the quality of the Thai food has diminished with the opening of each additional restaurant — there are now three — Lers Ros still rates ahead of most other places. The hard surfaces — rock walls and low ceiling — make for deafening sound levels. The owners put foam panels on the ceiling, which helps a bit but still makes conversing a chore.
It’s a good place for a quick bite before or after an event. Chef-owner Tom Narupon Silargorn features many standards such as pad thai and some more unusual combinations using alligator, rabbit, quail, boar, frog and venison.
307 Hayes St. (near Franklin); (415) 874-9661 or www.lersros. com. Open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Beer and wine. Main courses: $10.95-$23.95.
Monsieur Benjamin: Corey Lee’s follow-up to his four-star Benu reimagines the French brasserie with modern and refined surroundings.
The food is good, but you’ll pay a substantial price for such items as country pate ($18) and cassoulet with beans, duck confit and sausage ($36).
For a true celebration, try a glass of Champagne and the trout roe and creme fraiche in a crisp silver-dollar-size pastry crust.
This is also a great place for seafood platters and dessert, such as a classic marjolaine with a dozen layers of chocolate cake, nuts and buttercream.
451 Gough St. (near Ivy); (415) 403-2233 or www.monsieurbenjamin.com. Dinner nightly. Lunch Saturday-Sunday. Full bar. Main courses: $22-$48.
Plaj: Old-world elegance is a word that best describes this modern Scandinavian restaurant in the often-overlooked Inn at the Opera on Fulton Street. The rich woodwork, fireplace and white-clothed tables make Roberth Sundell’s handiwork shine even more.
The chef was born is Sweden, and he artfully blends the flavors of his homeland with those of his adopted home. His menu features beet-cured gravlax with sorrel sorbet; and three creative preparations of herring, including what he calls “Grandma’s classic” with a marinade tasting of sweet pickles.
Elk often graces the menu as does classic, and excellent, Swedish meatballs with pan gravy and lingonberries.
333 Fulton St. (between Gough and Franklin); (415) 294-8925 or www.plajrestaurant.com. Dinner Sunday-Tuesday. Full bar. Main courses: $20-$38.
Rich Table: Dining at Rich Table is an event. Evan and Sarah Rich have created a standout menu that combines sophisticated and whimsical combinations: a crispy pork schnitzel topped with what tastes like a scoop of classic, creamy onion dip; pasta with chanterelles and Douglas fir cream; and grilled avocado with watermelon.
The interior has a modest, understated appeal combining rustic barn siding with industrial metal elements to create an interior that dovetails with the food.
199 Gough St. (at Oak); (415) 355-9085 or www.richtablesf.com. Dinner nightly. Full bar. Main courses: $29-$39.
Nojo Ramen Tavern: Most ramen is enriched with pork, but at this restaurant, the first U.S. outlet of AP Company, which owns more than 200 shops in Japan, chicken creates a velvet-textured milky broth.
The broth and noodles can be embellished with other ingredients, including a slowbraised chicken leg. For vegetarians, there’s also ramen with miso-seasoned ground soybean/brown rice and greens, beet chips, okra and garlic oil.
Other items on the menu include tofu-avocado salad; spicy Hamachi fanned around a pile of green onions; and umami chicken wings.
231 Franklin St. (near Hayes), (415) 896-4587 or www.nojosf. com. Dinner Tuesday-Sunday; lunch Sunday. Beer, wine and sake. Ramen: $15-$18.50.
Petit Crenn: Dominique Crenn pays homage to her Breton grandmother in this small but airy-feeling restaurant with a five-course, fixedprice menu, with a la carte items served at the bar.
The seafood menu changes nightly but generally includes a salad, followed by something like grilled Mount Lassen trout with butter beans and artichokes, followed by an embellished cheese course and dessert, which recently was a pear tarte tatin with candied walnuts and sorbet.
609 Hayes St. (near Laguna); (415) 864-1744 or www.petit crenn.com. Lunch (or brunch) and dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Beer and wine. Fixed-price menu: $87 (includes service).
A Mano: This Italian restaurant is in its premier season on Hayes Street, but it seems destined for a long run.
Several factors support that premise. Chef Freedom Rains makes all pasta in house, and it’s as good as you’ll find at places like Flour + Water but at much more reasonable prices, ranging from $14 to $16.
Pizza here is among the best around, and the small plates make the best of the season: fried pole beans with caper aioli, cauliflower with lemon and chiles, and squid with corn and shishito peppers.
Cocktails are expertly rendered, service is friendly and efficient, and the interior has a modern industrial vibe that feels very current.
One drawback: No reservations are taken, and there may be a long wait at prime time.
450 Hayes St. (near Gough), (415) 506-7401 or www.amanosf. com. Dinner nightly until 11 p.m.; midnight on weekends. Full bar. Main courses: $12-$16.
Barcino: After the great success of Bellota in SoMa, the Absinthe group turned its Cajun-inspired Boxing Room into this Spanish restaurant. The results confirm that you can’t go wrong with well-prepared Spanish food.
Chef Ryan McIlwraith, who also oversees the Bellota kitchen, serves tapas, including its famous tomato bread, oysters with barrel-aged Sherry mignonette, smoked salmon with pickled plum and cauliflower fritters with pickled cauliflower and caper-raisin puree. Don’t pass up the lamb meatballs and the plancha-charred octopus.
Two daily changing paellas can serve four, if you order smaller plates to start.
The interior has been gently redone with a Spanish vibe, but the open kitchen and large plate-glass windows on two sides remain.
399 Grove St. (at Gough); (415) 430-6590 or www.barcinosf.com. Dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Full bar. Prices (medium/large plates): $19-$24.
Cala: Gabriela Cámara, who also owns Contramar in Mexico City, moved to San Francisco to open this sophisticated Mexican seafood restaurant, where sourcing is as exacting as you’ll find at Chez Panisse.
The interior evokes a modern patio, and the food has a light touch, whether it’s the trout tostadas with avocado and fried leeks or mussels encased in masa and steamed in a banana leaf.
The menu includes whole fish, whole roasted sweet potatoes, and desserts such as prickly-pear sorbet.
149 Fell St. (near Franklin); (415) 660-7701 or http://www.bar cinosf.com . Full bar. Dinner nightly. Main courses: $18-$30.
B-Side: The third time may be the charm for this restaurant in the SFJazz Center. Two earlier concepts — Southern and Mexican — both failed. Then earlier this year the Salt Partners Group, which has invested in such places as Atelier Crenn and Humphry Slocombe, reopened the restaurant with an appropriately jazzy feel. One wall, for example, is filled with jazz LPs. Pods of sofas and coffee tables fill the perimeter of the room, with dining tables in the center. The menu concentrates on small plates and sandwiches, but the cocktails are excellent, and the hamburger is one of the best around. There are also falafel, tater tots, and braised pork shoulder with fried eggplant and semolina cavatelli in tomato sauce.
205 Franklin St. (at Fell); (415) 287-6599 or www.b-sidesf.com. Dinner Wednesday-Sunday. Full bar. Main courses: $12-$17.
Corridor: Ryan Cole, one of the partners in the Hi Neighbor group that includes Stones Throw and Trestle, lives just five blocks from its newest restaurant on Van Ness and Fell. He designed this restaurant as a place he wanted in the neighborhood.
The expansive dining room and bar, in a new high-rise apartment complex, features 20-foot floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides. There’s also a quieter mezzanine for those who want a more refined experience.
The menu includes a chicken and avocado Cobb salad; a reinvention of the lobster roll using shrimp; and substantial dishes such as a half chicken with a Calabrian chile vinaigrette and broccolini; vegetable pot pie; and garganelli Bolognese ($16).
Don’t pass up the cheddar and chive monkey bread ($7) with a crackling top and a puffy interior. For dessert: ’Nilla pudding tart ($8).
100 Van Ness (at Fell); (415) 834-5684 or www.corridorsf.com. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Beer and wine. Main courses: $15-$23.
Hazel: A boisterous atmosphere that includes an active bar, 16 video monitors and two billiard tables might not seem like a natural fit if you’re heading to a Ballet or Symphony performance, but the quality of the Southern-inspired food might persuade you.
Casey Hatwig has a fine grasp of American comfort food as shown in the golden and juicy fried chicken that comes with two sides, or in the slab of ribs ($18 for half rack/ $23 for whole).
If you want something lighter, there’s a kale Caesar. For something stronger, the restaurant stocks more than 200 whiskey selections.
1446 Market St. (near Fell); (415) 851-8562 or www.hazelsf.com. Dinner nightly until midnight or later. Full bar. Main courses: $15-$21.
Robin: In the past year the number of Bay Area restaurants serving a sushi omakase menu has exploded. Robin is the newest — and one of the best. Chef-owner Adam Tortosa puts together the precision he’s learned working in top Japanese restaurants with the California sensibilities he acquired at 1760 in San Francisco and Ink in Los Angeles.
That may translate to Mount Lassen trout nigiri with a thin
slice of peach; hirame with a fine mince of Granny Smith apples; or lingcod sashimi with slices of strawberries tucked around the fish.
The menu starts at $79 and goes up to $179, depending on what you order and your appetite. However, you’ll still be satisfied at the lower price, especially after spooning into the final course of sake lees soft-serve ice cream served with pistachios and fruit.
620 Gough St. (near Fulton); (415) 548-2429 or www.robinsanfrancisco.com. Dinner nightly. Fixed price menu $79-$179.
RT Rotisserie: Evan and Sarah Rich’s second restaurant is a near-perfect answer for those wishing to dine before a performance. The counter service speeds things along, and the food is as good as the performances to follow.
The short menu concentrates on rotisserie chicken, which is brined for 24 hours, hung for two days to firm and intensify the flesh, and then cooked on the rotisserie with a quick pass under the broiler to further crisp the skin. There are also a couple of seasonal sides, a soothing chicken soup and several excellent sandwiches.
For vegetable lovers there is a whole rotisserie cauliflower. For dessert: soft-serve milk ice and a seasonal fruit sorbet.
The interior, with tile and wood floor, paneled walls and steel inserts, is also a cut above what you’d expect from this fast-casual style of restaurant.
101 Oak St. (at Franklin); (415) 829-7086 or www.rtrotisserie.com. Daily 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Beer and wine. Main courses: $9-$12.
Nightbird: When you want to pull out the stops, this is a very special place. Chef-owner Kim Alter features a $125 fivecourse menu, rich in flavor and technique. Dinner might start light with an intricate melon and basil presentation, followed by a fish course such as Maine lobster with corn and hearts of palm, dry-aged beef with porcini, and then dessert.
It might seem difficult to get through all those courses and still make curtain time, but Alter makes it easy. The five courses can be consumed in about an hour and a half, if desired. Insider tip: Some diners divide dinner into two parts, polishing off the savory courses before the performance, and coming back afterwards for the dessert and a nightcap.
Another option: From 5 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday-Thursday evenings, Alter offers a threecourse option for $75 that features slightly larger courses and a takeaway snack such as a tea cake.
330 Gough St. (at Hayes); (415-829-7565) or www.nightbirdrestaurant.com. Dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Full bar. Menu: $75-$125.
August 1 Five: For those looking for Indian food with a creative bent, this contemporary restaurant is a godsend. Chef Manish Tyagi, who previously worked at Rasika West End in Washington, D.C., uses classic preparations as a road map. He then adds his own POV. An example: In the dish gol gappa, the crisp wheat shells filled with spiced potatoes are accompanied by five small carafes of colorful, intensely flavored waters: mint and cilantro, tamarind, mango, grape and fruit punch.
Other standouts include pistachio-crusted lamb chops and spare ribs, with Brussels sprouts arranged on and around the stack of meat. A fist-size soy meatball comes with a surprise filling of Monterey Jack cheese. It sits atop potato threads and a sauce of tomato, watermelon seeds and fenugreek.
The interior has a similar modern approach. The colors take inspiration from a peacock, with indigo and teal booths and walls.
524 Van Ness Ave. (at Redwood); (415) 771-5900 or www.august1five.com. Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Full bar. Main courses: $20-$34.