35 Things Every San Franciscan Must Add to Their Foodie Bucket List

Thank goodness for San Francisco’s hills—we need them to work off all the fabulous food we’re having for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But with so many great options, sometimes it’s hard to settle on just one dish. So the next time you’re feeling stuck about what to eat, pull up our list of the 35 things you absolutely have to try. Consider this your bona fide foodie bucket list. 

There are many great burgers in this city, but none that our mouth waters more for than the Americana burger at Causwells, which comes with American cheese, special sauce and a side of crispy onions that are better than fries.

You certainly can’t go wrong with the carnitas burrito at La Taqueria, a rice-less wonder, stuffed with pinto beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream and guacamole.

The roast chicken and bread salad at Zuni Cafe is the stuff of legends, and with good reason. The recipe has been widely shared, but nothing can touch the original. 

The dry-fried wings at San Tung are battered and deep-fried goodness with garlic, ginger and roasted red peppers. Mmm…

Oysters on the half shell, Dungeness crab salad, Boston clam chowder—we can’t even begin to choose a favorite at Swan Oyster Depot, so why not order all of the above?

The special breakfast sandwich at Devil’s Teeth Baking Company—scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, avocado and lemon-garlic aioli on a house-made buttermilk biscuit—is the secret to curing any hangover.

The cinnamon toast at Trouble Coffee may have started the whole $4 artisanal toast craze that swept the nation, but honestly, it’s delicious.

These dishes from The Slanted Door are the simple kind of comfort foods with complex Vietnamese flavors that we crave on the regular.

We swoon for Flour + Water’s freshly made pasta, especially the sinfully rich and delicious rabbit pappardelle when it’s on the menu. But if we’re being honest, we’ll eat anything they’re serving.

The House of Prime Rib is about as classic as it gets. The super-old-school, English-style restaurant has been slinging perfect slabs of meat, carved tableside, since the 1940s. 

Brined before taking two turns in the deep fryer, the pickled french fries at Al’s Place taste like the best salt-and-vinegar chips we’ve ever had.

When the grandmother of classic Chinese food in California, Cecilia Chiang, calls the explosive chicken at Z & Y Restaurant her favorite dish, we listen. 

With a side of raclette sauce, these babies from Rich Table are so popular that they inspired the sweet potato fries dusted with porcini powder at the chefs' newest restaurant RT Rotisserie.

Cue all the nostalgia for your favorite ’90s dessert breakfast. Pair it with a Bloody Mary, and you’ll have the brunch of your dreams at Foreign Cinema.

In case you’re not up on your California facts, the state bird is the quail. At State Bird Provisions, the signature quail dish is fried and served on a bed of onions, and you don’t want to miss it.

You can’t go wrong with any of the overstuffed sandwiches at Ike’s Place, but we especially like the Ménage à Trois, with three different cheeses, three different sauces (plus the addictive Dirty Sauce that comes on the side) and halal chicken.

It’s been a cult classic for more than a decade. You can even buy the Burma Superstar dressing in San Francisco markets.

Served with bottarga and fennel vinaigrette, it’s so memorable we sometimes have dreams we’re eating it at Octavia.

Every time we need a little pick-me-up, we treat ourselves to Greek yogurt fro-yo with baklava crumbles and syrup at Souvla.

In business since 1849, Tadich Grill is the go-to place for cioppino brimming with clams, prawns, scallops, bay shrimp, crabmeat, whitefish and mussels.

It’s pretty much illegal to not get a heaping order of garlic fries at a Giants game. Just be sure to bring the breath mints.

After braving the long line at Plow, you deserve the lemon ricotta pancakes, which we assume are made with clouds and fairy dust.

Come for the full dim sum experience at Yank Sing and do not leave without ordering the delicate, soup-filled xiao long bao dumplings.

No surprise here. Nothing tops a scoop (or two) of Bi-Rite’s salted caramel ice cream.

The gingerbread pancakes—fluffy rounds with Meyer lemon curd and Bosc pears—at Zazie are so famous they draw two-hour-plus lines every day of the week. Even Adele stopped in to see what they were all about.