The 10 best new San Francisco restaurants of 2018

Expectations were high when Saison’s Michelin-starred chef announced he was opening a more casual restaurant, but Angler does not disappoint. The waterfront restaurant’s land-and-sea theme is evident in everything from the taxidermy-lined walls to the kitchen’s open flame grill, which churns out grilled rabbit and a beautiful 28oz bone-in porterhouse steak. Don’t forget to try raw bar delicacies like antelope tartar and caviar spread on Parker House rolls.

From former Quince chef Alex Hong, this Cal-Italian eatery does pasta right. Start the night with chilled pea soup or bruleed foie gras parfait before moving on to dishes like smoked duck agnolotti or the oregano-doused scorza di fagioli (pasta and beans) with wild ramps and Meyer lemon. 

One of the toughest reservations in town, Che Fico has garnered tons of national buzz since opening. The hype is warranted. Inside this roomy upstairs taverna, chef David Nayfeld works his magic with San Francisco-style modern Italian cuisine. Everything here is great but the handmade pastas and sourdough-whole-grain pizzas (order the pineapple fermented chili pizza!) are especially worth the long wait. 

If there was a prize for best new neighborhood restaurant, Pearl 6101 would snag it. Lofty, bright and cozy, this cafe by day and Italian restaurant by night serves housemade pastas (try the anchovy spaghetti!) and wood-fired dishes like baked ricotta, cauliflower over black tahini hummus and juicy chicken roulade with a charred summer squash panzanella salad.

James Beard Award semifinalist Reem Assil (Reem’s California) and Daniel Patterson transformed the former Haven space into Dyafa last spring. Assil’s modern Palestinian-Syrian cooking shines in Arabic breads like kohbz chickpea “pancakes” and mana’eesh bread, as well as in traditional mezze spreads like muhammara (roasted red pepper, pomegranate, walnut dip) or hummus kawarma topped with tender spiced lamb and dried lime.

Chef Heena Patel had been making regional dishes from her home state of Gujarat, in northwestern India, as part of La Cocina, SF’s nonprofit incubator kitchen. Her new restaurant, Besharam, takes over the Alta space in the Minnesota Street Project. Order the Khichdi Bowl (lentils and rice), inspired by a dish her mother fixed weekly during her childhood: “It was our mac and cheese, our comfort food.”

Birdsong has already earned a Michelin star in its first year! Chef Chris Bleidorn’s 14–course tasting menu highlights upscale Pacific Northwest cuisine paired with PNW wines and features standout dishes like morel mushrooms stuffed with Sonoma lamb, asparagus and green almonds in allium charcoal sauce; halibut pommes soufflé puff; and build-your-own Tsar Nicolai white sturgeon caviar lettuce wraps.

Tuscan-born Claudio Villani (InoVino) transformed Mason Pacific into AltoVino. A true slice of Italy, this chic newcomer—with a sunny front room and inky blue dining room—serves classics like ascolane (fried olives filled with braised oxtail and Parmesan) and housemade pastas like chestnut pappardelle with lemon in pork shoulder ragu. Pair your meal with sommelier Villani’s Italian wine offerings, heavy on mountainous, volcanic, Tuscan and Piedmontese wines.

The former Bar Tartine space was transformed into a soothing escape serving Japanese matcha in all forms: sparkling matcha, matcha affogatos, matcha mochi on weekends, and match pastries like the black sesame-filled cream puffs or furikake cream cheese croissants. Chef Keisuke Akabori crafts savory dishes like matchazuke (salmon rice bowl) or katsu sandos served in a basket with crusts cut off just like in department store food courts in Japan.

Chefs Krishna Timsina and Ram Ghale cooked in India, the U.S. and their native Nepal before opening Spice of America in 2018. Look for handmade Nepalese momo (dumplings), toasted shrimp in pineapple anchovy relish and ginger froth, and a killer chicken tikka masala dum biryani—but those are just our favorites.