6 San Francisco Restaurants Nominated For Coveted Spot On 'Bon Appétit Hot 10' - Best New Restaurants
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Bon Appétit just released its list of 50 restaurants nominated for a coveted spot on the Bon Appétit Hot 10 – America's Best New Restaurants – and 6 delicious San Francisco establishments made the cut.
And the nominees are…
Aatxe
The Basque-style tapas bar Aatxe opened its doors last April in the city's historic Swedish American Hall located in the Upper Market.
Pronounced ahh-CHAY, Aatxe "celebrates regional Spanish cuisine and culture with an influence from the Basque Country."
Bon Appétit suggests you try one of the small plates of slow-cooked pork belly and charred octopus, or a plate of pintxos (one-bite snacks).
Al's Place
Also for your consideration -- Al's Place in the Mission. This veggie-centric New Wave diner opened last January on Valencia near 26th Street.
AL stands for chef Aaron London, from Ubuntu in Napa. Don't let the down-homey moniker fool you. "Meat is used with restraint, and it's listed under "sides" on the compact and constantly changing menu," according to the SF Chronicle.
Bon Appétit suggests you try the French fries, any curry on the menu, garden fritters with squash mayo, baby lettuces with herbed avocado and pistachio crumble, house-made fregola with pickled fava broth and goat's gouda.
Lazy Bear
Just blocks away, one of the city's new dinner-party restaurant Lazy Bear is also among the 50 nominees.
Patrons pre-purchase tickets for the "twelvish-course tasting menus, and are seated at 6 p.m. or 8:15 p.m. in a space described as "loft-meets-cabin."
"It's communal and social, but the food and drinks are refined," according to Lazy Bear's website.
According to Bon Appétit, "the bravado of the ticketing system and the orchestration of the event could ring gimmicky – if the decidedly fine-dining food wasn't so spot on."
The Progress
The Progress on Fillmore is another dinner-party restaurant on the list of nominees.
Chefs Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski spent years converting The Progress Theatre on Fillmore Street. Patrons choose 6 dishes from a family-style menu and share them for $65 a person.
Bon Appétit recommends the roti, lamb tartare, pig-ear salad with fish sauce and herbs, and all of Krasinski's desserts, such as malted stracciatella ice cream with walnut sandies.
Liholiho Yacht Club
Liholiho Yacht Club on Sutter Street or LYC for short, opened last January.
The restaurant's chef, Oahu native Ravi Kapur was named 'Chef of the Year,' by San Francisco Magazine.
There's a long story behind the name involving a group of friends, some wild and crazy parties and a street name in Hawaii.
But Bon Appétit says the Hawaii connection should end there. "Calling this a Hawaiian restaurant would be like calling Lady Gaga a "talented singer." They suggest the tuna poke with nori crackers, beef ribs with kimchi-chili sauce, and the off-menu, house-made Spam, served over rice with furikake.
Rintaro
Last but not least, is Rintaro in the Mission.
Chez Panisse-trained chef Sylvan Brackett "melds traditional Japanese technique with Alice Waters-level dedication to California ingredients at this one-of-a-kind izakaya.
Brackett is the owner of Peko Peko, an Oakland-based Japanese catering company. He opened Rintaro last November on 14th Street, where according to SF Foodie, he serves "food that you'd expect if the Bay Area was a region of Japan."
Bon Appétit suggests the dashimaki tamago, any of the yakitori, including hard-to-get chicken parts like the shoulder or "pope's nose" and the chiizu tori katsu (fried chicken cutlet).
Bon Appétit will announce the final Hot 10 list on August 18.
CBSSF.com writer, producer Jan Mabry is also executive producer and host of The Bronze Report. She lives in Northern California. Follow her on Twitter @janmabr.
