Have a Nosh

By J. Correspondent | October 7, 2016

Readers’ Choice 2016

 

Jewish Restaurant

Wise Sons, open seven days a week on 24th Street, with a bakery on Fillmore, also serves deli fare at the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. It pairs traditional Jewish recipes with fresh California ingredients, making double-baked rye bread and pastrami in house.

In North Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto, Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen bridges “the links between the Old Country and the New World,” according to the website, honoring Jewish immigrant culture while emphasizing fresh, seasonal fare.

Max’s, the South Bay winner with restaurants throughout the region, calls itself “a good place for a diet” and “a bad place for a diet,” with Chinese chicken salad in the former category and fat Reuben sandwiches and rich, layered desserts clearly in the latter. Its opera cafés provide arias in the evening.

San Francisco

Wise Sons

24th Street: (415) 787-3354

Fillmore: (415) 872-9046

www.wisesonsdeli.com

East Bay

Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen

Berkeley

(510) 848-3354

www.saulsdeli.com

South Bay/Peninsula

Max’s

Various locations

www.maxsworld.com

 

Fine Dining

Perbacco “introduces urban San Francisco to the full range of flavors found in the Italian regions of Piemonte and Liguria, with a touch of France by way of Provence,” writes owner Umberto Gibin. Think house-cured salumi misti (Italian cold meats) or porcini and ricotta cannelloni.

Millennium, now in Oakland’s Rockridge area after 20 years in San Francisco, serves “globally inspired plant-based cuisine in an inviting upscale setting,” writes owner-manager Alison Bagby. “We work with small farms and our menu changes frequently to showcase the finest local, sustainable and organic produce.”

Evvia in downtown Palo Alto features Greek cuisine in a rustic setting, with copper cookware, a large wood table and a rustic stone fireplace. Favorites include moussaka, artichoke souvlaki (with eggplant and yogurt) and mesquite-grilled lamb chops.

Located in the Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito, Murray Circle offers a porch setting with sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge, a dining room with cozy fireplaces and hands-on cooking classes. On the website are recipes for chilled tomato soup with grilled grapes, bouillabaisse and pumpkin bread pudding.

San Francisco

Perbacco

(415) 955-0663

www.perbaccosf.com

East Bay

Millennium

Oakland

(510) 735-9459

www.millenniumrestaurant.com

South Bay/Peninsula

Evvia Estiatorio

Palo Alto

(650) 326-0983

www.evvia.net

North Bay

Murray Circle Restaurant

Cavallo Point

Sausalito

(415) 339-4750

www.cavallopoint.com

Italian & Pizza

Delfina, with a flagship restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission District, serves a seasonally changing menu with a large wine selection, featuring wines from Italy. The four pizzerias in the city and on the Peninsula serve Neapolitan-inspired fare with changing selections of antipasto and small plates.

Serving both deep-dish and thin-crust pizza, with a multitude of toppings from anchovies to roasted zucchini, The Star on Grand in Oakland also offers such starters as veggie-stuffed mushrooms and Caprese salad. Desserts and a full bar, with draft beer, round off the selections.

Amici’s serves “authentic East Coast-style artisanal pizza,” says owner Peter Cooperstein. “We use the same pizza dough recipe, pizza sauce recipe and the same imported cheeses that we used when we opened in 1987.” Launched in San Mateo, Amici’s now has restaurants throughout the region.

Purchased by the Rowe family in 1986, Mulberry Street Pizza expanded its menu to feature family and customer favorites, including such signature pies as Blue Hawaiian, Three Beer and Pizza al Pesto. The Greek Pizza is a collaboration with the Musco Olive Co. in Tracy.

San Francisco

Delfina/Pizzeria Delfina

Restaurant: (415) 552-4055

Pizzeria: Various locations

www.delfinasf.com

East Bay

The Star on Grand

Oakland

(510) 843-7827

www.thestarongrand.com

South Bay/Peninsula

Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria

Various locations

www.amicis.com

 

North Bay

Mulberry Street Pizza

San Rafael

(415) 472-7272

www.mulberrystreetpizzasanrafael.com

 

Hamburger

Hardly a hamburger joint, San Francisco’s Zuni Café, winner of a James Beard Foundation award, has among its offerings a house-ground, mesquite-grilled burger on grilled rosemary focaccia with aioli, with such extras as blue cheese or cheddar, grilled onions and shoestring potatoes. Add arugula, Caesar or frisée salad.

Barney’s opened in Oakland in 1978 and now has multiple locations, including four in the East Bay. It prides itself on high-quality beef burgers, as well as veggie, turkey and salmon varieties. Also on the menu: kosher hot dogs, a Middle Eastern plate, and truffle, spicy or sweet potato fries.

At The Counter, with restaurants throughout the region, customers can fill out a checklist to build their own burgers or order off the menu. In addition to hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, burger options include bison, chicken, turkey and vegan, with a variety of buns, including gluten-free.

Phyllis’ Giant Burgers, with four North Bay locations, serves traditional burgers in giant and junior sizes, or clients can choose veggie, turkey, chicken or fish variations, served with garlic, chili or curly fries. Specials include teriyaki, Cajun and pesto burgers.

San Francisco

Zuni Café

(415) 552-2522

www.zunicafe.com

East Bay

Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers

Various locations

www.barneyshamburgers.com

South Bay/Peninsula

The Counter

Various locations

www.thecounterburger.com

North Bay

Phyllis’ Giant Burgers

Various locations

www.phyllisgiantburgers.com

 

Specialty/Gourmet Market

Family owned and operated since 1952, San Francisco’s Cal-Mart features fresh produce delivered six days a week, a full-service deli with made-to-order sandwiches and hot entrees, plus a bakery and a butcher.

Berkeley Bowl, which opened as a small market in 1977, specializes in high-quality produce. Now with two larger stores, it also features sushi and Asian foods, a delicatessen, a bakery, plus a café at Berkeley Bowl West.

Market Hall Foods has two branches — one in Oakland’s Rockridge Market Hall, and one in Berkeley (formerly The Pasta Shop) — as well as an online store and catering. The proverbial European market offers everything needed for a special meal or a casual picnic, from fresh produce and pasta to wines to baked goods.

Draeger’s, specializing in gourmet fare, has three stores on the Peninsula and another in Danville. The stores offer more than 300 cheeses and 2,500 wines, plus a bakery, cookware and cooking classes as well as a restaurant in the San Mateo store.

Mollie Stone’s, a North Bay favorite, also has markets in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. It caters to kosher customers, and the Palo Alto store, with a kosher butcher, has “the largest year-round selection of kosher foods west of New Jersey,” according to the website.

 

San Francisco

Cal-Mart Supermarket

(415) 751-3516

www.calmartsuper.com

East Bay

Berkeley Bowl

Berkeley

(510) 843-6929

www.berkeleybowl.com

 

Market Hall Foods

Oakland: (510) 250-6000

Berkeley: (510) 250-6004

www.rockridgemarkethall.com

South Bay/Peninsula

Draeger’s Market

Various locations

www.draegers.com

North Bay

Mollie Stone’s Markets

Various locations

www.molliestones.com

 

Bakery/Bagels

House of Bagels brought its recipe from Brooklyn to San Francisco in 1962, boiling the bagels in water before baking them on stone. The shop, which houses a New York-style deli, bakes its breads daily, including challah and rye, as well as its cookies and cragels.

Beauty’s Bagel Shop in Oakland takes its inspiration from Montreal, “where bagels are rolled by hand, boiled in honey-sweetened water and baked in a wood-fired oven,” according to the website. Beyond the bagel, Beauty’s offers smoked trout salad and organic fried chicken.

Twenty-year-old Izzy’s, a popular kosher eatery in Palo Alto, with an East Palo Alto branch, offers 17 bagel varieties, plus lox, shmears, salads and cookies. It also serves breakfast and lunch and caters at homes, synagogues and Silicon Valley businesses.

The bagels at Barton’s, a new winner in San Anselmo, range from classics to chocolate, sun-dried tomato, honey wheat, Asiago and jalapeño varieties. The bagels are boiled, writes one customer on Yelp. “This is what makes the crust so chewy while the inside is soft and tender.”

San Francisco

House of Bagels

(415) 752-6000

www.houseofbagels.com

 

East Bay

Beauty’s Bagel Shop

Oakland

(510) 788-6098

www.beautysbagelshop.com

South Bay/Peninsula

Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels

Palo Alto: (650) 329-0700

East Palo Alto: (650) 322-5700

www.izzysbrooklynbagels.com

North Bay

Barton’s Bagels

San Anselmo

(415) 458-8818

 

California Winery

Navarro Vineyards, in the Anderson Valley town of Philo, is a family-owned winery that sells directly to the public. Established in 1974, Navarro produces such varietals as gewürztraminer, riesling, cabernet sauvignon, petite sirah, pinot blanc and pinot noir.

Calling itself “the only urban kosher winery operating in America since Prohibition,” Covenant Winery moved from Napa Valley to a 7,000-square-foot warehouse in Berkeley two years ago, producing red, white and rosé wines that are kosher for Passover and under the supervision of the Orthodox Union.

Housed in the historic Novitiate building in downtown Los Gatos, Testarossa houses a tasting room, facilities for weddings and special events, and a wine bar, serving cheese and charcuterie with live music several nights a week. The company, founded in a garage in 1993, specializes in pinot noir and chardonnay.

Hagafen Cellars, a perennial readers’ choice founded in 1979, produces gold medal-winning Napa Valley varietals that are kosher for Passover and year-round. Owner Ernie Weir is involved in both sides of wine production: grape growing and winemaking. Tours are by appointment.

San Francisco

Navarro Vineyards

Philo

(707) 895-3686

www.navarrowine.com

East Bay

Covenant Winery

Berkeley

(510) 559-9045

www.covenantwines.com

 

South Bay/Peninsula

Testarossa Winery

Los Gatos

(408) 354-6150

www.testarossa.com

North Bay

Hagafen Cellars

Napa

(888) 424-2336

www.hagafen.com

 

Readers’ Choice 2016

J. Correspondent