California Cuisine: 29 Restaurants Found
Farallon
Address: 450 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Step inside Farallon and feel yourself being whisked away to a mermaid’s paradise. Designer Pat Kuleto’s interior design is so stunning it looks like an art nouveau underwater palace, and may very well be a destination in its own right. Taking cues from the natural beauty of the underwater world, Kuleto fills the space with artful details like jellyfish lamps with graceful trailing tails, and conch-shaped rooms with booths that follow a natural spiral. While the décor is quintessential whimsy, the cuisine is very much rooted in reality, with the elegant, multifaceted creations of Chef and Owner Mark Franz. Franz’s menu of elegant coastal cuisine changes daily, but look for creative dishes such as Pan-Roasted Walleyed Pike with English pea ravioli, braised endive, and mint pesto.
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Gary Danko
Address: 800 North Point Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
Dinner at Gary Danko is as titillating as a night at the opera, from the dramatic 69 page wine list, to the choreographed service of the staff, to the series of complex acts that come streaming from the kitchen and the carefully calibrated intermissions between them. Gary Danko’s combination of artfully crafted food and service turns a meal into an event. World-class Executive Chef Gary Danko uses his classic training to reinvent French, Mediterranean and regional-American cuisine, and the numerous awards he has won reflect the quality of his food, placing him at the forefront of America’s best chefs.
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Spruce
Address: 3640 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
Simplicity is bliss: local ingredients, fresh flavors, and charming surroundings, converge to offer a truly blissful experience at Spruce. This communal watering hole encourages diners to dine, socialize, and relax, with the help of a menu that highlights the very best of contemporary American cuisine. The in-house temperature controlled curing room caters to the impressive charcuterie selection, and up to 80% of the produce used at any time may come from the restaurant’s own private farm. Savory delights include the Hot and Cold Foie Gras, the Buttered Main Lobster, and the Charred Berkshire Pork Tenderloin.
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Jardiniere
Address: 300 Grove Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Jardiniere exudes the sultry decadence of a 1920’s era speakeasy. Pat Kuleto’s décor is the height of opulence, with marble and mahogany accents illuminated by warm, amber lighting and cloaked in lush velvet drapes that seem to seclude the restaurant’s revelry from the outside world. With an inverted champagne glass dome, and champagne buckets adorning the Art Deco-style balcony railings, Jardiniere drips with bubbly excess. Chef and co-owner Traci Des Jardins’s French and California-inspired menu is as improvisational and lavish as the Jazz-era décor, changing regularly according to the season and the chef’s own culinary whims. Nightly live jazz completes the stylish ambiance, adding to an atmosphere that is both nostalgically classic and unfailingly hip.
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Foreign Cinema
Address: 2534 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Foreign Cinema, located in the heart of the Mission, is a novel concept restaurant specializing in fine California/Mediterranean cuisine and a unique entertainment offering of nightly foreign and independent films at dusk. Since its fruitful beginning under executive chef duo Gayle Pirie and John Clark, visitors and celebrities from all over have been captivated by the restaurant’s innovative menu and reels of atmosphere. The restaurant has garnered rave reviews from critics coast to coast and remains a favorite dinner and weekend brunch destination among locals.
Review | Info | Menu | Wine List | Chef | Photos | User Reviews | Book Table
