San Francisco Restaurants : SOMA

Destino

Address: 1815 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (Map) - Tel:(415) 552-4451

Destino is lively and casual, and walking inside on an otherwise quiet Monday night can feel like being transported to a South American city during happy hour. The bright walls of the dining room are decorated with religious icons and mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Destino's menu is composed completely of small plates, all infused with flavors that Executive Chef James Schenk grew up with. Examples of the menu include three striking ceviches, tiger prawns with a spicy sofrito puree over plantain-bacon cakes, and a popular Peruvian street food: beef-heart skewers served with aji panca pepper reduction.

Ducca

Address: 50 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (Map) - Tel:(415) 977-0271

Located in the Westin Hotel on Market Street, Ducca presents an innovative menu featuring many of Italy’s culinary staples. Guests can dine under the sparkling chandeliers or enjoy the popular style of bar dining, as seen in the Veneto region. Chef Erica Holland-Toll crafts a variety of mouth watering dishes that are geared to leave even the most discriminating foodie satisfied. The wine list highlights the dual regional influence, with a focus on Italian and California vintages offered by the glass and bottle. The Venetian inspired décor (take note of the gold forks), combined with impeccable service and delicious cuisine, blend together seamlessly to create a memorable dining experience.

Town Hall

Address: 342 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 (Map) - Tel:(415) 908-3900

It may be surprising to find a fine dining restaurant that specializes in familiar flavors when so many chefs prefer the exotic, but Town Hall takes the good ol’ American meal to its highest peaks. A large dining room designed to feel like an old school house provides an ambiance as comforting as the food. Executive Chefs Mitchell and Steven Rosenthal along with partner and maitre d' Doug Washington, share their love for refined tradition with dishes like Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Peanut Tasso Crusted Pork Chop. Some diners may even forget the surrounding skyscrapers of SOMA, San Francisco.

Ame

Address: 689 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 (Map) - Tel:(415) 284-4040

Located a few streets away from the busy Union Square area, Ame provides a relaxing and elegant getaway and a delectable dining experience. Ame is decorated in a chic and intimate Asian style, with a signature red table that seats eight. Ame offers a New American cuisine that is widely influenced by Japanese creations. The menu provides raw treatments from the sashimi bar as well as various appetizers and entrée plates. Creative dishes like Tai Snapper Sashimi “Kombu Jime” with seaweed, crab and cucumber sauce come from the Sashimi bar. For an appealing main course, Grilled Veal T-bone Steak on Herbed Spätzle with crispy sweetbreads and delta crayfish in oyster mushroom sauce shows off Ame’s culinary fusions.

Fifth Floor

Address: 12 Fourth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (Map) - Tel:(415) 348-1555

The chic Fifth Floor restaurant acts as a culinary and visual bridge connecting the Bay area and executive chef Laurent Manrique’s native Southwestern France. The menu is both refreshingly modern and faultlessly traditional, with one dish having a provenance traced to King Henry IV’s table. Fifth Floor’s décor enhances the experience of regional pastiche, with a color scheme that evokes the landscape of both regions. Cool ocean blues mingle with sandy ochres and wine reds, colors that embody not only the surrounding Bay area, but simultaneously transport the diner to Southern France. An evening at Fifth Floor is an exploration in the complexities of our global community, the uniqueness of regional differences and the surprising parallels connecting us all.