This is wonderful, thanks so much for all the recs! We’ll be driving up from SFO, any good places to stop for a late lunch on the way to SR? I’d rather not stop in the city due to traffic/parking, so someplace north of the Golden Gate Bridge/Sausalito?
Man, I’ve walked past that place so many times, just never gone in. Will have to rectify that. We recently ate at Arandas, next block north, and it was pretty good, though probably targeted more at the tourists.
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Hi Alan, are we talking about the same place. El Milagro is located next to the Healdsburg Municipal Parking lot just down from The Wurst (which has closed and now is something else). El Milagro has only been open about 8 months. Very popular they are already looking to move to a larger restaurant on Healdsburg Ave.
Tom
The Hummingbird Cafe in Fairfax is yummy. Cajun. Only open for breakfast and lunch. Great breakfast. Beignet to die for. Chicken and waffles, gumbo, ettouffee. Only open until three, though. Really cute town.
Now I’m hungry.
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A few miles north of Sausalito is Sam’s Anchor Cafe in Tiburon. Mainly seafood and you eat right on the dock with views of the Bay, Angel Island etc. If you don’t like fish or seafood they do have other options, burger, chicken sandwich, salads etc.
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Yes, but it was just my imagination that it had been there a long time, and I just missed it. I feel better now that I haven’t been missing out for years lol. Will definitely go on our next visit up that way.
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12 minutes West:
Sonoma Pizza Co right here in Forestville is a don’t miss, great food, roomy outdoor patio, live music some evenings during the Summer. Local small winery options for dine-in or off-sale for take out. Named one of the 50 Best Places to Eat in the Bay Area.
BaSo right across the street has what some have claimed the best Chinese outside of SF. Small menu with Dumplings, Noodles, Rice and Veggie options. No reservations, inside and outside dining.
Sazón on Sebastopol Rd in Santa Rosa offers great Peruvian dishes and just recently took up Texas Style BBQ on Saturdays. Inside and outside dining.
Tons of Hispanic Food Trucks on Sebastopol Rd. Delicias Elenita’s and El Roy’s vie for the top spots. The Mitoté Food Park has many more trucks organized in one lot. Nearly every business has a food truck in the driveway.
Tamales Mana in the Jack-in-the-Box parking lot on the corner of Dutton Ave and Sebastopol Rd each morning. More Tamales on the corner of Fulton Rd and River Rd each morning as well. If you’re into that. Doesn’t get more mom and pop than Sebastopol Rd.
Spinster Sisters in the SofA (South of A) art district has an eclectic menu. Small place, gets busy but waits are not long. Good Sunday brunch spot as well.
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Sounds nice and light… 
What’d you think?
Was good! Bit eclectic menu. Fried chicken is a thing here, but honestly, how good can fried chicken be? Very good, but not enough to skip ordering other menu items, same with fish and chips, which did look great as it went by. We sat in the back patio, which was more calm and peaceful than inside. Place was hoppin.
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A few very brief dining notes from two weeks spent in and around San Francisco…
Fantastic, highly recommend:
- As mentioned above, super impressed with the elegant dishes we had at Dalida, would love to go back for more
- The Progress was probably the best all around meal of the trip - ingredient-centric, just boundary-pushing enough, super welcoming and flat out enjoyable. The morels with cherries over labneh was insanely good. Fun and interesting wine list, decently priced. Had a crazy 2016 Valle d’Aosta pinot Grigio by Didier Gerbelle that I would have guessed rustic white burg blind! Charvin Côtes du Rhône le poutet by the glass hit the spot with the impressive duck preparation.
- Glen Ellen Star, Glen Ellen - damn, this is just the definition of a great neighborhood joint (in a town that is no larger than a small neighborhood). Loved the wood oven street corn, the tomato/cream pizza, etc., and the best dish was a Frog Hollow stone fruit salad making the most of the local-ish produce. We brought in Wine Co Yeah! Indie Bookstore (no corkage on Wednesdays!) which was a perfect accompaniment. List looked short and local-centric if I remember correctly. They also had a Yeah! Mourvèdre on there.
- Penny Roma - did the “dinner party” tasting menu, which is an insane deal for $89/person given the amount and quality (and surprising breadth) of food delivered. Fun wine list and good guidance - we enjoyed a 2019 Cantina Matrone Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio, 2023 Le Piano Nebbiolo Colline Novaresi (very fun, beajolais-ish), and a 2019 Barone di Villagrande Etna Bianco Superior Contrite. The albacore tartare and yellowfin tuna carpaccio were actually my favorite dishes, but the pastas were very good, too. Gigante beans with ramp pesto were super yummy.
- Hook Fish Co at Proof Lab, Mill Valley-ish - damn, love this place, sitting outside, soaking in the vibes, great fish and chips and a poke burrito, chased with some good beer options on tap.
Good stuff, if not spectacular:
- Dragon Beaux for dim sum etc.
- Tony’s Seafood up in Marshall and sister restaurant Hog Island at the ferry building (seafood stew was really great).
- Taqueria Cancun, Mission, appreciate the excellent green salsa. Carnitas burrito was on point.
- Ramen Nagi, Palo Alto - messy and delicious, interesting options to assemble your bowl.
- Kajiken, San Mateo - broth-less “ramen.” Would love to try a few more variations here. Hearty noddle dishes.
- Cuco’s Burritos, Redwood City. Super friendly spot, clearly a notch above others in terms of focus on quality.
- Disco Ranch, Boonville - had a bunch of little bites with a bottle of 2021 Waits Mast Oppenheimer Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley) from down the road. Fun little shop.
Not bad, but wouldn’t bother thinking about going back:
- Pausa, San Mateo. Love it in concept (house cured meats, Italian cheeses, chefy pastas etc), but didn’t deliver vs expectations.
- BarZola, Palo Alto. Fine French-ish.
- New England Lobster Market, Burlingame - expected much better based on reviews. Decent seafood.
- Sakae Sushi, Burlingame. Good quality fish, seemed like a pretty standard neighborhood sushi spot.
- My Dumpling, San Mateo. Solid XLB.
- Pancho Villa, San Mateo. Sadly diminished vs. its heyday.
- Saffron Indian, San Carlos. Pricey and trying to be a bit too precious.
In a category all its own, Harbor House Inn up in tiny Elk, CA (south of Mendocino) is a Michelin 2 star and was certainly the most anticipated and expensive meal of the trip. We had been to the Inn a few years back and had the dinner on the patio (much simpler than the dining room full experience). We loved it then, but this meal did not scratch the itch. It’s got all the trappings of a 2 star, with plenty of table side prep, in-depth ingredient stories, and advanced conceptual flourishes… but it lacked a good bit in simple enjoyment and deliciousness. My favorite “dish” was probably the sourdough with kelp butter. We had some good wines - a 2012 Dirty and Rowdy Semillon that was showing really well, and a 2016 Baxter Pinot Noir Valenti Vineyard (they had a good number of back vintage offerings) - but the somm came across as quite pretentious and was trying to steer us repeatedly towards burgundy (which takes up a large chunk of their list), but shouldn’t a restaurant that’s all about the hyper-local tilt more towards local wines??? (I think so, clearly they do not). Nothing was bad, but I’ve had few bigger disappointments in my many years of dining. (WD-50 comes to mind as the winner in that respect).
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Morels and cherries at The Progress.
Seafood stew at Hog Island.
White pizza with sweet onions and gorgonzola from the wood oven at my friend’s house! (had a really great 2006 Patz & Hall Pisoni Pinot that I grabbed at K&L for $55 - love that they have secondhand back vintage offerings available (this was from a private collection).
The veggie dishes at Dalida. So elegant.
Rockfish fish and chips at Hook - love the hot sauce and flaky salt.
OK, this was very good - Dungness Crab three ways at Harbor House.
Frog Hollow stone fruit salad at Glen Ellen Star. So good.
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Awesome list. Thanks!
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Great report Brad! Next time your back, the people at Glen Ellen Star have opened a sister restaurant just up the road called Stella. Italian food done right with a very cool menu. Free corkage on Monday.
Tom
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Nice report!
Like Penny Roma, Dalida’s Chefs’ Menu is also a screaming deal. My wife and I ordered it for my birthday last year. It was a LOT of food.
I live in Belmont. I’ve never been to My Dumpling. I typically get my noodle fix at Noodle Shop on 25th Ave in San Mateo or at Ox9 in downtown SM. In fact, that commercial stretch of 25th has had a few quite authentic Chinese places open up in the past couple of years. For sushi, Ryoshin in Belmont is the best around IMO that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
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Any great restaurants in SF on InKind?
I like Rooh for Indian, the other I like (Tailor’s Son) dropped off. When I tried a couple of random places (UM.MA, Okane) and didn’t care for either.
While not expecting “great” how is PABU iskaya? I’m setting up something with a cheapskate friend and while the prices are high there, the current offers on the web and discounts on gift cards turn $150 into $55.
(I’m not that price sensitive myself but because of my local dining companion, it will save me from a meh meall. That being said, I love that there are some places I’d go to anyway on InKind in NY.)
Other suggestions (that take reservations) are welcome.
Altovino and Barberio are both very nice Italian spots I would recommend
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