The Confabulist's SF and Napa Picks

Submitted by Roland on Tue, 08/27/2002 - 21:18

Jonas Norvig of The Confabulist sent us his San Francisco and Napa Restaurant recommendations:

As far as where else you might want to eat, here are some suggestions:

San Francisco:

I'm prejudiced towards the SOMA/Downtown area, because that's where I live. Even knowing I have that bias, though, I'll still wager that most of the best restaurants are down there.

  • Masa's
    The chef's tasting menu is excellent. My girlfriend took me here for my birthday. One of the best meals I've ever had. Definitely try this if you're looking for a tasting-menu type of experience. (I *strongly* preferred this to Gary Danko and Fifth Floor, two of its competitors.)
  • Boulevard
    Possibly my favorite restaurant in San Francisco. Consistently excellent.
  • Fringale
    My favorite bistro. (And, it just so happens, just blocks from my house!)
  • Farallon
    Excellent upscale seafood. Worth it just for the visual spectacle. Beats out Aqua, its main rival, in my opinion, but maybe I just had a bad experience at Aqua.

This doesn't even begin to cover the great food experiences I've had here. San Francisco is a great town for eating out.

Napa:

I don't know that there's anything else like the Laundry in Napa, but there are certainly some great restaurants.

You can't go wrong eating at:

The first two in particular I recommend to anyone staying in Napa Valley. I've heard good things about La Toque, too, although I've never been. I'll let you know about Bouchon, since I'm going there on Sunday.