My Passport

On this block of Polk since 1912 and run by the Sancimino family since 1946. Eighteen wooden stools face a long marble counter that has outlasted nearly everything around it. Anthony Bourdain counted it among his happy places.

OrderOysters from the counter, and ask what came in today.

Good for midday · Seafood counter, est. 1912

A narrow counter off Ninth and Irving that served American breakfasts with a Korean streak for thirty years. When the original owners retired in 2020 it closed, and that could have been the end. A new family took it over in 2021 and kept the menu, Samurai omelet included.

OrderThe bulgogi hash brown sandwich: crisp potatoes, melted cheese, beef and an egg.

Good for morning and midday · Korean-American diner counter

Xuqun Yang and Feng Wang left Beijing in 1987 and opened this place out by the beach ten years later, working it with their teenage son. The cooking is mostly Uyghur with Beijing dishes alongside, all halal, with no pork or alcohol. Not long ago it was the city's only Chinese Muslim restaurant.

OrderLamb skewers to start, then the hot pot if you've brought friends.

Good for midday and evening · Halal Uyghur & Beijing kitchen

Juan Castañon came from Guatemala and spent fifteen years in San Francisco before opening his first business, this grill on Mission Street, in July 2026. He runs it with his wife, Claudia. Weekends are busiest, when people come in for handmade tortillas, churrasco and chicken soup.

OrderChurrasco with handmade tortillas.

Good for midday · Guatemalan grill

It started in the 1930s as Franco's Lunch, feeding longshoremen on Pier 30. Two redheaded brothers, Tom and Mike McGarvey, bought it in 1955 and put their nickname on the door. When fire took the rest of the pier in 1984, a city fireboat saved the shack. The menu has barely changed since.

OrderA double cheeseburger on sourdough with onions, pickles and mustard. The patties are thin, so get two.

Good for midday · Waterfront burger shack

Abby Dair learned to cook from her mother in Eritrea, starting at fourteen. She opened this place in 2018 and named it after her. Abby and her sister Selam still cook from their mother's recipes.

OrderShewhat zigni, the house beef stewed in sauce and butter, with lentil sambusas to start.

Good for evening · Eritrean family kitchen

Nine stools, one counter, and hooks on the wall for your coat. When the seats are full you wait on the sidewalk with a menu. The Burmese-Chinese cooking happens an arm's length away, at prices low enough that the Chronicle ran a story on how they manage it.

OrderThe house noodles.

Good for evening · Burmese noodle counter

Binita Pradhan grew up in Kathmandu and moved to San Francisco in 2004. She and her sister Sumita Giri make the momos here: thin wrappers, spiced turkey or lamb, and a roasted tomato and cilantro sauce people come back for. It's a weekday lunch spot in a part of SoMa that's had a hard few years, and they're still at it.

OrderTurkey momos, with extra tomato-cilantro sauce.

Good for midday · Nepali momo counter

Selling cured meats and cheese on Columbus since 1896, which makes it a contender for the oldest deli in the West. It's small and almost always crowded. You pull a number, study the shelves while you wait, and order when they call you.

OrderThe Luciano Special: prosciutto, coppa, fresh mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes on grilled focaccia.

Good for midday · Italian deli, since 1896

It opened in 1947 as the Almond Blossom, at Van Ness and Geary, and became Tommy's Joynt in 1951, after Tommy Harris, a radio singer and the owner's cousin. Harris pitched it as carving-station theater: the hofbrau, brought uptown. The buffalo stew arrived after a chat with a diner who ran a bison ranch in Wyoming.

OrderThe buffalo stew.

Good for midday, evening and late · Hofbrau, since 1947

Giovanni Giotta, known as Papa Gianni, came from Trieste, missed its coffeehouses, and opened his own at Vallejo and Grant in 1956. It's widely credited as the first espresso house on the West Coast. The Giottas were also a singing family, and music has been part of the café for decades.

OrderAn espresso, the thing it was built for.

Good for morning, midday and evening · Espresso house, since 1956

No tables, just a window full of dumplings and buns and a line that moves faster than you'd guess. Know your order before you reach the front; the women behind the counter don't wait around. Almost everything costs a few dollars.

OrderSteamed barbecue pork buns and shrimp dumplings, plus an egg tart for the walk.

Good for morning and midday · Takeout dim sum counter

You order at a window on Fruitvale, grab a stool on the patio, and the speakers play '90s hip-hop loud. It's a family operation turning out adobo, tocino with a fried egg over rice, and lumpia several times the usual size.

OrderThe XL lumpia and the G-fire wings, which taste like adobo with a crunch.

Good for midday and evening · Filipino takeout window

A Berkeley breakfast place since 1979. It became known well beyond the neighborhood for Everybody Eats, a program that gives free meals to people who can't afford them. Rising costs closed it on New Year's Day 2024, and it came back in February 2025 with a smaller menu.

OrderBreakfast. We couldn't confirm one signature dish, so ask what the regulars get.

Good for morning and midday · Breakfast diner, since 1979

Making donuts on Polk since 1960, run by the Ahn family since the 1970s. After losing its lease it moved about 300 feet up the block. Everything is still made from scratch, and at 3 am the counter still draws night-shift workers, people heading home, and people just getting up.

OrderWhatever just came out of the fryer. Ask.

Good for morning, midday, evening and late · Donut shop, since 1960

Brothers Larry and Jack Mitchell opened this parlor at 29th and San Jose in June 1953 with nineteen flavors. It's still in the family and still on the same corner. The case now holds more than forty flavors, from grasshopper pie to ube and macapuno.

OrderA scoop of ube.

Good for midday and evening · Ice cream parlor, since 1953

Peter Sodini opened Golden Boy on Green Street in 1978 with an idea of pizza as focaccia first and toppings second. The result is thick, airy squares, sold to a late crowd until 11 on weekend nights. His sons run it now.

OrderA clam and garlic square.

Good for midday, evening and late · Square-slice pizza counter

A British expat, Suzanne Acevedo, started it in 2011 as a walk-up window for proper fish and chips. It has changed hands twice since. Ilana Teles and her son Gabriel took over in 2020, when the Wharf was empty, and locals helped keep it going.

OrderFish and chips.

Good for midday · Fish & chips window

Opened in 1991 at Market and Sixth, then spread to the Mission, where this spot on Mission at 19th is the one people know. Paper banners overhead, long tables up front, and hours that run well past midnight, so the crowd changes shape as the night goes on.

OrderThe burrito mojado, smothered in sauce. Budget twenty minutes.

Good for midday, evening and late · Late-night taqueria

One of the first Vietnamese shops on this stretch of Larkin, opening around 1981 as the blocks became Little Saigon. It's a narrow room built around an assembly line, and the line moves fast. The New York Times once suggested these might be the best bánh mì in America.

OrderA bánh mì with everything: pâté, pickled carrots, cilantro and jalapeños.

Good for morning and midday · Bánh mì counter