Think a global recession will stop San Franciscans from eating out? Think again says foodie Esme Vos, co-founder of mapplr.com

Mussels and diners at Garcon

San Francisco is a city that eats out, even during the recession. When visitors ask me where to find good restaurants and cafes that won’t break their budget, I tell them to avoid Fisherman’s Wharf, then I give them my list of neighborhood gems.

Although San Francisco is a very small city, life is centered around its neighborhoods, many of which one can reach via underground metro (BART and Muni) or by bus. You can also walk, which, given the hilly nature of the place, makes for good exercise and provides you with an excuse to indulge in many of the city’s culinary delights.

Here are my favorite places to eat, categorized by neighborhood. I have left out restaurants that have been listed in too many guide books and travel articles.

Mission District: Funky, young, and vibrant, the Mission District encompasses the area around Mission, Guerrero and Valencia Streets, and is filled with Mexican and Central American restaurants, groceries and shops. In recent years, however, it has become more famous for its cafes as well as some of the best French and Italian restaurants in the city.

Along Valencia Street alone, you’ll find: (1) Beretta: recently opened Italian restaurant and bar serves delicious small plates and the best thin-crust pizza in the city. They don’t take reservations and the wait is long, but if you go after 8:00 p.m., you won’t have trouble getting seated. (2) Garçon: a popular French bistro that is always packed and serves some of the best French food in the city at reasonable prices. (3) Dosa: specializes in South Indian food. My favorites are the paper-thin, crepe-like dosas with spicy vegetables (or meat/fish). There's another Dosa on Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights. (4) Ritual Coffee Roasters: a café that roasts its own beans (which is also sold in other coffee houses in town). They have free Wi-Fi, too.

If you walk towards 18th Street and Guerrero, you will find amazing bread and pastries at the Tartine Bakery & Cafe. But if you are craving ice cream, the absolute best is just down the street at the Bi-Rite Creamery, whose salted caramel and orange cardamom flavors are divine. There’s always a long queue outside Bi-Rite on those rare, hot San Francisco days.

On the subject of ice cream, if you are willing to go further down Guerrero Street as it turns into San Jose Avenue, you will find Mitchell’s Ice Cream which serves Filipino ice cream flavors like sweet coconut, guava, purple yam and jackfruit, alongside other unusual flavors such as Mexican chocolate and lucuma (a South American fruit). It’s a neighborhood hangout, with long queues of ice cream fanatics even during cold, foggy San Francisco evenings.


Customers getting their cream fix at the Bi-Rite Creamery

Downtown (Union Square/Nob Hill/Financial District): The central shopping and financial district is a minefield for visitors because most restaurants cater either to the fast-food office crowd or to tourists. Fortunately, you can avoid all of that by going to the following places: (1) Gitane: recently opened Mediterranean (Basque/Spanish/Moroccan) restaurant with very glam, artsy interiors and delicious small plates. The bar serves some of the best cocktails in San Francisco. (2) Canteen: the ultimate secret because it’s so tiny and hidden. You have only one choice - the $35 three-course prix fixe menu – but you don’t care because the food at Canteen blows away the more well-known fancy restaurants in the city. Call well in advance to reserve. (3) Plouf: if you are craving mussels served the way the French like them, with wonderful frites, nothing else beats Plouf. Located on a tiny alley called Belden Place which has many restaurants that offer outdoor seating, it’s a lively and fun. (4) Katana-ya: this minuscule Japanese noodle restaurant is my favorite lunch place in downtown San Francisco. They serve the best ramen noodles in the city. Only one block from Union Square, it’s inexpensive and crammed with happy Japanese customers slurping their noodles. (5) Olea: if you are stuck on a Nob Hill hotel and don’t relish having to walk up and down the steep hills to Union Square or the Financial District to find a place to eat, Olea is the only good restaurant in this neighborhood (at the corner of California Street and Larkin). Serves brunch on weekends and dinner; fresh California-Mediterranean food. (6) Blue Bottle Café: in my opinion, the best coffee house in the city. Located on Mint Plaza in light, airy space that used to be a bank (only one block from Bloomingdales and the San Francisco Westfield Shopping Centre), Blue Bottle roasts their own coffee beans and serves even better espresso than Ritual Roasters Cafe. There’s a religious war over who makes the best coffee in San Francisco – Ritual Roasters or Blue Bottle – which has strained many friendships in the city. (7) Pagolac and Miss Saigon: there are so many Vietnamese restaurants in downtown San Francisco, but Pagolac (in the Tenderloin) and Miss Saigon (two blocks from Bloomingdales) are my favorites.

Embarcadero/SOMA: In the past four years, the Embarcadero and South of Market (SOMA) neighborhoods have seen an increase the number of new restaurant openings. New apartment buildings and refurbished lofts have attracted a younger crowd who like to go out at night. (1) Ozumo: vibrant bar scene, a hip young Asian clientele and some of the best sushi in city, close to the Ferry Building, right on the Embarcadero. (2) South Food and Wine Bar: best selection of Australian and New Zealand wines in San Francisco, delicious small plates. Close to the Caltrain station. (3) South Park Café: not a café, but a French bistro that has seen South Park transform itself from a dodgy park for the homeless in the early 1990s to an oasis for small high-tech businesses and live-work lofts. It’s still one of the best neighborhood gems in the city. Serves French classics at reasonable prices, small but good wine list.

Richmond District: San Francisco has a large Asian community, but they’re no longer centered around Chinatown. Many have moved to the Richmond and Sunset Districts. As a result, you’ll find better Chinese food (and dim sum) in these areas than in Chinatown. There are also excellent restaurants that serve Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Korean and Japanese food. (1) Burma Superstar and B Star Bar: located on the Clement Street, just one block from each other, they’re mobbed by locals at the lunch hour. Arrive either before noon or after 1:30 p.m. They’re “sister” restaurants although B Star Bar serves a more eclectic selection of Asian dishes and Burma Superstar is, as the name says, Burmese. (2) Okina Sushi: tiny sushi restaurant run by an eccentric Japanese sushi chef one block from Golden Gate Park, open only for dinner.


Kasa Indian Eatery

Castro: still lively after all these years, the Castro is the home of San Francisco’s gay community and the best menswear boutiques in the city (my favorite is Rolo). (1) L’Ardoise: little French bistro tucked away on Noe Street between the busy Market Street and Duboce Park. They serve wonderful French classics. (2) Eiji: another tiny Japanese restaurant that is difficult to find but well worth the trouble. Open for lunch and dinner, they have very good sushi, excellent udon noodle soups and tofu dishes. (3) Kasa Indian Eatery: inexpensive, popular Indian restaurant – a good stopover for lunch if you are walking from the Castro to the Mission District (after that you can keep walking and end up at Bi-Rite Creamery for ice cream).

Esme Vos is the co-founder of Mapplr.com, a blog that reviews restaurants and boutique hotels around the world. Esme divides her time between San Francisco and Amsterdam.