In our latest dining column, Eat Here Now, we serve up the newest, the hottest, the buzziest, or simply the rediscovered in SF food. If you can only pick one place to eat at this week—go here.
Brunch can be an endurance sport in San Francisco. Waiting in an hour-long line on a Sunday morning for a plate of middling pancakes and eggs is a ritual that, in my early 20s, I happily sank into. But I have little patience for it now. These days, if I’m going to do brunch, I want a table waiting for me and a menu that thinks out of the hashbrown box. Instead of endless coffee refills, sub a nice cocktail.
Foreign Cinema in the Mission used to be my go-to for this kind of premeditated indulgence. Pre-pandemic, Nopa’s brunch was also one of my favorites, but chef-owner Laurence Jossel told me, sadly, that it’s not set to return. But luckily, in the past six months or so, some of the city’s best reservation-y restaurants have started serving brunch of a global nature, including Early to Rise (American), Dalida (Eastern Med), Copra (Indian), Cavana (Mexican) and Bodega (Vietnamese).
Add to this esteeemed list Che Fico, which just opened for brunch. This means that for the time being there are still open tables at the popular, sweeping Italian restaurant in NoPa.
Many of Che Fico’s dinner signatures are here in brunch form, including the pizza with its pillowy-crispy, Parmesan-dusted crust. The morning version comes topped with bitter rapini, Calabrian chile paste and two sunny-side-up eggs. The satisfaction of slicing into the yolks and letting them bleed sunshine into the tangy tomato sauce is undeniable.
Their addictive focaccia—which is more akin to a puffy, loaf-sized dinner roll than the classic thumb-printed square—is given the sweet treatment and studded with blueberries and served with a little side of whipped mascarpone and honey for swiping.
If you want a healthier choice, there’s a pb&j-ish bowl of steel-cut oats topped with a dollop of rich pistachio butter, strawberry jam and a pour of oat milk. Clearly, you don’t go to Che Fico for complex carbohydrates or to be lactose-free—you’re in weekend warrior mode. Which means you’re going to want to get a morning cocktail like the Punch al Latte made with tequila, amaro, cold brew and a coffee cordial. At 10 a.m., the perfect balance of wired and tipsy is exacting what you’re gunning for.
📍Che Fico, 838 Divisadero St, NoPa