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For anyone prepared to ask us, “Where should I eat tonight?” here’s our answer: the Hot List, our opinionated guide to the top restaurants and bars in San Francisco right now.

Some of the picks are new and noteworthy; others are rediscovered favorites. All are worth your while, whether for impossibly flaky, line-inducing croissants or off-the-wall cuisine in an over-the-top dining room. We’ll update the list at the top of every month.

For more restaurant recommendations, check out our series Eat Here Now. 

And if you’re ready to raise a glass, let Swig City be your guide.

Elegant, modern Cantonese cuisine in Hayes Valley
In early August, San Francisco welcomed the most anticipated restaurant of the year: The Happy Crane, a modern Chinese restaurant from self-taught chef James Yeun Leong Parry. Fans know Parry as a former Benu chef who launched his successful pop-up back in 2023. But with the debut of his first restaurant, Parry is showing off his love for traditional Cantonese cooking techniques and seasonal, local produce. Early favorites include dry-aged, slow roasted quail served with house-made five-spice powder and his version of char siu made with succulent pork jowl paired with thin slices of apple. Though it’s still early days since The Happy Crane took flight, it seems a safe bet dinner here may be one of the best meals in recent memory. 

An upscale Italian restaurant with views of the bay
The Mission Rock development’s most elegant debut is Via Aurelia, a fine-dining Italian restaurant from the owners of Che Fico and its growing number of spinoffs, including Chef Fico Pizzeria at Thrive City, Che Fico Parco Menlo, and Bubbelah, a Jewish-inspired deli also in Menlo Park. Via Aurelia, however, is by far the group’s most ambitious project: a sprawling, elegant restaurant offering modern interpretations of Tuscan cuisine both à la carte and via a five-course tasting menu for $155. The service is attentive to a level that feels anachronistic — in a good way — but what steals the show are dishes like sformato di funghi, a savory mushroom custard, and a massive wagyu porterhouse. Don’t miss the hand-rolled pastas, specifically the thick, spaghetti-like picci in a rich tomato sauce and the light-as-air gnudi served with honey-nut squash and aged balsamic vinegar. 

North Beach gets a Cuban bar (for nine months)
Pastels, tropical iconography, and complex rum cocktails have taken over a commanding 1920s building at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Broadway — the very heart of North Beach. The former bank has been transformed into a Cuban bar called Long Weekend, the newest venue from local nightlife behemoth Future Bars. Guests can sip drinks like the Malecón Tropical, a boulevardier made with passion fruit, for the next nine months, after which the space will pivot to a fresh concept. In the meantime, it’s a palatial, three-story Caribbean escape with LED screens displaying the Havana skyline on the mezzanine and a grungy, graffiti-covered basement where former vaults have been repurposed as semi-private hideaways. Future Bars has long operated more than a dozen establishments in and around FiDi, and this ambitious foray into nearby North Beach shows it’s doubling down on the city’s recovery.

One-of-a-kind cocktails with a side of latkes
Chef Adam Rosenblum and beverage director Elmer Mejicanos flipped their low-ABV cocktail bar Lilah into a tiny Jewish restaurant in September. Now, Super Mensch is slinging bagels and lox, matzo ball soup, and pastrami sandwiches stacked nearly as high as Salesforce Tower. Still, the strongest offerings are the drinks, which showcase Mejicanos’s talent for transforming savory dishes and classic desserts into surprisingly quaffable cocktails. A bagel-and-lox martini features cucumber-infused gin and tomato water; a matzoball soup-inspired margarita stars parsley and tequila infused with carrot tops; and the Coconut Macaroon leverages peanut-infused rum with coconut milk, cinnamon, and toasted rice for a tiki-style drink that pairs well with a slice of Super Mensch’s excellent chocolate cake. In short: Come for the crispy latkes; stay for the excellent cocktails.

The return of Fillmore Street’s old-school gastropub
Pac Heights gastropub Palmer’s Tavern closed in 2023 for minor repairs, but owner Sam Fechheimer discovered the building needed major restoration work. Instead of throwing up his hands, he leaned in and did a full renovation, using it as a pretext to unveil an updated look for an old-school spot. Palmer’s was always a bustling neighborhood staple, but this iteration is a concentrated version of its former self: a meaty, hedonistic destination for anyone with an appetite for steak au poivre and a martini. The menu cherry-picks the greatest hits from the 2010s, offering fish and chips, 8-ounce burgers, and barrel-aged Negronis. Some of the old staff have returned as well. Fechheimer is hoping to capitalize on what he sees as San Francisco’s growing appetite for late-night eating; brunch service is in the works too.  But in the meantime, this is a place for wedge salads, pork schnitzel, and bourbon-spiked Arnold Palmers.

A star-powered bourbon bar on Union Square
Steph Curry — building on a partnership between his wife, the chef and TV personality Ayesha Curry, and prolific restaurateur Michael Mina — has opened a Mina project of his own. The Eighth Rule is a reservation-only speakeasy inside Union Square’s Westin St. Francis hotel — a companion to Mina’s beef temple Bourbon Steak — intended to showcase the Golden State Warriors star’s bourbon brand, Gentleman’s Cut. With cocktails in the $22 to $28 range, it’s an expensive proposition. But the real reason to visit The Eighth Rule is the six-cocktail tasting flight, a $145 tour de force that involves a highball, a digestif, and some tableside theatrics. Guests should know that The Eighth Rule is adamantly not a sports bar: There are no TVs or athletic associations, aside from a single sphere of ice etched in the shape of a basketball. Rather, it’s a quiet, leather-upholstered drinking den for superfans of aged American whiskey. Accessible to ordinary joes? Hardly. Buzzy? You bet.

Cult-favorite Pakistani restaurant ditches the mall
When Mohammad and Rabia Wagar opened Mashaallah Halal in the Westfield’s basement food court in 2022, their deeply flavorful lamb korma and garlic naan became instant hits. But foot traffic in the ailing mall kept declining, so they’ve relocated two blocks away to an airy, standalone, street-level spot on Fifth Street, formerly Mathilde French Bistro. 

“We had this place in mind as an expansion, but it became our primary location,” Mohammad Wagar says. The chicken biryani and prawn masala are still on the menu, but he’s introduced several new dishes, including pakora curry with basil flowers, aloo gobi, and fried vegetable fritters. It’s a fantastic place for lunch, but don’t skip the all-day breakfast, which features Pakistani American delights like an omelet with the flatbread known as paratha. Pity the poor Westfield, now down to Shake Shack, Panda Express, and little else. But long live Mashaallah Halal.

A buzzy bakery worth waiting in line for
The city has gained a destination for flaky, butter-filled croissants: Parachute, a new bakery from the team behind fine-dining restaurant Sorrel. Pastry chef Nasir Armar, who previously worked at two-Michelin-starred Saison, has a special talent for laminated dough, which stars all over the menu. There is a cube of buttery goodness enclosing a tart-sweet passion fruit filling, picture-perfect layers on a pain Suisse stuffed with tomatoes and goat cheese, and a pull-apart monkey bread dusted with cinnamon. The drinks are equally noteworthy, particularly an iced banana and salted cream einspänner. Parchute is the latest newcomer to the Ferry Building, which is becoming the city’s best one-stop shop for excellent food and drink. Just be prepared to wait, as the city’s buzziest bakery often draws a line.

The Mission’s mecca of maximalism returns
When Shuggie’s Trash Pie + Natural Wine (opens in new tab) opened in April 2022, it was less a breath of fresh air than a jolt of positivity. Here was a freewheeling restaurant committed to sustainable pizzas made with upcycled ingredients in a kitschy interior that felt like Vegas in space. But after a while, husband-and-wife owners Kayla Abe and David Murphy felt creatively stifled by all the carbs and repetition, so they closed for July and reopened as simply Shuggie’s. They’ve overhauled the menu and developed offbeat items, including a cacio e pepe “pillow” snowed under with grana padano, tuna crudo that requires a bit of elbow grease (it’s made with off-cuts you have to scrape the meat off yourself), and a bonbon dessert that’s assembled on the back of the diner’s hand and eaten like a caviar bump. In a city that typically seems content to play it safe, Shuggie’s remains fearlessly committed to standing out and taking risks.

A menu that goes beyond pad Thai
More Thai restaurants are taking their menus beyond the ubiquitous dishes. Add Sawaan to the list. The cute restaurant, decorated with pops of yellow and bright blue, opened in July on a quiet stretch of 16th Street in the Mission. Yes, you can get green papaya salad, but the fruit is sliced into ribbons and served with a side of veggies, including cucumber spears and carrots, which is the way Thai diners prefer it. There are also addictively bouncy and panko-crispy shrimp doughnuts with a spicy seafood dipping sauce; drunken noodles with beef balls in a delicate, sweet broth; and fried catfish with floral makrut lime leaves (pro tip: order it with sticky rice). The music is techno, so expect the beats to be bumping.

A spacious Korean American cafe 
Founders Janet Lee and chef Deuki Hong insist that Sohn is not a restaurant. Instead, they prefer terms like “cafe,” “event space,” and “creative workspace.” Regardless of how you describe it, Sohn is undeniably a great place to grab a caffeinated beverage and light breakfast or lunch. Don’t miss the spicy cold noodle salad, made with bouncy buckwheat noodles and gochujang-based sauce. It’s great alongside a breakfast sandwich, served on a sesame croissant, stacked with gyeran jjim (a fluffy Korean-style steamed egg), sweet onion bacon jam, and melted cheese — a messy but delicious way to start the day. Unlike many cafes these days, Sohn is a laptop-friendly space, so you can settle in with a Melona matcha latte while you work. 

A ‘straight-friendly gay bar’ 
They don’t make LGBTQ+ spaces much more chill than Mary’s on Haight, now up and running in the space that used to be the long-running queer bar Trax. The dive’s owners, who wanted to throw the doors open in time for the Haight Ashbury Street Fair, ripped out the carpets but otherwise altered little about the “under-the-top,” almost rainbow-less interior. Starting at noon or earlier every day, they’re pouring mixed drinks for a mixed crowd — plus shots of Fernet and Tito’s vodka — with Jessie Ware and Kylie Minogue on the sound system. (Don’t sleep on Mary’s martinis, either.) Once plagued by closures, the city’s gay scene has experienced a reversal of fortune this year, with several encouraging debuts. Better still, Mary’s on Haight is the latest in a series of venues opening on that world-famous, tie-dye-loving street, which is undergoing a nightlife renaissance.

A true neighborhood joint in Bernal
Precita Social aims to be exactly what it sounds like: a spot for the denizens of Bernal Heights to meet, socialize, and eat. Located on a cozy corner across from Precita Park, it takes over the space that once housed Michelin-starred Marlena, whose chefs moved on to open 7 Adams. Precita Social chef and owner Greg Lutes (who also owns 3rd Cousin up the hill) lets the menu wander wherever he wants. He knows that every neighborhood restaurant needs a burger, but there are also housemade pastas, excellent steak au poivre, and influences from Japan, including a lobster hand roll with uni (Lute’s wife is Japanese). One of the best dishes is pork belly with pole beans and sizzling rice, served dramatically at the table. And desserts are not an afterthought: Don’t miss the seasonal fruit shave ice, made to order on a handcranked machine from Japan.