12 places to cure a hangover, according to SF restaurant pros

Recommendations are a dime a dozen, but in Pro Tips, we go directly to the source, asking food and beverage experts for their professional opinions on the city’s best burgers, dive bars, and more.

Hangovers happen to the best of us; more so, to food industry people, who famously like to tie one on after a long, stressful shift. So we asked 12 San Francisco bar and restaurant pros to share their go-to remedies — the meals that bring them back to life when water and sleep won’t do the trick. 

Pho is lauded for its miraculous restorative properties. A fat mortadella sandwich and an iced coffee work wonders. Even a good burrito can be a cure. So listen to the experts. Because even if you overdid it the night before, the next day doesn’t have to suck. 

Breadbelly, 1408 Clement St., Inner Richmond
There’s one place that Fitzgerald goes to when times are tough, and that’s the OG location of the Asian-inspired bakery Breadbelly (opens in new tab). She has two favorites: the ham-and-gruyere breakfast sandwich and the mortadella-filled gutbuster known as the Heirloom Tomato Morty. Then she gets a coffee and — no joke — jumps into the Pacific. “I had one this morning, and I just left the ocean,” she says. “It worked.”

Marufuku Ramen, 1581 Webster St., Japantown
“I’ve been so busy opening restaurants that I haven’t been able to enjoy a nice hangover,” Mejicanos says. When he does tie one on, he usually makes a michelada — the rare occasion when he mixes himself a cocktail. “Adding pickle juice to them helps you a little more, cause it hydrates, like how athletes shoot it for cramps or on long runs. For me, adding pickle juice gives that craveable savoriness, and it’s refreshing and sometimes spicy.”  

When it comes to refueling after a long night, he craves ramen. “Marufuku (opens in new tab) in Japantown is my go-to for spicy pork ramen and a cold beer,” Mejicanos says. “You can pick how spicy you want it. I usually go with super spicy.” 

Hai Kai Mi Gia, 707 Ellis St., Tenderloin
Ehler has outgrown the biscuits-and-gravy breakfast phase of hangover recovery. “If I’m at that point where I’m not dying, I’m strictly a soup person now,” he says. Pho — any pho — will do, but his favorite is 38-year-old noodle house Hay Ky Mi Gia (opens in new tab). If it has duck leg, so much the better, but his favorite menu item is No. 8, which contains sliced rare beef and beef balls. Ehler adds wontons and hot soy milk, with a side of fish cake and egg rolls. “When hangovers happen,” he says, “that is now my most lusted-after order.”

El Faro, 2399 Folsom St., Mission, and SanJalisco, 901 South Van Ness Ave., Mission
El Farolito is one of San Francisco’s most beloved taquerias, but Murphy takes pains to distinguish that his burrito joint of choice is the nearby — and unrelated — El Faro (opens in new tab). He gets the breakfast special and asks for a grilled serrano for extra heat. There’s another notable component: the beans. Owing to El Faro’s special caldo, they have an appealing soupy quality. “It’s almost hydrating to eat that.” 

For Abe, there is only one place to soothe a troubled spirit: SanJalisco (opens in new tab), the cheerful Mexican diner with some of the Mission’s biggest portions. “I love getting their pozole,” she says.

Breakfast Little, 3275 22nd St., Mission
Picking a San Francisco spot to nurse a hangover is tough for Irish, because, by his own admission, “I get hungover in the East Bay a lot.” Iced coffee is the non-negotiable part. When he does need to recover in the city, he goes to Breakfast Little (opens in new tab) for a breakfast burrito. “I get the OG with the garlic aioli and the señorita iced coffee. It’s kind of sweet.” 

New Taraval Cafe, 1054 Taraval St., Inner Sunset
Corned beef hash and hash browns — ideally, at a diner — is what brings this Michelin-level chef back to life. He’s serious about it, too. (He and San Francisco food photographer Eric Wolfinger once proposed a “brunch-off” to settle who made the best hash browns, but in the meantime he’s solo hunting for the city’s best.) “I had a great breakfast at New Taraval Cafe (opens in new tab), and it definitely had hash browns,” he says. “But honestly, I like to just fry the hash up out of a can.”

Much of Barzelay’s cooking is driven by nostalgia for his Florida upbringing, and hash browns are no exception. His super crispy version is adapted from his mother’s method, he says. “Mine tastes better, but it cures the hangover better when someone just hands it to you.”

Newkirk’s, 1002 Potrero Ave., Mission
For much of his adult life, Rowe has been a diehard fan of Tú Lan (opens in new tab), the Tenderloin Vietnamese institution that built its reputation on imperial rolls. Nowadays, he’s an ardent fan of the East Coast-style breakfast-and-lunch spot Newkirk’s (opens in new tab). 

Specifically, he orders the hash brown breakfast sandwich, analyzing it with every order. “I’ve tried adding and subtracting various things, but it’s 100% perfect as it is,” Rowe says, ticking off the ingredients: eggs, American cheese, hash browns, ketchup, bacon, and cherry peppers on a French roll. “It’s just a greasy, shitty, perfect breakfast sandwich made with love.” 

The Page, 298 Divisadero St., Lower Haight
As we age, hangovers take different forms, Quinn says: “The toughest is the late-afternoon onset.” When that happens, it’s not so much about finding the right food as accepting reality and finding the right drink. Quinn’s poisons — not to put too fine a point on it — are gin-and-tonics and amari-and-sodas. (He wants carbonation, but not a lot.) And he likes to get them at a bar that nails the vibe. “I love The Page (opens in new tab), because it has the right sort of lighting and feel for a hangover,” he says. “I don’t want anything too dark, or that will put me to sleep.”

Le Soleil, 133 Clement St., Inner Richmond
“At my age, really the only cure I attempt anymore is thoughts and prayers,” Terry jokes. “Nothing really works.” But when he does give a remedy an attempt, he favors hot foods — temperature-wise — and pho is his jam. The original location of Vietnamese-French fusion restaurant Le Soleil (opens in new tab) has one he enjoys. “I like to get the biggest bowl I can get with extra broth, and I will put all the hoisin and Sriracha in there,” Terry says. “The goal is to sweat it out.” 

Hinodeya Ramen Bar, 680 Clay St., Japantown
As he’s gotten older, Halverson takes longer to recover from big nights. So he drinks less now, but when the rare hangover happens, “I become an Asian noodle fiend.”

Among his go-tos is Hinodeya Ramen Bar (opens in new tab). “Always the big ramen, medium spicy.” He’ll usually get karaage, and sometimes a pork bun, too. Copping to the quasi-infantilization that hangovers can force on even the most competent adult, he adds, “I am a full-on fucking baby, and I have to solve the problem somehow.” 

And if the misery continues all day and into the night, he’ll order a pizza. “Either Domino’s or Za Pizzeria (opens in new tab) in Russian Hill.”

PPQ Beef Noodle House, 1816 Irving St., Sunset
Wrembel has a deep playbook for dealing with hangovers. But his first choice is to head to PPQ Beef Noodle House (opens in new tab). “I get the garlic noodles, barbecue pork, and a quart of beef pho broth,” he says. 

As a backup, he likes Saigon Sandwich (opens in new tab) in the Tenderloin for bahn mi. His typical order is either a meatball or BBQ pork sandwich — “but the combo is fire also. It’s $4 out the door, maybe $5, and you can’t go wrong.” 

His third favorite is Pineapple King Bakery (opens in new tab). “Don’t miss anything that has pork floss,” he advises, though he also loves the Spam sandwich and the classic pineapple bun, which has “the biggest, most delicious chunk of salted European butter at room temperature. Not to miss!”