📍Added in September: When a legendary Chinatown butcher shop opens a sit-down outpost in a bougier neighborhood, this is the best possible outcome. Yes, the plates are pretty enough for a magazine shoot, and the sautéed greens get finished with chili crisp and a splash of whisky. But also: The soul of old-school Cantonese barbecue is alive and well, in the cubes of succulent roast pig (ASMR for crackly pork skin lovers) and—duck yeah!—the juiciest, most luxuriously fatty roast duck in the Bay.

📍Added in September: Golden Boy’s idiosyncratic, crunchy-bottomed focaccia pizza is a San Francisco treasure, especially if you find yourself hungry and slightly intoxicated in North Beach at 10 o’clock on a Friday night. The stupendously garlicky clam-and-garlic slices are Bay Area pizza canon, but don’t sleep on the plain cheese or pepperoni, whose simplicity accentuates a Golden Boy pie’s deepest virtues: its robust red sauce and the lightest, airiest crust in all the land. Take-out only.

📍Added in September: This adorable market-deli not only stocks a well-curated selection of snacks and prepared foods (ramyun kits, kimbap, and all kinds of banchan), but it also low-key has one of the East Bay’s prettiest tree-lined patios. The best time to come is weekday lunch, when they offer a luxurious bapsang set menu: rice, side dishes, and your choice of both entree and soup—say, two crisp, grilled whole Spanish mackerels and a wonderfully rustic, veggie-laden beef doenjang stew.

📍Added in September: Judged strictly on the basis of its Texas-style smoked brisket, links, and dino beef ribs, Fikscue can go toe to toe with any barbecue joint in the Bay. But it’s the chefs’ pairing of that ’cue with Indonesian food that sets the place apart: sides of peanutty cucumber slaw and nasi goreng fried rice, and rich beef rendang made with that immaculately juicy brisket. Note well: The restaurant is open on weekends only, and the line starts forming about an hour before opening.

📍Added in September: In the realm of Indo-Pak cuisine, Zareen’s has something for everyone. Desi burgers and naan wraps to appeal to second-gen street food snackers. Masala omelets and halwa puri for the brunch crowd. And the kind of soulful Pakistani home cooking—slow-braised stews and delicate, red-tinged biryani—that’s made it one of the Peninsula’s most beloved restaurants. Pro tip: Zareen’s has three locations, but the Palo Alto branch is open latest and has the most festive outdoor patio.

If you rated Bay Area restaurants on the ratio between culinary ambition and effort put into self-marketing, one of the top spots would have to go to this little takeout lunch spot with no signage and nearly no social media presence — even its name is just the street address. But the quality of 2207’s fried chicken, patty melt, and yakiniku-inspired ribeye donburi speaks for itself. My go-to order? An impeccably fresh grain salad topped with crisp-skinned harissa chicken.

What’s not to love about a friendly, family-run Thai Chinese spot that cranks out solid renditions of at least three different cuisines and stays open until 1 a.m. to boot? Located across the street from a casino and just minutes away from the airport, A One is the ideal late-night restaurant, known for flavorful Thai curries and stir-fries spiked with Malaysian shrimp paste. Mostly, I come for one of the most addictingly savory, decadent versions of garlic-butter crab around.

My favorite Eritrean breakfast spot is this humble coffee shop locally famous for its shihan ful, a garlicky, olive oil–slicked fava bean dip that you scoop up with hunks of warm, crusty French bread. It’s a rich dish, spiked with enough berbere and fresh jalapeño heat to leave your tongue tingling. In fact, Alem’s dominates the entire category of foods you can mop up with crusty bread: The Eritrean-style egg scramble and the fata (a spicy bread salad) are also outstanding.

The family that runs Antojitos Guatemaltecos got their start selling tamales from the trunk of their car, so it’s no surprise that exquisitely tender, banana leaf–wrapped renditions of this Central American staple are the star of their new restaurant. This is a rare destination for homestyle Guatemalan cooking in the Bay Area: seared steak and plantains over rice, hot mugs of atole de elote, and perfectly seasoned Pollo Campero–style fried chicken.

The joys of this 24-hour Indian market include its sweets displays, tidy produce bins, and free chai while you shop. But the biggest selling point? The hot food counter, featuring a dazzling array of vegetarian curries and chaat that hit the spot at any time (literally). The vibes are especially immaculate around midnight, when the outdoor tables throng with hungry night owls stuffing themselves with generous thali platters, bite-size puri puffs, and fat, well-spiced samosas.