Food Traveler’s Guide to San Francisco – Hot List 2017 (Dinner)

The Progress

When we arrived at the Progress, people were queuing up next door, at the State Bird Provisions, that is. We love that restaurant – known for their Californian-style dim sums. It was a little hard to get into, so we thought this time around we would try something different.

The Progress – also a Michelin one star restaurant – is from the same creative culinary team behind State Bird Provisions. And the food did not disappoint.

hog island sweetwaters yuzu-pickled local nori 3.5

CA sturgeon caviar potato cloud 10

lime pickled anchovies from the bay fried butter beans & basil 15

red kuri squash ‘chop-chop’ wild rice, walnuts, treviso, fiscalini cheddar & duck prosciutto 16

devil’s gulch ranch roasted & grilled half rabbit shishitos, artichokes & bacon 52

The oyster was the Hog Island Sweetwater – farmed at Tomales Bay north of San Francisco. The Californian Sturgeon Caviars were covered under a dome of liquid potato with crunchy (potato) chips at the bottom. The Lime Pickled Anchovies from the Bay were fresh and tangy. The salad with duck prosciutto was delicious, so was the roasted and grilled half rabbit in a savory jus – It tasted even better the next day!

For dessert, you could not go wrong with the State Bird Peanut Milk at $3 per shot. We loved it so much that we asked our server how it was made. As it turned out the recipe has already been published on Bon Appétit – Thank you State Bird Provisions for sharing the recipe! – I don’t know about you. I will be doing some peanut roasting this weekend for sure.

The Morris

Quite possibly the best duck I’ve ever had, besides Peking duck! Morris’ duck was brined for 24 hours with thyme and garlic, air-dried for 4 days, smoked at 165 degrees for 2 hours, and roasted in a convection oven until golden brown.

We started with the Chicken Foie Gras Dumpling and Pork Cracklings with Honey and Aleppo. The dumpling was good but the Pork Cracklings were addictive!

Then came the duck – crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside with an intense smoke flavor – I only wished that I could ditch the silverware and dig in with my hands.

For dessert, it was the Buckwheat Donuts with Whisky Crème Anglaise. My friend let me have three and I was done craving for more 🙂

La Ciccia

My good friend Lana is in Sardinia right now. I receive daily updates from her filled with photos of this unspoiled Italian island. So I thought it was only fitting that we checked out this cozy family-run Sardinian restaurant in Noe Valley.

The Pani Guttiau (Traditional Sardinian Flat Bread baked with EVOO and Pecorino) was the prefect start.

Marinated White Anchovies Oranges Onions

Followed by Spaghittusu cun Allu Ollu e Bottariga (Fresh Spaghetti Spicy Garlic Oil Salt Cured Fish Roe)

and Marinated Lamb Steak. The lamb was perfectly cooked to medium rare, tender and flavorful. On first bite, my friend remarked that it did not taste like lamb (gamy) at all.

For dessert, we ordered the most popular Sardinian Ricotta and Saffron Cake with Honey and Toasted Almond.

There you have it – three of the local favorite dinner spots we checked out during our recent trip to San Francisco.

The Progress
Address: 1525 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone:  (415) 673-1294
Webpage: http://theprogress-sf.com/home/

The Morris
Address: 2501 Mariposa St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone:  (415) 612-8480
Webpage: http://www.themorris-sf.com/

La Ciccia
Address: 291 30th St, San Francisco, CA 94131
Phone: (415) 550-8114
Webpage: http://www.laciccia.com/

Note: 

Somehow I messed up the date for this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival and forgot to eat moon cake. But this full Moon in AT & T Park made up for it!