The best Bay Area restaurant dishes SFGATE staff ate in 2023

We inhale authentic shrimp po’boys in Bayview and find the most New York-style pizza slices in the Tenderloin. We head north in search of the slurpiest oysters Marin has to offer, and wait in long night market lines for skewers of Chinese barbecue bliss. Our writers and editors find food nirvana in unexpected places, too, like a Michelin-cred gastropub in Lodi and a legit Hawaiian shave ice shop 60 miles east of San Francisco.

Here is a taste of the most memorable Bay Area dishes we had in 2023.

Food reporter Nico Madrigal-Yankowski searched high and low to find a breakfast burrito that was as good as those of his childhood. He found it in the Deli Lama, a hidden warehouse cafe on the edge of Bayview-Hunters Point. Owned and operated by Jimmy Zarur, the Deli Lama “is succeeding in a remote part of the city, in the shadows of brick and steel, offering some of San Francisco’s most delicious breakfast food.” That includes the “torpedo-shaped” and “forearm-sized burrito” stuffed with three scrambled eggs, chopped bacon, melted cheese and crispy tater tots. A dash of Tapatio elevated it to perfection, Madrigal-Yankowski wrote. 

The Deli Lama, 150 Toland St., No. 7, San Francisco.

A flood of childhood memories washed over food editor Jessica Yadegaran after taking a bite of Komaaj’s highly addictive zeytoon parvardeh. The zippy marinated olives ($12) are a Persian mazzeh, or mezze, and this humble Northern Iranian eatery in Bernal Heights does them with fervor. Chef-owner Hanif Sadr, a preservation whiz with a dedicated on-site lab, starts with Castelvetrano olives that he slathers in pomegranate molasses, crushed walnuts, garlic, Persian hogweed, olive oil and dalar, a salty Persian herbal paste. Nibble on them alongside Komaaj’s sumac beef wrap or sour chicken and rice. No one in the Bay Area does Persian food like this.  

Komaaj, 10 29th St., San Francisco. 

It’s normal for a bowl of fresh pasta to fetch upwards of $20 in the Bay Area. But that didn’t sit well with Seattle transplant and chef Matt Solimano, who opened the Cal-Ital eatery Sfizio in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood in May. His motto: unfussy, delicious, generous plates of fresh extruded pasta for as little as ten bucks. While his $10 spaghetti is the crowd favorite, Yadegaran fell in love with the verdant basil pesto fusilli ($16), which gets crunch from sprightly snap peas and smokiness from grilled scallions. Get yourself a bowl and a perch on one of the outdoor patio tables, with an order of hefty, ricotta-laced meatballs.

Sfizio, 6099 Claremont Ave., Oakland. 

As our resident seafood expert, senior reporter Madeline Wells can tell you when to avoid the tourists at Swan’s Oyster Depot and how to properly steam crab at Xian Steam Pot & Yakiniku in Milpitas. Among her unforgettable eats of 2023: The shrimp po’boy at Gumbo Social in San Francisco’s Bayview. While gumbo is in chef-owner Dontaye Ball’s DNA — his recipe is inspired by his Southern grandmother’s — loyal customers from his pop-up days flock to Gumbo Social for the grilled shrimp po’boy. Wells said the French roll heaped with tender grilled shrimp, coleslaw and creamy, zippy remoulade rivaled the best po’boys she’s had in New Orleans.

Gumbo Social, 5176 3rd St., San Francisco.

SFGATE editor-in-chief Grant Marek is only about a quarter of the way through updating his list of the best breakfast sandwiches he ate in the last year, but as a preview of what’s to come, this is thus far the best addition he’s found: the sausage biscuit at Jane on Fillmore. The ratio of ingredients is perfect, from the incredible cheddar biscuit that doesn’t fall apart to the cheese melted on the inside of both the top and bottom biscuit slices. It comes with a tomato jam on the side that is completely unnecessary, Marek felt — but holy moly, it’s good, too. The sandwich is now atop his list of things he wants to eat every day for the rest of his life.

Jane on Fillmore, 2123 Fillmore St., San Francisco. 

For the uninitiated, kubaneh is a traditional Yemeni Jewish bread consisting of multi-layered rolls laminated with butter and nigella seeds. The version from San Francisco’s Loquat is a revelation, according to Yadegaran. Imagine a savory babka that’s sinfully buttery and pulls apart like a dream. The weekend-only kubaneh ($20) comes in a ramekin with enough accouterments to feed two: Sephardic braised, hard-boiled eggs known as haminados, plus feta, olives and zippy red and green sauces for dipping. Get there early. It’s worth the wait. 

Loquat, 198 Gough St., San Francisco.

A decade after former San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer declared Nick’s Cove “no longer worth the trip,” food reporter Susana Guerrero set out to prove him wrong. The famed Marshall seafood restaurant and lodge received a hefty facelift in 2022, Guerrero noted, and the fresh barbecued oysters, a signature dish for the past 51 years, were off-the-charts good. “The savory garlic parsley butter was a surprising addition and balanced the sweetness of the barbecue sauce. I should’ve ordered an entire dozen instead of half,” Guerrero wrote. That half-dozen will run you $24.

Nick’s Cove, 23240 Highway 1, Marshall.

Delis like Domenico’s Italian Deli in Alameda were a big part of our food explorations in 2023. The 41-year-old family-owned deli is known for its Italian sandwiches and matriarch Ann Murphy’s warm, affable personality. While the turkey reigns supreme, longtime regulars know Domenico’s also makes a rare, hard-to-find sub with Worcestershire-marinated and roasted lamb ($9.75). The 6-incher is loaded with layers of tender, medium-rare lamb, Swiss cheese and yellow mustard “that’s like nothing I’ve ever tasted before,” Guerrero wrote.

Domenico’s Italian Deli, 1407 Webster St., Alameda. 

Saturdays at the San Francisco Ferry Building are a zoo, but one worth braving for an unforgettable Mexican breakfast staple. Wells waited in long lines at Primavera, a tamale and tortilla stall in the back of the farmers market, to try what Thrillist called “the best chilaquiles in the world.” The corn tortilla chips fried in salsa — verde in this case — and topped with soft scrambled eggs gripped her taste buds, virtually curing her hangover. “A side of pillowy refried beans was perhaps the pinnacle, although the most texturally impressive element was the thick tortilla chips,” Wells wrote. Translation: not a single soggy chip.

Primavera, 1 Ferry Building Marketplace, San Francisco.

We ate a lot of impressive doughnuts in 2023, but perhaps none as memorable as DoughWeiMe’s savory, filled variety. Guerrero discovered the tiny Union City strip mall bakeshop in August and instantly became enamored with owner Wei Phung’s passionate family operation. The “everything seasoning” malasada ($6) is slathered with garlic butter and “immaculately coated with black and white sesame seeds, filled with garlic chive whipped cream cheese and looks remarkably like its bagel counterpart,” Guerrero wrote. The umami bomb is not always on the menu, so get it when you can.

DoughWeiMe, 31858 Alvarado Blvd., Union City.

San Francisco has no shortage of excellent pizza, but when Madrigal-Yankowski, an SF native and former New York resident, wants a slice of perfection, he heads to Outta Sight Pizza in the Tenderloin. Everything about the pizza shop, down to the ridged paper plates, emits New York vibes. “Visceral food memories instantly flooded my brain,” he wrote of his first bite, the mozzarella melting into the San Marzano tomato sauce. “It was a late-night slice at Joe’s in the West Village after the last note had been played at nearby Smalls Jazz Club.”

Outta Sight Pizza, 422 Larkin St., San Francisco.

Point Reyes may be known for views and seafood, but Wells insists you add dessert to that list. Tucked inside the West Marin Culture Shop run by sauerkraut maker Wild West Ferments, the ice cream soda counter has an on-tap selection — think strawberry and apple-lemon — to mix with swirls of Double 8 Dairy vanilla soft serve. “When I tell you this is one of the best desserts I’ve ever put in my mouth, I’m not exaggerating,” Wells wrote of the strawberry version. She called it a grown-up spin on a classic root beer float.

West Marin Culture Shop, 80 4th St., Point Reyes Station

Long lines and the smell of charcoal grilling signals your arrival at La Parrilla Loca, an East Oakland Mexican taco trailer that rivals LA’s best. Taqueros chop the al carbon meat of choice — chorizo, al pastor, carne asada, marinated chicken — on weathered wooden blocks before a stunning array of toppings, including fresh guacamole and silky red salsa. The operation is a sight to behold, Madrigal-Yankowski wrote in June, and he fell hard for the chorizo taco. Cooking the sausage whole over charcoal yields “nice little plumps of porky pop with each bite,” he said.

La Parrilla Loca, 9829 San Leandro St., Oakland.

News features reporter Ariana Bindman broke 10 years of vegetarianism for an eight-piece bucket of fried chicken ($20) at a San Francisco strip club, and regrets nothing. “The meat is so juicy and tender that it gracefully falls off the bone,” Bindman wrote about Gold Club’s chicken back in March. “Meanwhile, its golden outer layer is thick, crunchy and savory. This is, undoubtedly, the dankest fried chicken I’ve ever had.”

Gold Club, 650 Howard St,. San Francisco.