Some of My Favorite San Francisco Eats

I originally wrote this post in April 2020, when restaurants throughout San Francisco had suddenly closed their dining rooms and so many of the small businesses I loved were trying to figure out how to survive. At the time, ordering takeout felt like one small thing I could do to support the people and places that had made my neighborhood feel like home.

Reading the list again years later brings back so many memories. San Francisco was home to CMD for a huge chapter of this business, and some of my favorite restaurants, markets and neighborhood spots became woven into my life there too. A lot has changed since I first wrote this, but I couldn't resist revisiting a few of the places I loved.

Some Mission District Favorites

When the CMD shop was on Valencia Street, I was surrounded by an almost ridiculous amount of good food. Papalote was always a favorite for a burrito, and Old Jerusalem was one of my go-to spots for Middle Eastern food. Rosamunde Sausage Grill was another neighborhood staple, and Pi Bar was there when pizza and a beer sounded like exactly the right idea.

Part of what I loved about working in the Mission was simply having so many independently owned businesses around us. You could walk a few blocks in almost any direction and find somewhere interesting to eat, grab groceries or meet a friend. That neighborhood energy was such a big part of the experience of having the CMD shop there.

A Few San Francisco Classics I Still Love

Some of my San Francisco food memories go back even further than CMD. Once upon a time, I worked at both Greens Restaurant and Zuni Café, so those two will probably always have a particularly special place in my heart. I spent years on the other side of the restaurant experience, and I think that gave me an even deeper appreciation for the people who make these places what they are.

Zuni and its oysters were always a favorite, and Greens is one of those places where the food and the setting are both part of the experience. They aren't just restaurants I happened to like. They're connected to an earlier version of my life in San Francisco, before I knew where CMD would eventually take me. I even wrote about my love of oysters and Northern California in this old post about oysters in Tomales.

Blue Plate was another favorite worth making the trip for, and farther down Mission Street, Mi Lindo Peru and Emmy's Spaghetti Shack were both on my list when I originally wrote this post. Looking through these names again feels a little like retracing my own personal food map of the city.

Why Eating Local Has Always Mattered to Me

The original reason I made this list was to encourage people to support local restaurants during an incredibly difficult period. Thankfully, we're no longer talking about how to keep our favorite restaurants afloat during those first weeks of lockdown, but my feelings about supporting small businesses haven't changed much.

When you spend money at a neighborhood restaurant, shop or independently owned business, you're supporting the actual people behind it. I know firsthand how much that matters. Small businesses give neighborhoods their personality, and some of the places we return to over and over eventually become part of our own stories too.

A Love Letter to My Old San Francisco Neighborhood

CMD isn't based in San Francisco anymore, but the city will always be an enormous part of our story and mine. I built so much of this business there, met countless CMD customers there and spent a lot of very good years eating my way around the city while I was at it.

So this isn't meant to be a definitive guide to eating in San Francisco in 2026. It's something a little more personal: a list of places that remind me of a city, a neighborhood and a chapter of my life that I'll always love.

Here’s to the places that make a neighborhood feel like home,
Colleen

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Published: April 21, 2020
Updated: August 19, 2026