One of our greatest treasures is on the front lines: our restaurants. The Bay Area’s eateries represent nearly every race and culture, making our region one of the most vibrant, diverse dining destinations in the world. Amid Covid-19, the industry is being devastated with closures — many temporary, but others will, unfortunately, be closing shop for good. However, hundreds of local restaurants are still doing takeout with curbside pickup and no-contact delivery, with heightened hygiene practices.
Some restaurants are taking orders directly, while many others are delivering via gig workers on apps. The apps, overwhelmed with deliveries, have made moves to both make this transition easier for eateries and help protect workers. Uber Eats is waiving delivery fees for independently owned restaurants, providing Covid-19 cleanliness training, giving financial aid to regular drivers who get sick, and are serving over 300,000 free meals to health care workers.
Caviar and DoorDash are waiving sign-up fees for independently owned restaurants plus zero commission fees for 30 days, while joining forces with community organizations to deliver roughly 1 million pounds of groceries and prepared food to elderly, low-income, and mobility-impaired people. Despite these efforts, these hourly and contract workers are suffering financially and are at risk without full-time benefits — please tip generously if you can.
Edible San Francisco has created a super helpful resource by mapping restaurants and bakeries still open for takeout. If you’re not on the map, you can submit your business here. The Bold Italic wants to do our part to encourage you to order in from local restaurants, so we rounded up 10 places creatively bringing us food in this crisis, hoping it can inspire you for tonight’s dinner.
1. Mandalay, SF
Not just a local treasure, but a national one as well. Mandalay was the first Burmese restaurant in SF, holding strong since 1984 in a city and region boasting the most Burmese restaurants of any American city. Let’s keep this rich heritage alive and support this deliciously bright, vibrant cuisine (plus, those unique Burmese salads, from tea leaf to ginger, are healthy and nourishing). Available via takeout through Caviar and DoorDash.
Order this: That savory-sweet mango-garlic-fried-onion-cilantro salad rules and is their “sleeper hit” dish; Mandalay special noodles with chicken and yellow chickpea powder; Burmese catfish.
2. Hawker Fare, SF
Serving some of our most authentic regional Thai dishes, heavy on Laotian and Issan Thai influence, Hawker Fare is the creation of local James Syhabout, who also owns Michelin-star-earning Commis in Oakland. Syhabout’s family immigrated as refugees to West Oakland when he was two years old. He chronicles his story beautifully in his Hawker Fare cookbook, a great option to buy and cook out of right now (order from local bookshop greats like The Booksmith, Green Apple Books, Omnivore Books, City Lights, or Dog Eared Books, who also need our support). Order takeout directly from Hawker Fare by calling 415–400–5699 and you’ll get 25% off (new hours: 12 p.m.–3 p.m.; 3 p.m.–9 p.m.). For delivery, order via Caviar or DoorDash.
Order this: Nam Khao Tod (a fabulous Lao classic), crispy jasmine riceball salad with coconut meat, red curry paste, fermented pork, and peanuts; tamarind egg drop curry noodles; Penang curry; Issan herbed pork sausage.
3. Cassava, SF
The wonderful Outer Richmond restaurant run by husband-wife duo, Kris Toliao and Yuka Ioroi, has been operating as one of the city’s best neighborhood restaurants since 2012. Besides providing fine-dining level New American food at a reasonable price, they admirably have still kept all their staff (who are all covered by Kaiser), doing all they can to try to weather this without losing employees. They’ve also started a “Virtual Tip Jar,” through GoFundMe for the workers.
Order this: They are offering nutritious family meals — sourcing from local purveyors and farmers — via a $100 “Family Meal for Four by Cassava.” The menus regularly change with varied pickup times.
4. Gioia Pizzeria, SF & East Bay
Will and Karen Gioia, who met at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park and have cooked at legends like Chez Panisse and Zuni Café, have been going strong with Gioia Pizzeria since 2004 in the original Berkeley location. They also recently opened their latest slice shop in Hayes Valley. Their website right now lists a heartwarming note on everything workers are doing to follow cleanliness and disinfecting protocols as well as their availability for the community to get takeout and delivery (via Uber Eats, DoorDash, Caviar, Grubhub).
Order This: Oh, that Salsiccia pizza with Sicilian sausage, mozzarella, pickled jalapeños, pecorino; avocado arugula salad with golden raisins, radishes, farro, pecorino, and almonds; “real deal” housemade cannoli.
5. Doña, East Bay
Doña Tomas served as an Oakland mainstay eatery since 1999, serving excellent mole and modern Mexican food for nearly two decades. In 2019, owner Dona Savitsky reimagined her restaurant as Doña, a more fast-casual concept on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. In addition to stopping her own paycheck to focus on her employees at this time, Dona just launched online ordering via L.A.-based ChowNow, and is running takeout orders out to customers’ cars. Order via app, then as you arrive, pull into the driveway/parking lot off Yosemite Avenue and call 510–450–0522. Current hours are 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
Order this: Doña’s barbacoa and pollo tinga tacos (calabaza/butternut squash tacos for vegetarians); chile relleno; enchiladas in mole rojo.
6. Eric’s, SF
Our country’s rich Chinese heritage and population go back to the mid-1800s in San Francisco, and it was here that chefs turned Chinese food into a mainstream cuisine for the Western world. Our local Chinese- and Chinese-American-owned businesses have been hit hard amid Covid-19. A classic in Noe Valley since 1991, Eric’s is available via DoorDash, offering crowd-pleasing dishes like their savory-sweet sesame beef.
In addition: China Live (free Caviar delivery; 20% off pickup) and Dragon Beaux via Uber Eats serve excellent dim sum and higher-end Chinese food. Nanking chicken and iconic dishes from Peter Fang’s House of Nanking are being cooked at his daughter’s restaurant Fang via Caviar.
7. The Morris, SF
This top-notch New American restaurant in the Mission is offering a smart idea during this crisis from one of our region’s great sommeliers, Paul Einbund. As co-owner with chef/partner Gavin Schmidt, Einbund is providing sommelier consultations via email and selecting wine bottles that you can then grab curbside (thank goodness for that retail wine license).
Order this: Wine, of course. But food, too. Watch their website and social media channels for regularly changing dishes or order ahead for Chef Schmidt’s signature smoked duck to-go, fully cooked, half or whole (a great idea if we are still riding this out come Easter).
8. Montesacro, SF
Italy has been slammed with this virus and is still in the throes of it. We have countless Italian transplants serving a slice of their home country and solidarity. Roman owner of Montesacro’s, Gianluca Legrottaglie, is offering takeout and delivery via three apps. Try the superb pinsa (Roman style, pizza-esque flatbread) alongside healthy salads and grilled veggies.
In addition: The Italian Homemade Company, a local chain of fast-casual Italian restaurants, has four Bay Area locations delivering handmade pastas and premade dishes from all major apps. Venice-native Michele Bevilacqua of Dispensa Italian Charcoal Kitchen is offering tender meats and veggie dishes via Uber Eats, Grubhub and soon, Tock.
9. Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen, SF and Marin
Modern Jewish deli gem, Wise Sons — with multiple local locations — was founded by brothers Evan and Ari Bloom and Leo Beckerman in 2010. They are doing takeout and their own delivery in SF and Marin, but also via DoorDash and Caviar. Even better? For this crisis, they’re selling multiple types of “essentials kits” (with names like “Social Distancing Survival Kits”), so you can stock up on breads, deli goods, and freezer bagels.
Order this: Their Guittard chocolate babka is one of the best in the nation. Period. (Seriously. I’ve done the NYC research, too.) Also, pastrami patty melts and pastrami cheese fries.
10. Monk’s Kettle, SF
Our great beer bar and pub legend since 2007, Monk’s Kettle, is offering takeout at their front windows every day from 1 p.m.–10 p.m., as you order from their food menu. Being one of the nation’s pioneering craft beer bars, you can also stock up from their cellar of bottled/canned beers, wines, and ciders. They have graciously adjusted prices down to the retail price range. For takeout or pickup, call 415–865–9523, or order in-person at the window to get a 10% discount on food. You can also order via Postmates, Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Caviar (Caviar has a limited beer/wine list).
Order this: Their spicy lamb burger, jackfruit sando, pretzel knots; stay tuned on their social media for cellar sales in the coming weeks, like a sale of 200 bottles of hard-to-get beer-geek favorite, Cantillon.
