Locals and visitors alike recognize San Francisco as a food mecca. Here you can find delicious examples of nearly every type of cuisine. You’ll never have to worry about finding what you’re looking for — instead you can worry about not having the time to sort through the vast options in order to find new favorites.
Kimberley Lovato is here to fix that problem. Lovato has collected tales of San Francisco’s most traveled culinary corners in her new book, Unique Eats & Eateries of San Francisco, out this month from Reedy Press. In addition to this not-quite-travel guide, Lovato has published Walnut Wine and Truffle Groves: Culinary Adventures in the Dordogne, about the Dordogne area in France.
Lovato took a few minutes to chat with me about Unique Eats & Eateries of San Francisco and why this guide is a little closer to home. She also shared a few of her favorite restaurants that didn’t quite make it into her book.
Mel Burke: I can definitely see this is the baby of your two prior books. It feels like a guidebook, but it also definitely reads like food writing. Was that your intent?
Kimberley Lovato: It was. After I wrote the Brussels guide, I said to myself, “Oh my gosh, I am never writing another guidebook again.” I mean, by the end of writing that book, the hotel sounded like the same description as the train station, you know. And no one wants to sleep in a train station. So when the opportunity to write this book came up, it was nice, because the publisher [Reedy Press] said, “This is a guidebook and a travel guidebook, but we really want you to tell the stories of these places, of the people, or tell a little anecdote about it.” That’s why you won’t find any prices in this book. I want it to be a little more timeless. That was the intent: to give people a taste of just a little bit more than what they can read on the Internet.
MB: How have you kept ending up in San Francisco?
KL: I grew up in Los Angeles, but when I graduated from university, I moved up here right away. I always knew I wanted to live up here because my grandparents are from up here, so we would come up and visit all the time. I remember my grandma picking us up at the airport and making the trudge through San Francisco and the slow slog down Van Ness. I remember the fire escapes on the buildings and going across the Golden Gate Bridge. I just always knew that someday I’d want to live here.
MB: What is that one thing about San Francisco that makes you say, “Yes, this is for me”?
KL: It just gives you a lot. I just find that San Francisco has a compassionate soul, and that’s one of the things that came out while writing this book. I really wasn’t looking for any kind of through line in the book, but that’s kind of what came out to me when I met these chefs and restaurateurs—even the diners. The fact that diners here will wait hours, wait in line to go try new food, you know, or a restaurant. I love that about San Francisco. People are always willing to support the underdog. I guess I’m just a bleeding heart.
MB: While you were exploring the city, were there any specific eateries that you feel came out of left field as opposed to what you were expecting?
KL: [One that surprised me] was the Hang Ah Tea Room. We truly, accidentally stumbled on it. It’s on Pagoda Place in Chinatown, and looking at it from the outside, you might say, “No, I’m not going to eat there,” but those types of places [are where] I love to go in and eat. It turns out that it’s the oldest dim sum restaurant in the United States.
I think the fact that Beach Chalet, for example—it’s a historic landmark, but then it sat empty for so long. This couple found it and said, “Hmmm, I think maybe I’ll write my business plan about this restaurant and maybe turn it into one,” and they did. That was sort of a fun story. In a place where waterfront property is such a premium, the fact that that place sat empty for so long—that sort of surprised me. Every place had a little bit of something to it that really made me think, “Hmm, I didn’t know that.”
MB: I’m not from here, and I haven’t been living here for very long, so I get excited when someone mentions a restaurant, and I’m like, “I know what you’re talking about!” I had that moment several times while flipping through and reading your book.
KL: And that’s really tough. The San Francisco Travel Association told me that there are 4,500 restaurants in San Francisco, and that number sounded light to me. But, I mean, just narrowing it down to 90 was really hard, and then my publisher kept saying, “We don’t want this to be a ‘best of’ book. We want a book that tells a little story about San Francisco via these 90 vignettes.” I hope that I’ve done that. It’s sort of an appetizer to get people to come and dine a little bit deeper in this city.
MB: When you were narrowing it down, were there any spots that you would still definitely tell people to go to because they’re unique or weird, but they didn’t make it into the book?
KL: I really love Cafe Jacqueline in North Beach. This place has been there for 30 years. It’s a tiny little French place in the heart of Italian North Beach, and it’s one woman, Jacqueline, who—all she does is make soufflés. She’s been doing it for more than 30 years. I love the restaurant. It’s the place you go on date night, and then 20 years later you’re celebrating your wedding anniversary there. She declined to be in the book, so out of respect for her, I took her out. I still recommend it. Someone asked me for a great French restaurant in San Francisco last night, and I said Cafe Jacqueline.
MB: What one thing do you want people to know before they read your book?
KL: It’s not a “best of” book. Ninety percent of the time, people ask, “Why didn’t you include them? Why didn’t you include this?” I don’t want people to think I’m judging restaurants, because I think every restaurant in San Francisco has a story to tell — and a worthy one. I could pick only 90. It’s not a “best of” book, but it’s a great slice of San Francisco.
You can pick up a copy of Unique Eats & Eateries of San Francisco from your favorite San Francisco independent bookseller or on Amazon.
