When it comes to food, San Franciscans love sharing their own lists of hidden gems. But these hidden gems do you one better: these are restaurants that are hidden inside other restaurants, bars and grocery stores. Think of them like Russian nesting dolls, but tastier.
The Mexican Grill
Inside the Inner Sunset’s beloved bakery, Tart to Tart, sits an unassuming counter with a separate register and a totally different menu. The Mexican Grill used to have a separate location on Irving Street but moved into Tart to Tart and has been popular with those who know where to look. Patrons can pair a giant burrito with a slice of chocolate cake and use the Wi-Fi to get some work done while digesting it all.
The Mexican Grill, inside Tart to Tart
641 Irving Street
Sunday Bird
The Boba Guys location on Fillmore Street has something more to offer than milk tea and snacks (no offense to the Hayes Valley, Union Square and Mission locations). In the back of the establishment, behind a garage door, sits Sunday Bird, a Korean chicken takeout shop. Sunday Bird is the first concept of the rotating pop-up restaurant that’s being called the Boba Lab. Chef Deuki Hong serves up fried chicken, bone broth, bao-biscuits, slaw and chicken-fat chicharrones.
Sunday Bird, inside Boba Guys Fillmore
1522 Fillmore Street
Louie’s Gen-Gen Room
Step downstairs in Liholiho Yacht Club, and you’ll find a whole different vibe. In their words, Louie’s Gen-Gen Room has “its own identity in all respects, including exclusive food and drink menus.” Walk past the extravagant Hawaiian dishes upstairs and dig into some waffles served in the basement. Of course, these are still gourmet waffles, with flavors like bone marrow, coffee-milk caramel and poppy seed. But you can get a little more snacky with potato chips, grilled cheese and beef jerky too.
Louie’s Gen-Gen Room at Liholiho Yacht Club
871 Sutter Street
Mr. Pollo
From the outside, Mr. Pollo looks like a decrepit storefront in need of a facelift. Its secret is that the Mission Street restaurant has gotten a renovation, but only on the inside. The two owners are the sole employees, who take reservations via text message, and have kept the name of the former Mr. Pollo but revamped the food. The menu is an ever-changing prix-fixe tasting menu with an arepa course in homage to the previous tenants. The four-course tasting menu costs $30 for four courses. Mr. Pollo also has a strong beer and wine selection, and the restaurant is small enough that you can “cheers” the chef from most tables in the restaurant.
Mr. Pollo, inside the shell of the former Mr. Pollo
2823 Mission Street
(860) 912–9168
Mission Bahn Mi
Inside the Duc Loi Supermarket on 18th and Mission is a banh mi sandwich counter. A supermarket isn’t the first place you’d look for a great bahn mi, but in the Mission it should be. Mission Bahn Mi serves 12 Vietnamese sandwiches as well as spring rolls, seaweed salad, kale salad and pickled carrots. The bahn mi recipes come from Amanda, one half of the couple, who came from Vietnam and opened Duc Loi. The sandwiches have made a lot of SF’s “best of” lists, but they probably won’t ever make a “best known” list, so tip off your bahn-mi-loving friends.
Mission Bahn Mi, inside of Duc Loi Supermarket
2200 Mission Street
Little Skillet
Yes, more secret fried chicken. Little Skillet originally opened as a lunchtime offshoot of farmerbrown that served food out of a SOMA window. Then, in 2014, Victory Hall & Parlor adopted Little Skillet at a counter inside their bar. Now patrons can have some chicken and waffles, gumbo, grits and more southern food alongside Victory Hall & Parlor’s drink selection. The bar is walking distance from AT&T, so you can enjoy a boozy southern brunch before even more eating and drinking at a Giant’s game.
Little Skillet, inside Victory Hall & Parlor
360 Ritch Street
Honorable Mentions:
— Holy Mountain SF, inside Hawker Fare, is not really a restaurant, since they mostly serve snacks — but the small bites are still delicious.
— Mission Chinese started as a secret restaurant within Lung Shan — you could choose between either menu. As chef Danny Bowien explains, “Mission Chinese Food [was] becoming very popular…we were running out of storage space for two full-size menus. So [Lung Shan] actually were the ones who said, ‘Look, we’re just going to change it, and you guys just do everything, and our chef will work for you, and we’ll make your food. Just show them how to do it.’”
Did we miss your favorite? Let us know in the comments section.
