San Francisco is a food lover’s city, but what happens when your arriving flight is delayed or meetings keep you working late — will you still be able to enjoy a haute meal? Of course! A gourmet dinner at one of the city’s best restaurants can happen, you just need to know which places serve food until 1 a.m. Here are our favorite spots for dining in SF after 10 p.m.
Craving upscale French cuisine? Head to Bouche, a hidden gem bistro on Bush Street above the Stockton tunnel. With only a handful of tables upstairs and a few at the small open kitchen downstairs, Bouche is intimate and inviting. Menu items lean more toward the creative, think bacon and lamb crepinette with comte potato purée and seared duck breast with burnt honey farro rather than the usual moules frites or croque monsieur. An excellently curated wine list, that highlights lesser known producers, will ensure that you linger tableside until the restaurant is ready to close.
603 Bush Street
(415) 956-0396
A food industry hangout, Nopa is a solid selection for a filling, satisfactory late night culinary adventure. Sip a hand crafted cocktail, like the Hidalgo, a concoction that features Manzanilla sherry, ginger Eau de Vie, honey and lemon, while you wait at the happening and always-packed bar area and marvel as the staff work their magic in the open bustling kitchen. From the seasonal sweet corn tortelloni to the wildly juicy pork chop to the grass fed burger with pickled onions, everything on the menu is phenomenal.
560 Divisadero Street
(415) 864-8643
New York’s most prolific restaurant power couple, April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, opened their first West Coast destination by remodeling San Francisco institution, Tosca Cafe. Originally established in 1980, the North Beach standby was set to close in May of 2013. Luckily, chef Bloomfield and Friedman swooped in and saved the space, a preferred hangout of everyone from Sean Penn to former mayor Willie Brown. Today, it’s open Tuesday thru Sunday from 5 pm – 2 am and serving up delectable rustic Italian food. The linguini with garlic and littleneck clams and roast chicken with ricotta, pine nuts, and marsala are personal favorites.
242 Columbus Avenue
(415) 986-9651
Over in the Marina, one can enjoy a plate of plump meatballs in fragrant tomato sauce, a crisp kale caesar with pecorino, or spicy sausage pizza with scamorza and onion at Chestnut Street’s Delarosa. The sparsely decorated space houses several large low communal tables and a sleek crowded bar with innovative and classic cocktails like a Salty Dog with vodka, elderflower, grapefruit and salt or a Quiet Man with Irish whiskey, calvados, charteuse, lemon, and basil.
2175 Chestnut St, San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 673-7100
In the heart of the Tenderloin at the Phoenix Hotel is a late night oasis, Chambers Eat + Drink. Part bar, part lounge, and part restaurant, this sophisticated spot serves bar bites like medjool dates wrapped in lamb pancetta and dishes like swordfish with huitacoche and abalone mushrooms. After you’re done eating, relax with a cocktail by the pool or be inspired by the Be Amazing marquee light sign above the bar in the back room.
601 Eddy St, San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 829-2316
The Charlie Palmer Group manages the Burritt Room + Tavern in downtown San Francisco just off of Union Square. On Friday and Saturday nights, the bar and lounge offer upscale bar food, like housemade tater tots and chicken wings with buttermilk blue cheese dressing, until 2:00 AM. Although it’s on the second floor of a hotel, the Burritt Room, with it’s aged wood and dangling chandeliers feels like you’re at an underground speakeasy.
417 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 400-0561
Haute Scene
September 8, 2014San Francisco Opera Ball 2014 Dazzles and Delights
