Sushi
Ryoko’s
619 Taylor St @ Post

Friendly, helpful service and fresh, inventive and reasonably priced sushi in a cozy, unpretentious, underground hideaway (Wow, eight adjectives in one sentence! A record, even for us). We always swore maguro (red tuna) sashimi was the best thing on earth – who knew it was actually its lighter, sweeter cousin, albacore? Two delicate, melt-in-your mouth slabs were $4. As far as rolls go, our favorites here are the pokemon roll ($11.50) – salmon, mango, avocado and lettuce wrapped in soy paper; the spicy scallop roll ($6), which comes with a healthy dose of shiso, adding a fresh, minty basil taste; and the so-absurd-sounding-we-just-had-to-try volcano roll ($13) – deep-fried shrimp, jalapeño, peanut butter and cucumber – another spicy treat, but the sweet creaminess of the peanut butter (who would’ve thought?) helped temper the kick.

California
Canteen
817 Sutter St (@ Jones)

Just off the lobby of the former Commodore Hotel (now an Academy of Art dorm) on Sutter St. is this bright but unassuming little “diner,” which serves delicious, no-frills California cuisine courtesy of renowned chef/owner, Dennis Leary. Upon ordering, they give you an amuse bouche – we got diced avocado with toasted pumpkin seeds, cilantro and a pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette – and a deliciously buttery roll. From the ever-changing menu, we tried the escarole salad with poached egg, green olives and parmesan ($8.50), white bass roasted in brown butter with artichoke, chopped hazelnuts, spinach and a drizzle of curry sauce ($24.50); and a perfectly cooked beef sirloin with potato puree and porcini jus ($25.75). Dessert was their famous vanilla soufflé with crème anglaise ($8) and an amazing gingerbread flan with sautéed apples and armagnac ($7). Check out their $38 three-course prix-fixe dinner on Tuesdays, lunch Wed-Fri, or their fabulous weekend brunch.

Indonesian
Borobudur
700 Post St @ Jones

You may want to avoid Borobudur if you’re in a hurry or on the verge of fainting from low blood sugar, because the service can be so slow, you just might. But if not, the food is worth the wait. We had the otak-otak panggang appetizer – BBQ fish cake wrapped in banana leaves with spicy peanut sauce ($5.50), then the sayur asam – a big bowl of spicy tamarind broth with jackfruit, baby corn, long beans, tomatoes, peanuts, garlic and cabbage, more than enough for two ($7.50). Next was ikan bakar samudra, a huge and perfectly grilled rainbow trout fillet marinated in a sweet soy sauce ($10.95), and the gulai kambing – tender morsels of curried lamb with potatoes in a delicate coconut milk sauce ($10.95). If you have room, try a dessert, like the roti prata manis – grilled Indian bread with condensed milk, cheese and rice chocolate ($7.95).

Soul Food
Farmerbrown
25 Mason @ Turk

Overly hip? Maybe. Loud? Definitely. But you can’t deny the food’s really good. Farm-fresh soul food made with local, organic ingredients served in a chic, modern setting – a little incongruous, maybe, but one taste of their pear brandy sidecar and you won’t mind a bit. For solids, we started with shrimp cakes with spicy remoulade ($9), spare ribs ($11) – tender and spicy with a smoky-sweet BBQ sauce, and the fried okra with “secret sauce” ($11); they wouldn’t tell us what was in it, but it was a guilty pleasure reminiscent of jalapeño Velveeta. Next, we enjoyed a mouthwatering pan-fried catfish with candied yams and creamed spinach ($18) – moist and flavorful, without a lot of grease and batter; and the rib eye steak ($28), with broccolini and warm and crispy yet chewy potato chips, was well-marbled and seasoned but on the brink of being too salty – though not too salty to keep our friend from shielding the plate with his forearm as he greedily devoured it. Definitely spring for some sides, especially the mashed sweet potato and plantain or sautéed greens ($4).