This Sunday is 4/20, and you know what that means... lots of people celebrating the anniversary of Pierre & Marie Curie refining radium chloride! And since hardcore-celebrating that anniversary makes lots of people hungry (weird, right?), we've got 22 spots that'll cure your 4/20-induced munchies.
Little Skillet (click here for address and info)
Mission Bay
If you can deal with a line and standing, you will be rewarded with po' boys, fried chicken and waffles, and po' boys that you've stuffed your fried chicken and waffles into.
The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen (click here for address and info)
SOMA
Order their three-tiered grilled cheese cake on 4/19. Your 4/20-self will be incredibly thankful.
The Crème Brûlée Cart (click here for address and info)
FiDi
You build your own crème brûlée at this Mission brick-and-mortar. So, "One with everything, please."
SliderBar (click here for address and info)
Castro
Breakfast sliders with egg and bacon, huevos rancheros, or chicken and waffles, plus fries loaded with bacon & topped with an egg. Get extra. You're gonna want to continue this at home.
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Hot Sauce and Panko (click here for address and info)
Inner Richmond
Ramen-coated chicken wings. That is all.
El Farolito (click here for address and info)
The Mission
If they're good to you at 3am on a Friday night, they'll be good to you today.
Butter (click here for address and info)
SOMA
If you've never tried a fried Twinkie, today's the day.
Hi Tops (click here for address and info)
Castro
For when you're suddenly in the mood for fried chicken sandwiches made by former Top Chef contestants...
PizzaHacker (click here for address and info)
Bernal Heights
This guy used to make and sell pizzas outside of bars. He'll understand what you're going through. Bonus: he'll also still make and sell you a pizza.
Suite Foods Waffle Shop (click here for address and info)
Bernal Heights
You want maple-bacon/egg waffle tacos on a regular day. IMAGINE HOW MUCH YOU'LL WANT THEM SUNDAY.
Wing Wings (click here for address and info)
Hayes Valley
Every flavor of wing you could ever want. Order all of them.
Straw (click here for address and info)
Hayes Valley
Skip the donut burger and go straight for the donut breakfast sandwich. Then go back to the donut burger.
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Lightning Tavern (click here for address and info) / Bullitt (click here for address and info)
The Marina, Russian Hill
We've got one word for you: totchos.
Craftsmen & Wolves (click here for address and info)
The Mission
Remember this?
Ike's Place (click here for address and info)
Castro
Get the Hot Date 4 Hire off their secret menu (thinly-sliced rib eye steak, stuffed jalapeño poppers, extra-dirty sauce). Actually, maybe get two.
Front Porch/Rock Bar (click here for address and info)
Bernal Heights, The Mission
Buckets. Of. Fried. Chicken.
Bob's Donut & Pastry Shop (click here for address and info)
Nob Hill
Woah man, that thing's like, bigger than your head.
Bacon Bacon (click here for address and info)
The Haight
BaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconBACOOOOOON.
Mama Ji's (click here for address and info)
Castro
You should get every type of dim sum on the menu. We did.
3 Potato 4 (click here for address and info)
The Mission
Everything on their menu is french fries. Just think about that.
The Cavalier (click here for address and info)
Union Square
If you're cool with crowds, go here and get the bacon sandwich.
Bespoke Donuts (click here for info)
The Mission, Castro
If you don't want a Tacoughnut on Sunday, you're probably not celebrating the right way.
Joe Starkey is Thrillist's San Francisco Editor and frequently gets asked how tall he is at parties. Find out on Twitter.
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1. Little Skillet
360 Ritch St, San Francisco -
2. The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen
1 S Park Ave, San Francisco -
3. The Creme Brulee Cart
3338 24th St, San Francisco -
4. SliderBar
2295 Market St, San Francisco -
5. Hot Sauce and Panko
1545 Clement St, San Francisco -
6. El Farolito
2779 Mission St, San Francisco -
7. Butter
354 11th St, San Francisco -
8. Hi Tops
2247 Market St., San Francisco -
9. PizzaHacker
3299 Mission St, San Francisco -
10. Suite Foods Waffle Shop
331 Cortland Ave, San Francisco -
11. Wing Wings
422 Haight St, San Francisco -
12. Straw
203 Octavia Blvd, San Francisco -
13. Lightning Tavern
1875 Union St, San Francisco -
14. Bullitt
2209 Polk St, San Francisco -
15. Craftsman & Wolves
746 Valencia St, San Francisco -
16. Ike’s Place
3489 16th St, San Francisco -
17. The Rock Bar
80 29th St, San Francisco -
18. Bob's Donut & Pastry Shop
1621 Polk St, San Francisco -
19. Bacon Bacon Truck
63 Bluxome St, San Francisco -
20. Mama Ji's
4416 18th St, San Francisco -
21. 3 Potato 4
1051 Market St, San Francisco -
22. The Cavalier
360 Jesse St, San Francisco
Little Skillet fully operates out of 330 Ritch's kitchen, and is run by the same dudes that opened Farmer Brown. It's a minuscule, alley-bound to-go window that sells crazy-good soul food (including some of SF proper's best chicken & waffles), as well as great brew.
From the seven-time winner of the Grilled Cheese Invitational and her biz-savvy BF, AGCK's a triumphant homage to the food-diction you never quite kicked. Set up in a SOMA space that rocks a big, heat-lamped patio and a nostalgic '50s aesthetic via milk bottle light fixtures and a multi-media mural comprised of old postcards and cuckoo clocks, providing the backdrop for the sandwich action for which you came. You can keep it basic or reach for next-level creations like Mushroom Gruyere (with roasted potato and melted leeks) or the Mac n Cheese... which you can probably figure out.
A brick 'n mortar incarnation of everyone's favorite brulee cart, this place'll let you pick from a menu of creme brulees or build your own (!). Be careful: with great power comes great responsibility. The possibilities are endless.
Slider options count the D-Lux (Kobe beef w/ Swiss, pickled onions, little gem, chipotle ketchup, truffle aioli), the 3 Alarm (w/ habanero pepper jam, sliced serranos, pickled jalapenos), and the Hot Chick (ground chicken w/ a serrano/garlic/lime/tomatillo patty, and crushed tortilla chips on a multi-grain bun) -- all of which can come with regular, garlic, truffle, or sweet potato fries in a solo-sized "regular" or a catcher-from-Sandlot-sized "family".
From a pair of self-proclaimed "chili heads" who dig the hot stuff so much it's a surprise they don't give it away, give it away, give it away, HS&P's slinging 118 tongue-burners outta an old Chinese herb/massage parlor, plus has a tasting station boasting 30 free-to-try varietals ensuring people can still leave with something that burns.
Figuring out which taqueria to go to in the MIssion can be tough, but you can’t go wrong with El Farolito, one of the neighborhood's OG burrito havens, which happens to also be within perfect stumbling distance of numerous bars and the 24th Street BART. The super burrito is where it’s at, with a hefty dose of rice, beans, salsa, guac, sour cream, and whatever delicious meat you choose (carne asada is a good call).
This quirky dive bar offers deep-fried Twinkies, Jell-o shots, and tater tots (in other words, everything you need to get your night started right). With a consistently lively clientele, cheap drinks, and late night karaoke, Butter is gloriously bawdy, and a checkerboard floor, aluminum siding, and neon sings only add to the trashy-chic vibe.
Finally, a place to drink and relax where your sexuality isn't reduced to a stereotype. Hi Tops is a gay sports bar in The Castro that's decked out in benches made from bleachers, flat-screen televisions (16 of them, so they're always playing the game you came to watch), and Top Chef-level nachos, wings, and corn dogs. The speciality cocktails are a huge draw too, like the house Haterade that's served in a plastic water bottle.
Hailing from the ACTUAL PizzaHacker himself, he moved his business off the streets and into this beer garden-esque abode, serving up deliciously melty and crispy 'zas.
A liege waffle shop that stuffs its hearty, yeast-risen waffles like the maple-bacon number with the likes of poached eggs, making for creations that run the gamut from sweet to savory.
From a Baltimore-repping former Little Skillet chef, WW is a house of wing-y awesomeness that'll sling fried chicken to Lower Haight-ians 'til 2a outta a clean-lined, bright orange-floored, personalized saloon door-equipped interior that seats 10 at stools and four more at out-front benches, presumably pre-warmed by Brian Cardinal.
Straw is an over-the-top-playful, carny-themed eatery imagined by a quartet of former Outside Lands concession-eers, with a festive 30-seat interior anchored by a booth built from an actual Tilt-a-Whirl car, plus framed Coney Island photography, light fixtures made of Exeter Mason jars, and a bathroom full of funhouse mirrors, also what Kirstie Alley calls normal mirrors in an effort to avoid a shame spiral.
Unabashedly divey, Lighting Tavern carries Fireball, Fernet, tater tot nachos, and chicken wing buckets all in equal parts. Grab a seat on the outdoor patio to sip down bottomless mimosas as you prepare yourself for one of the booziest brunches in town (or dinners or happy hours). Even if you don't take advantage of the bottomless offer, the Scotch egg- and poutine-filled menu will have you overindulging in a different way.
Bullitt's got a finely designed interior to match the retro coolness of the Steve McQueen flick it was named after. Sporting a sheet metal bar with low-hanging Edison bulbs and fine wood paneling, this Russian Hill district favorite's got and endless supply of bottled beer and food just as laid-back as the crowd who frequent it with a small selection of bar bites ideal for hardcore cheese-lovers. From the thick beef burgers, to the nachos, to the widely beloved tater tots, everything's covered head to toe in the stuff.
This communal-equipped, industrial-looking noshery is anchored by a 20ft display case behind which hang pictures of a torn-in-half plane and an abandoned van on an island... almost makes you wonder if they got LOST.
Ike's serves up a myriad of delicious sandwiches (with quirky names) and features vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options to satisfy all. Out of all the sandwich shops in San Francisco, this is the best place for vegetarians and vegans in the area.
A watering hole Scissors would never go near, The Rock Bar's a Southern Mish imbibe-ery from the folks behind The Front Porch, with a Temple of Doom-mine-cart-chase-worthy interior pairing artifacts from one of the owner’s silver-quarrying dads (including an honest-to-God blasting permit) with miscellany you'd expect to find in a mine, like amethysts, crystals, and 33 trapped Chileans.
This 24hr Polk Gulch donut mecca and San Francisco standby has been a staple of early mornings (and late nights) since 1960, firing up amazing apple fritters and old fashioneds before they suddenly became objects of hipster fascination. The also make quite possibly the biggest donut you've ever seen. Try the Bob's Challenge, which requires consuming it in three minutes. Or, you know, just enjoy a bunch of really tasty donuts at your own pace.
From a Cole Valley dude who originally moved to SF to manage his brother's rock band, the BBT is a 1986 Chevy lifted from a retired Hayward burger-maker, now serving up SF's first fully pork-ified menu, which includes just one sans-pork menu item, though if you order it, you immediately fall through a trap door into a pool of lame.
A dim sum palace with all of the classics, including a porcupine-like deep-fried shrimp ball and a steamed egg custard bun that is DIVINE.
3 Potato 4 is serving up non-fried, delicious, perfectly-greasy French fries in a multitude of variations.
An upscale pub-style joint in Soma from the folks behind Park Tavern, Marlowe, and S&R Lounge, The Cav serves a British-themed menu with hearty standouts like venison tartare; a bacon, caramelized onion, and cheddar burger; and Shepherd's pie.