If SF is so diverse why isn't it reflected in its food? (Los Angeles: rent, crime)

[luau]

I eat out a fair bit and my office caters lunch from various restaurants with a few different ethnicities like thai, chinese, brazilian, and some different european foods. I've found everything you get in SF you can get in LA. And in LA, they are much more prolific and open late. LA also had more healthy options that weren't vegan. Maybe that's why so many of the guys here in SF look so frail. Finally, I have yet to taste an excellent meal here in SF that wasn't Chinese.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

My take on the SF food is this:

What SF has:
1. Lots of pricey restaurants where you can eat and brag about having an expensive meal (not necessarily good)
2. Lots of new American type of food which is by and large hit or miss except the styling and good plating techniques
3. Lots of Chinese restaurants and most of them pretty bad

What SF does not have:
1. Almost stunning lack of authentic ethnic food particularly Indian, Middle eastern, Korean, Mexican etc. They have some dirty low end Pakistani restaurants and people here think that's all Indian food is supposed to be. South bay has good Indian restaurants. Middle eastern food scene here ranges from non-existent to pathetic and just about any city USA is better in that regard.
2. Does not have one single good sit-down Mexican restaurant. People here think taqueria's selling cheap unhealthy burrito is Mexican food. Its impossible to even get those burritos if you are not in Mission. People in SF have segregated restaurant locations by race and taken segregation to whole another level. Texas is miles ahead of CA in Mexican food.
3. Complete lack of late night restaurants. It's virtually impossible to get a good meal here after 9 PM. Even if the place is open till 10 PM all the staff will start packing up at 9 PM. There are couple of places that are open late night but just about any major city has many 24 hr places. You can literally starve to death in this city at night unless you stockpile on food in home.
4. Complete lack of Cajun or Southern style food.
5. Lack of good chain restaurants like Chipotle, Panera bread etc
6. Stunning lack of places where you can good beer and some pub food at affordable price. And of course very conveniently every single bar stops serving food at 10 PM.
7. No restaurant with good amount of space or privacy. Even the expensive places are packed tight and loud.

So I agree.. The food scene here is overpriced and way overhyped. Give me a few 24 hr eating places and good authentic ethnic restaurants and I can forget about all the other snobby, yuppie food places where the 20-year- old-trust-fund-kid-pretending-to-have-taste rich hang out.

SF food scene, if you ignore the overpriced places where the rich dine, is just about as good as any small city in middle America.

It seems most of what you're looking for is in the East Bay. Not a lot late-night spots either, but there is the Merritt Bakery, Mexicali Rose, chicken n waffles at JLS, Au Coquelet in Berkeley etc which are all open past midnight. Great Indian food in Berkeley...a truly authentic Southern Indian vegetarian spot on University & MLK with a good chaat cafe across the street. Of course the best is Vik's Chaat in a warehouse area off of 4th street. Not sure about all types of MidEastern food but the best falafel I've had is from Holy Land, which has locations in Berkeley's Elmwood and Oakland's Grand Lake neighborhoods. The Mexican food is on another level, from sit-down dining to taco trucks. And of course Oakland has soul food and Louisiana joints, though probably not as much as it should, given the Southern roots of so much of its population.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

In terms of Mexican food Mission has nothing to offer other than those Taquerias. Does SF (or for that matter entire bay area) have a single Mexican restaurant like this:
Mi Cocina Restaurants
I am not even posting pictures to show you the ambiance. Dallas, TX literally has hundereds of places like that.
Mission has a handful of sit-down Mexican places but they are overpriced, ugly and the food is mediocore.

But its not just Mexican food where SF is bad... The city is pathetic when it comes to Indian or Middle Eastern food and just about any major city in US will come ahead of SF.

Well I don't like SF taquerias either, they're always dirty and the meat is always greasy low-quality dark meat, and the other ingredients are crappy too.

Indian is pretty much the one thing you'd expect there to be more of in a city like SF. Berkeley has quite a few Indian places though. Also for Mediterranean there are a fair number of places in SF. La Mediterranee is really good and has several locations.

[Nineties Flava]

The big problem with this thread is the premise that SF proper is the barometer for Bay Area food... Hell no. Anyone from the Bay can tell you that expecting to find tons of great Indian food in SF is like expecting to find tons of great Chinese food in LA proper... You have to go where the population is. The Bay Area is not like other parts of the country where the central city is where the vast majority of the ethnic and high end offerings are, and that's because the vast majority of the Bay Area's ethnic and high-end folks don't live in SF. (IMO) The best Indian, Mexican, Salvadorean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Ethiopian, etc. the Bay Area has to offer are all found outside of SF, and in some cases 30+ miles outside of SF.

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

But its not just Mexican food where SF is bad... The city is pathetic when it comes to Indian or Middle Eastern food and just about any major city in US will come ahead of SF.

Agreed! The Bay Area in general lacks authentic mexican food places you will find in SoCal, Dallas, or other cities. The middle eastern food barely exist.

I still haven't found a place in the Bay Area that serves authentic, blood orange, menudo. I get my fix when I go to San Diego, or LA.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

Agreed! The Bay Area in general lacks authentic mexican food places you will find in SoCal, Dallas, or other cities. The middle eastern food barely exist.

I still haven't found a place in the Bay Area that serves authentic, blood orange, menudo. I get my fix when I go to San Diego, or LA.

You clearly don't know Bay Area Mexican food at all then. You won't find more authentic Michoacan fare in the US than you will on Middlefield Rd in East Redwood City/North Fair Oaks, and East Oakland has no shortage of authentic Jalisco and Sinaloa taquerias and sit-downs.

[DocGoldstein]

Nope, been to plenty. I've probably lived in the Bay trying Mexican food longer than you've been alive. This isn't just my opinion, this is a broad opinion shared by many people who have tried the food in BOTH locations (which clearly you have not). None of the places here in the Bay compare to SoCal. Even famous Chef Aaron Sanchez said on his blog the best Mexican food cities in the U.S are "1. Dallas, 2. Los Angeles, 3. San Diego, 4. El Paso, 5. Tuscon, 6. Chicago", there were ZERO Bay Area cities on his list.

I've actually been to one in Redwood city funnily enough. Of course if you would care to actually name a "specific place" instead of vaguely mentioning city streets, then I would gladly check one of them out this weekend. I'm retired, and always looking for ways to have fun.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

Nope, been to plenty. None of them compare to SoCal. I've actually been to one in Redwood city funnily enough.

You think going to one mexican joint in a city with one of the highest concentrations of Mexican food in the country that's known for authentic Michoacan cuisine makes you an authority on RWC Mexican food? You probably didn't even go to Little Michoacan.

[DocGoldstein]

Then name places! Stop being vague.

It's very telling when one of the most famous Mexican chefs in the country, who has multiple shows on Food Network doesn't mention a SINGLE Bay Area city on his list for U.S Cities with the best Mexican Food. Not one! I see TWO SoCal Cities on there, but not a single Bay Area one.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

Then name places! Stop being vague.

It's very telling when one of the most famous Mexican chefs in the country, who has multiple shows on Food Network doesn't mention a SINGLE Bay Area city on his list for U.S Cities with the best Mexican Food. Not one! I see TWO SoCal Cities on there, but not a single Bay Area one.

Here's an article on Mexican everything in RWC that reviews every taqueria in RWC very honestly:

ALL THE TAQUERIAS OF REDWOOD CITY

I personally recommend Los Gemelos which actually just opened up a 2nd location on El Camino Real a month or so ago.

Arguably the absolute best traditional soft tacos I've had in the US though are at Mariscos La Costa in Fruitvale.