Outer Richmond is the second location for Devil’s Teeth bakery, an Outer Sunset favorite for delicious breakfast sandwiches on hot buttermilk biscuits, cookies, donut muffins, scones, pies, and lunch options like soup and lasagna. The Balboa Street bakery, which opened in 2020, adds wood-fired pizza, thanks to the oven first installed in the space by Marla’s. There’s no wrong order here.
The neighborhood on the north side of Golden Gate Park is, like its southern counterpart the Sunset, home to many Asian American communities; the population grew to make up 40 to 50 percent of the neighborhood beginning in the 1960s through to the 1990s, according to the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS). Today, there are outstanding examples of the many different foods that make up the tapestry of San Francisco dining on any given street in the Richmond District. Here are 16 places for pizzas, breakfast sandwiches, siu mai, egg coffee, and margaritas to try throughout the Richmond neighborhood.
Devil's Teeth Baking Company
Fiorella
This Inner Richmond spot is much more than a pizza joint, though its pies are beyond reproach. Stop by the cozy, stylish restaurant for dinner or brunch, and feast through the menu of pastas, pizzas, and antipasti. Sister restaurant and bar Violet’s is just down the block, and the emcee-wrapped restaurant sprouted up in the Inner Sunset, too.
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Pearl 6101
This cozy neighborhood restaurant from alums of sister spot Pizzetta 211 has become a citywide favorite, serving bright crudos; gorgeous plates of seared scallops; and most importantly, some of the best handmade pasta dishes in town — rounded out by excellent cocktails and desserts. Can’t-miss specialties include the handkerchief pasta dish made with white bolognese and grana padano and the Pearl martini.
Aziza
Chef Mourad Lahlou’s serves Moroccan comforts out in the Richmond at Aziza, a restaurant that became even more important to the neighborhood during the pandemic. Regulars dig into the chicken basteeya wrapped in pastry, centerpiece braised lamb shank, and hand-rolled couscous. Slide into a banquette for dinner or weekend brunch, when the light-as-air Moroccan pancakes should absolutely not be missed.
Dragon Beaux
This Koi Palace spinoff is one of the finest high-end dim sum houses in the city, known for Instagram-friendly, five-color xiao long bao that you’ll spy at every other table. The restaurant’s standouts, however, are the classic and modern takes on Cantonese dim sum, including plenty of dumplings: har gow, sea bass dumplings, scallop shumai, and more.
Lung Fung Bakery
The signboard menu at this old-school Cantonese bakery, with prices given in cents instead of dollars, is a throwback to a different era. You won’t find anything resembling an entree here, but the egg custard tarts are the flakiest in the neighborhood, and the meaty baked barbecue pork buns are probably tops in the entire city.
Joe's Ice Cream
This old-school scoop shop serves ice cream memories straight from your San Francisco childhood, offering standards such as root beer swirl and rum raisin, or more unconventional flavors like wasabi and chai tea. While it’s a fairly no-frills storefront, the fresh parklet covered in cartoon cheeseburgers and ice cream cones — which is wheelchair accessible and just the right size for little kids — is already a hit for ice cream socials.
Breadbelly
This James Beard Award-nominated Asian American bakery from a trio of San Francisco fine-dining chefs does everything well: its recognizable bright green kaya toast, Asian coffee drinks, an ever-changing lineup of cakes and pastries, yogurt drinks, and tidily cut sandwiches on soft milk bread.
Schubert's Bakery
Remember in the first Great British Baking Show when the contestants had to make a Swedish princess cake with a pale green marzipan shell? Well, they sell that very cake at Schubert’s, in slices and whole, because that’s just the kind of old-fashioned European pastry that this 100-plus-year-old bakery specializes in. You may claim that you’re not a frilly dessert person, but one bite of the shop’s opera cake, chocolate truffle torte, or St. Honore cake may change your mind. This is also a classy spot to pick up a birthday cake; they don’t make custom cakes, but will do frosting inscriptions. Place your order online and schedule a pickup time to avoid unnecessary lines and crowding.
Mandalay Restaurant
There are several great Burmese spots in the Richmond but Mandalay did it first, opening in 1984, back when tea leaf salad was a novelty to most. Its known for homey standards like samusa soup, as well as specials like the Rangoon spicy fish along with fragrant noodle dishes and the best fermented tea leaf salad in town — a rendition of the classic without lettuce or cabbage.
Cinderella Bakery & Café
The Outer Richmond’s Russian community constantly filters through this cheerful Geary Boulevard bakery and cafe, which peddles everything from freshly baked rye loaves and Ritual Coffee to entrees like borscht and chicken kiev. Don’t sleep on the pelmeni (Russian boiled meat dumplings in broth) or the blinchiki (rolled crepes filled with sweet cheese, mushrooms, ground beef, caviar or Nutella). Cinderella is also one of the only places in the Bay Area to get housemade kvas, a sweet, vaguely alcoholic-tasting, bubbly concoction made from fermented rye bread.
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