culture@sfbg.com
BRUNCH ME
SoMa’s Darwin Café (212 Ritch, SF. www.darwincafesf.com) has added weekend brunch to its already tasty lineup. How about a Turkish breakfast with egg, tomato, figs, kasseri cheese, olives, and toast? Or a golden malted waffle with candied bacon? Or a croque madame? Oui! Hours are Saturday and Sunday 10am–2pm. (“Pastry hour” starts at 9am for you early bird types).
Also in SoMa, have you had a chance to check out chef-owner Lauren Kiino’s Red Dog (303 Second St, SF. www.reddogrestaurant.com) yet? The place has a lot going for it. There’s an outdoor patio, a full bar too, and some really appealing brunch dishes. (You can munch on some housemade breakfast pastries while you make up your mind). If you have a total manimal appetite, then the Red Dog brunch platter ($18) is for you: You get two fried eggs, grilled shortribs, housemade breakfast sausage, bacon, butter beans, and an English muffin. Don’t want to eat like a lumberjack? Then you can enjoy slow-scrambled eggs with crescenza cheese, avocado toast, and arugula. Or maybe you’re in the mood for griddled French toast, that’s just fine. The olive oil fried egg sandwich is all kinds of awesome as well, with two eggs, bacon, provolone, sweet onion butter, and breakfast potatoes. Bonus: You can order oysters on the half shell, a perfect pairing for your Bloody Mary. Served Saturday and Sunday 10am–3pm.
Feelin’ fancy? Time to head to the top of Nob Hill to the newly renovated Big 4 (1075 California, SF. www.big4restaurant.com)! You can go on the lighter side with smoked trout with cucumbers, watercress, pistachio, and crème fraîche, or get down to business with the Eggs Blackstone (English muffin, grilled early girl tomatoes, Hobb’s bacon, hollandaise, crispy Yukon potatoes). There are plenty of brunch cocktails to get you back in the game too. Sunday brunch is served 10:30am–2:30pm.
Psst, I have a little secret garden for you. The fabulous Fable (558 Castro, SF. www.fablesf.com) in the Castro has a flower-filled back garden patio, exactly where you want to be for fluffy buttermilk pancakes (with banana, macadamia nut, coconut butter, and maple syrup), or creative picks like duck confit salad with a sunny side-up cage-free egg (with tarragon, Parmesan, watermelon radish, toasted brioche, baby tatsoi, and apricot vinaigrette). And if you see soft-shell crab on the menu, get it. Just get it. Served Sat–Sun 11am–2:30pm.
I have been a fan of the breakfast burrito at Green Chile Kitchen (1801 McAllister, SF. www.greenchilekitchen.com) for a good long time, but now it’s featuring some groovy new options on the weekend, like a New Mexican frittata layered with blue corn tortillas, eggs, zucchini, corn, green chile, cheese, and crema, served enchilada-style (mmmm), and migas (eggs, crispy tortilla strips, green chile, tomatillo avocado salsa, cotija, and black beans). Watermelon and mango mimosas are on the menu too.
Hayes Valley residents have a couple fresh spots that are stumbling distance from their bed, starting with Talbot Café (244 Gough, SF. www.talbotcafe.com), which just got a renovation and a menu upgrade too. Get your brain cells back with some Sightglass coffee and Saturday brunch (8am–3:30pm) savory or sweet polenta, an herb waffle and lox sandwich, and a waffle sandwich with bacon, eggs, and avocado (whoa).
Also in Hayes Valley is the new-ish Papito West (425 A Hayes, SF. www.papitosf.com), which serves weekend brunch 10am–4pm. There are two kinds of chilaquiles, plus huevos rancheros, and three kinds of omelets, like one with housemade chorizo with jack cheese, pico de gallo, avocado, and sour cream, or another with poblano peppers with corn, wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted poblano peppers, goat cheese, and sour cream. Buen provecho!
Marcia Gagliardi is the founder of the weekly tablehopper e-column; subscribe for more at www.tablehopper.com. Get her app: Tablehopper’s Top Late-Night Eats. On Twitter: @tablehopper.