Finding a good lunch place in downtown San Francisco, specifically the Union Square shopping area, is very difficult. Most places cater to tourists and serve greasy, disgusting, fast food that is barely above McDonalds.

So it’s great to find a Japanese noodle and sushi restaurant on O’Farrell and Powell that serves good udon and soba. The restaurant called Dojima-Ann. It’s tiny and most of the clientele are Japanese. They’re packed at lunch so go a bit early to avoid the crowds. They serve sushi, sashimi, udon and soba noodles, and tempura. The prices for the noodle soups range between $6.50 and $10. It’s healthy and filling.

Dojima-Ann
219 O’Farrell Street (between Powell and Cyril Magnin)
San Francisco, CA

One of my favorite new restaurants in San Francisco is Olea, opened barely five months ago by my friends, Gabriel Amaya (see photo above) and Glen Bolosan. It has taken them over a year to find a suitable location (California Street at Larkin) so you can imagine how happy I was to hear that they had finally succeeded.

What’s the food like? Mediterranean - California cuisine. They use organic ingredients. The menu is small (which I like) and everything is very fresh. On the night that I went to Olea, I ordered grilled sardines which turned out to be much larger than most sardines that one finds in the Bay Area. The lamb chops were very delicious, just perfectly done (medium rare). And the cheesecake which is not your regular cheesecake (I won’t spoil the surprise) was divine!

Since the opening, Olea has become a neighborhood hangout and it’s not surprising given the quality of the food and the excellent service.

• Vibe: intimate neighborhood restaurant, good for romantic dinners, tables not packed in so you can have a conversation with your dinner companions, warm cozy interior.

• Pros: fresh organic Mediterranean food, good wine list, good service; if you did not reserve in advance, you can always sit at the communal table which is a lot of fun; desserts are made by Gabriel himself.

• Cons: street parking, which in the Nob Hill neighborhood can be a bit challenging.

Gabe and Glen are excellent photographers so you can see their gorgeous Flickr photos here and here.

Olea
1494 California Street
San Francisco, CA
+1 415 202 8521
www.oleasf.com

Since we’re on the subject of restaurants and wine bars in renovated industrial buildings, I forgot to mention one of the recent additions to the SF dining and bar scene: District on Townsend Street, two blocks from the baseball stadium.

• Vibe: industrial chic, exposed brick walls, funky art work, gigantic lounge spaces, huge bar, great place for people watching, young trendy crowd.

• Pros: extensive wine list (over 40 wines), excellent tapas or small plates, good for after-work drinks

• Cons: very crowded towards the end of the week, can feel like a meat market at times, impossible to park or get to if there is a ball game

If you hate crowds, go on Monday or Tuesday evening around 6pm and you can spread out among the sofas and lounge chairs.

District Wine Bar
216 Townsend Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
+1 415 896 2120
www.districtsf.com

There’s always something new in San Francisco’s foodie scene and the most interesting places have been popping up in the south of Market (SOMA) area. Serpentine and South Food and Wine Bar are the latest “small plates” restaurants that I’ve tried and like very much. I prefer dining in this way - not traditional three course menu that leaves you stuffed at the end, rather grazing among several small dishes with friends, so you can try different things.

Serpentine

It’s the latest project of the Slow Club folks whose restaurant on Mariposa Street is one of my favorite places for lunch.

• Vibe: high ceilings in an industrial building, chic but not over the top; Mediterranean cuising; small but excellent selection of small and large plates

• Pros: delicious fresh food, good service, chic modern interior

• Cons: If you are thinking of taking an after-dinner walk around the neighborhood, forget it. Although it’s not particularly unsafe or ugly, it’s not really inviting.

Serpentine
2495 Third Street (at 22nd)
San Francisco, CA
+1 415 252 2000
www.serpentinesf.com

South Food and Wine Bar

Started by an Australian chef, South is a small, cozy place across the Caltrain station. Although most people think of it as a wine bar, I thought the food was very good, too. I like the long communal table in the middle of the room for those who forgot to make reservations.

• Vibe: cozy modern chic, lots of young couples on dates, excellent and friendly service

• Pros: extensive list of Australian and New Zealand wines, very delicious, fresh Australian/Pacific dishes, close to public transport (Caltrain and Muni metro)

• Cons: because it is an a former industrial area, like Serpentine, the neighborhood doesn’t invite after-dinner strolls.

South Food and Wine Bar
330 Townsend Street, #101
San Francisco, CA
+1 415 974 5599
www.southfwb.com

I attended the Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM) last week in Barcelona, and stayed in Vilanova i la Geltru, a beach town 40 km south for lack of hotel rooms in the city. Vilanova is quiet and lovely at this time of the year without the tourists.

Seafood restaurant outside Barcelona

Vilanova has a lot of sea food restaurants along the beach, nearly all of which are quite good. On Sundays, they are packed with families enjoying their traditional Sunday lunch. But if you want food that goes beyond the traditional Catalan fish dishes, go to La Cucanya, a restaurant on a bluff above the town overlooking the ocean. They have an excellent wine list, too.

La Cucanya
Raco de Santa Llucia
Vilanova i la Geltru, Spain
+34 93 815 1934

Wine bars, tapas and more

One of the best things about 3GSM is Barcelona itself. I lived in the El Born district a few years ago (only for a month) and cobbled together a list of wonderful places to eat. Fortunately, they are still there. My favorites in El Born are Tapas de Taller and a wine bar called Vinya del Senyor on the Plaza Santa Maria del Mar.

La Vinya del Senyor
Plaça de Santa María 5
Barcelona, Spain
+34 93 310 3379

Taller de Tapas
Argenteria 51
Barcelona, Spain
+34 93 268 8559
www.tallerdetapas.com

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