Fillmore has 2 of the top 5 restaurants
SOME PEOPLE WILL tell you that Fillmore Street is not known for its food scene. The Chronicle begs to differ. Its new Top 100 restaurant list dropped today, and two of the top five are on Fillmore Street.
Nearest the top of the heap at No. 2 is The Progress at 1525 Fillmore — “a restaurant for all occasions,” the Chron says of the “statuesque sister to State Bird Provisions (No. 36) and Anchovy Bar,” both nearby. “A clever order will be guided by the seasons,” says the Chron, calling The Progress “the kind of place where you can picture celebrating life’s milestones and Saturday’s late-night cravings alike.”
At No. 4 is Copra, at 1700 Fillmore, helmed by chef Srijith Gopinathan, who established himself at Campton Place before taking over and reinventing the ex-Dosa space at Fillmore and Post in what was once a branch of the Bank of America (and before that its predecessor Bank of Italy). “He was tired of commuting to the South Bay to find the food he grew up with,” the Chron says, “so he built the restaurant he wanted to see in the world.”
Rounding out the top five are No. 1 Four Kings, the Cantonese darling in Chinatown; No. 3 Burdell, the soul food spot in Oakland; and No. 5 Sun Moon Studio in Oakland.
Seven more of the top 50 are on or near Fillmore or have roots here. The two-year-old Minnie Bell’s church of fried chicken at 1375 Fillmore is at No. 31, and State Bird Provisions at 1529 Fillmore is No. 36. No. 45 Nari is nearby in Japantown in the “dramatic dining room” of the Hotel Kabuki.
The best San Francisco pizza — “a definitive cross-pollinated breed that mixes East Coast technique with West Coast sensibility” — is at No. 12 Jules, at 237 Fillmore, near Haight. Toward the bay, just past Union Street at 3127 Fillmore, is No. 29 Atelier Crenn.
And why be modest? No. 18 Quince, now in Jackson Square, was born in the neighborhood at Bush and Octavia in what is now the home of Octavia. And No. 49 Dalida, in the Presidio, was born after its star chefs were freed from the now-empty Noosh at Fillmore and Pine. Just last month they made a triumphant return to the neighborhood with Maria Isabel in the old Ella’s space at California and Presidio.
All in all, it’s quite a respectable showing for the greater neighborhood.
Readers Respond
- Margaret H.December 28, 1969
Wonderful piece. I remember when the jazz clubs on Fillmore stayed open past two — this brought it all back. Thank you for keeping the memory of the neighborhood alive.
- David K.December 23, 1969
We've lived on Pine near Steiner for thirty-one years and it still surprises us how much this paper notices. Please keep going.
- Yuki T.December 15, 1969
A small correction — the mochi shop on Post opened in 1982, not 1985. My grandfather was there for the ribbon cutting. Love the coverage otherwise.
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