San Francisco travel guide
48 Hours in San Francisco: Dry-Fried Wings, La Taqueria, and an NBA Player's Coffee Shop
We only had 48 hours in San Francisco and one rule: don't waste a single bite. The range of flavors we packed into one weekend, some of it food we're convinced only exists here, made it feel a lot longer than two days.
Where we ate.
San Tung
1031 Irving St, San FranciscoChinese-Korean fusion, famous dry-fried wings
Get: Dry-fried chicken wings and jjajangmyeon
Known for the wings, but we secretly ordered jjajangmyeon (Korean-Chinese black bean noodles) because we'd been craving it all week, and it turned out to be underrated, chewy noodles that soak up just enough sauce. The dry-fried wings live up to the hype: a sticky-sweet glaze over shatteringly crisp skin, what we're pretty sure is a Korean-Chinese restaurant given how much the whole menu leans Korean.
Pineapple King Bakery
1915 Irving St, San FranciscoChinese bakery
Get: Guava butter bun, pandan butter bun, and an egg tart with coconut and mango
A bakery we make a point of visiting every time we're in San Francisco. The guava butter bun tastes like biting into an actual guava, fragrant and not overly sweet, and the pandan bun came out a gorgeous pistachio green from real pandan juice. We'll pass on the pineapple tart next time, though: dense and a little too custardy for our taste.
Mr. East Kitchen
276 5th St, San FranciscoAsian-inspired brunch
Get: Thai tea French toast and a coconut Thai iced coffee
A good pick if you want something other than Asian dinner food for once but still want those flavors. The Thai tea French toast delivers real Thai tea flavor without going overly sweet, and the coconut Thai iced coffee is rich enough to work as dessert on its own.
La Taqueria
2889 Mission St, San FranciscoMission-style burrito, no rice
Get: The carne asada burrito
Lisa's favorite burrito spot in the Bay, and it's easy to see why: incredibly well-seasoned carne asada in a soft, fresh tortilla, no rice in sight, that's the Mission style. We showed up 12 minutes before opening and were still 20th in line.
Outta Sight Pizza
643 Clay St, San FranciscoDetroit-style pizza with chili crisp
Get: A mushroom, onion, and sausage pizza with chili crisp on top
One of the more interesting bites of the trip: a thick, caramelized Detroit-style crust under a chili-crisp topped pie that tasted almost like eating hot pot by way of pizza. We showed up late enough to snag one of the last slices of the day; a slice runs about $12.
Big Face Coffee
Pop-up location, San FranciscoNBA player's coffee shop
Get: Cold brew and an ube latte
Jimmy Butler's coffee pop-up, and he genuinely knows how to make coffee and matcha, plus he didn't charge us the $20 he's charged other NBA players for a cup. Heads up that this is a pop-up and isn't currently open in a fixed location, so check before you make a special trip.
Good to know before you go
- Total for two egg tarts and assorted pastries at Pineapple King ran $38.56, worth budgeting for if you're bakery-hopping.
- Also worth a stop if you have more time: Home Coffee Roastery (455 Grant Ave, in Chinatown), Stonemill Matcha (561 Valencia St, in the Mission), and Bi-Rite Creamery (3692 18th St), a Mission ice cream institution we didn't get to fully cover this trip.