Bay Area Food Finds

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson just stopped by Northern California and raved to us about the food. Though slightly jealous (is it possible to find a good burrito on the East Coast?) we were eager to hear more…

When it comes to food, Northern California keeps stirring the pot. For travelers there’s always something to sample. New restaurants open constantly. Others await to be sampled. Two taste sensations include one in San Francisco’s edgy Mission District and a five-month-old arrival in Wine Country.

El Metate, the Mission, San Francisco

Get ready to rock. El Metate features San Francisco’s legendary burritos — a $5 meal-and-a-half — stuffed with pork, chicken, fish, beans, and rice, and, for a dollar extra, slathered with guacamole, cheese, and sour cream. Their tacos are made with corn tortillas and filled with tangy chicken or fresh fish, all topped with fresh cilantro. El Metate is where the city’s chefs go on their off hours for the restaurant’s legendary chile verde pork burrito. Wash it down with a Mexican Coke (sweetened with cane sugar, unlike the American version, which is flavored with high fructose corn syrup). El Metate’s decor is a cut above the city’s typical taquerias, as the Tuscan-orange walls and simple wood chairs gives it a warm Mediterranean feel. The restaurant’s located on Bryant Street between 22nd and 23rd Streets in the Mission, the city’s traditional Mexican neighborhood. While you’re waiting for your order, quiz your fellow travelers on the meaning of “metate.” Hint: it’s the traditional grinding stone used to crush corn into masa, used in making tortillas. (2406 Bryant St; +1 415 641 7209)

Ubuntu, Napa, Napa County

The puzzled tourist peered into the stone building on Napa’s Main Street. She eyed the large community dining table made from salvaged lumber and the people leaving an ashtanga class. “What the hell is it?” she asked her friends. “A restaurant or a yoga studio?” The answer is both.  “Ubuntu’s a vegetarian restaurant with a yoga studio in the back,” San Francisco Magazine food critic Scott Hocker told IT. With no meat to balance the plate, the legumes have to stand on their own merits. According to Hocker, Ubuntu succeeds. “Head chef, Jeremy Fox is wildly talented. He’s doing vegetable cooking with a brain,” he says. “That’s the trick with this kind of stuff – each element has to be a precise.” Hocker recommends the starter marcona almonds with sea salt and lavender sugar and the salt-roasted beets and avocado for the “amped up flavors.” Other taste sensations on the changing menu include the wild-nettle pizza, and cauliflower cooked in a cast-iron pot with vadouvan spice and brown butter toast. A lengthy wine list complements the meal. (1140 Main St., Napa, CA; +1 707 251 5656).

Photo: Ubuntu Restaurant

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