There’s certainly no shortage of excellent food to be found in San Francisco and the Bay Area — but there’s plenty worth skipping, too. Luckily for you, Eater editors dine out several times a week (or more) and we’re happy to share the standout dishes we encounter as we go.
Soy sauce-marinated raw crab and shrimp at Ilcha
Typically, the Best Dishes column is a moment for Eater editors to shout out a dish and restaurant that readers can turn around and go to. This, however, is not that moment. Ilcha is the modern Korean restaurant that opened in the Marina in 2022, but in December, owners Kummi Kim and Hilwin Wong announced that they would close their restaurant on Saturday, February 14. And so it was that a friend and I made plans to go before they permanently shut it down, to have the soy sauce-marinated raw crab and shrimp one last time. This was the place where I first tried this dish, intrigued by how soy sauce would shape the taste of raw crab and shrimp. I would discover that the soy sauce gives the crab and shrimp an umami edge, juxtaposed with the sweetness of the meat itself. It’s also an experience, donning plastic gloves to grab each section of crab, squeezing the soft shells to get every morsel out. Paired with flowing glasses of beer and soju shots (and maybe some fried chicken), it’s the communal moment here that I’ll miss. Sure, there are other Korean spots in the Bay Area I need to explore, and maybe they, too, will have these dishes, but this closure feels like a marker in time, and it’ll remain a very pleasant memory.
Ilcha (2151 Lombard Street, San Francisco) is closed as of Saturday, February 14.
I thought I had it all figured out. Glancing at the menu of Bar Panisse, I figured I could easily put together a meal from the selection of bites offered at the new Berkeley space. Unlike other menus that leave diners on their own to decipher what they’re ordering, Bar Panisse’s was otherwise pretty straightforward. But to be fair, I never properly considered the scallions under the “Small Fry” header, and was surprised when the bartender here heartily recommended it. The scallion roots are battered, crumbed, then fried, but what’s truly fun about the dish is that the non-battered portions (namely the green tops) turn papery and crispy, not to mention the tart nature of the Straus yogurt on the side, sweetened with honey. It won me over. I’m going to order again if I ever happen to see it on a future visit.
Bar Panisse (1515 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley) is open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday through Monday.
Am I seafood-deficient again? February seems to be all raw crab and hand rolls. But I prefer being honest, and when looking back through my camera roll for the month, this yuzu kosho hand roll at Yonsei was among the bites that stood out. I’ve already documented my oddly specific salmon rules elsewhere, but what this hand roll offered — besides delicious sushi-grade salmon — was the delicious kick of yuzu kosho. It’s a condiment made with yuzu, giving dishes a citrus-y and spicy bent. I fell in love with yuzu kosho after a trip to Japan in 2024, and have been dousing food with it as often as I could in my home kitchen. Together with the salmon and sushi rice (and a pipetted hit of soy sauce), it was an excellent combo of flavors that made the whole dinner sing.
Yonsei Handrolls (905 San Pablo Avenue, Albany) is open from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily.