Restaurateur Michael Dearth’s San Francisco Hit List, From Michelin-Star Bar Food To Crab Salad

The Grove and Baduzzi owner Michael Dearth returns to the city that taught him everything he knows about hospitality. San Francisco is brimming with food and wine experiences — here are some of Michael’s favourites.

San Francisco has given me a lot. Over the years it has given me a wife, heaps of friends, and opportunities to work with excellent chefs, outstanding sommeliers and hospitality professionals.

San Francisco was my culinary university. It’s where I cut my teeth in vampire bars, little corner cafes and then fine dining restaurants. I’ll take any chance to revisit “Baghdad by the Bay” and recently I did just that, documenting some dining highlights for Viva.

Here is an insider’s look at a city I love. An expatriate’s return to the decadent city of San Francisco.

Seafood and Dungeness crab at Swans Oyster Depot

A creature of habit, my first stop in San Franciso is always Swans Oyster Depot to eat my fill of Dungeness crab, known for its sweet, buttery flavour and juicy meat. It might be strange to you, but I do this first thing in the morning when it opens at around 9am.

Swans Oyster Depot is a multi-generational cultural landmark restaurant that opened in 1903, making it one of the longest-standing businesses and dining establishments in the US. It’s an extremely popular restaurant where you will see queues forming by 11am that stretch for a city block. I like to beat the crowds and get there first thing. It is really a wonderful experience that I recommend to everyone who visits the city. If you are a lover of seafood, it’s an absolute must!

Inside, you’ll find a long thin restaurant with a bar that runs the length of the space lined up with bar stools. It might be early in the morning, but people are enjoying the resident beer, Anchor Steam, on tap and having freshly shucked local oysters as well as smoked trout, prawns, lobster, selections of marinated fish as well as their famous clam chowder — and of course the iconic Crab Louis Salad. You get kingly portions of crab on a simple bed of chopped iceberg lettuce with heaps of “Louis” dressing. Swans Oyster Depot, 1517 Polk Street, San Fransico.

A16 restaurant for Italian wines and Neapolitan pizza

The next restaurant on my hit list is one that was founded by a very dear friend, sommelier-turned-restaurateur Shelley Lindgren. In the 90s Shelley and I were both waiters at a fine-dining restaurant in the city, we became close friends, and we would always talk about opening our own restaurants someday. Shelley opened A16 in 2004 in San Fransico the same year my wife Annette and I opened The Grove in Auckland. The restaurant is named after the Auto Strada A16 in Italy. The restaurant’s cuisine focuses on the Italian region of Campania.

Shelley single-handedly changed the way Californians drink wine. In an area with full-bodied oaky cabernet sauvignon and big jammy zinfandels, Shelley introduced San Francisco to a wine list exclusively dedicated to small artisan producers of Southern Italian wines. Over the years they have received many accolades, including winning a James Beard Award in 2015 for Outstanding Wine Programme.

To eat, A16′s specialty is Neapolitan pizza with toppings like spicy sausage with garlic and smoked burrata or wild mushrooms with truffle pecorino. Gorgeous homemade pasta like bucatini or squid-ink tonnarelli with crab and sour orange also fill the menu. Most days if you pop in you will see Shelley gracing the floor smiling away while decanting her latest love, and educating the welcome masses. A16, 2355 Chestnut Street, San Fransico.

Spectacular pho from Gao Viet Kitchen & Bar

There seem to be many restaurants opening and closing in San Francisco, especially in this post-pandemic world, so whenever I visit, I follow my local friends to the newer hotspots. I have always been a lover of Vietnamese pho and could honestly enjoy a bowl every day. Gao Viet Kitchen & Bar in the Sunset District takes simple pho to the next level. The Phozilla, for example, features a giant beef rib and whole Maine lobster … I couldn’t finish it.

This buzzy restaurant is decorated with multi-coloured wooden shutters representing the influence of French colonialism in Vietnam. I watched as beautifully crafted cocktails travelled from table to table as I waited for another favourite pho of roasted bone marrow, filet mignon and beef brisket. Although extremely rich in flavour, the pho broth was next level, balancing the tension of rich and buttery with sharp clean aromatics. A perfect fit for a city with inevitable cold and wet nights. Gao Viet Kitchen, 1900 Irving Street, San Fransisco.

Michelin-star food at petite yet mighty Bar Crenn

The bar’s look draws inspiration from Japanese-style listening bars. The Bar Crenn space features a textured gold ceiling with warm light wood curving up from behind a back bar. There is also a record player with a wall of shelves filled with vinyl records for you to select in a queue to be played by your sommelier.

This was the most satisfying meal I have had for a long time. We sat at a low couch with a colourful marble table and as the food arrived, from the same three-star kitchen next door, I knew this night was going to be exceptional.

Much of the produce on the menu is sourced from Sonoma County’s Blue Belle Farm, including the humble pumpkin, which at Bar Crenn is triumphantly elevated into a wedge of pumpkin tart with a layer of truffles. A tart so good we requested another slice.

A small dish of Bafun Uni (kina) with glazed koshihikari congee was heaven on a plate. Yes, congee! I wanted more! Even the simplest Crenn salad of chicories, black garlic and miso was mind-blowing. The beverage ingredients, also sourced from Blue Belle Farm, are expressed in house-made juices, teas, fermentations, and distillations. Bar Crenn, 3131 Fillmore Street, San Fransico.

Organic wines from Unti Vineyards in Napa Valley

I can’t talk about San Fransico without including its famous neighbour in northwest Napa Valley, Dry Creek Valley, where you’ll find Unti Vineyards. There are many unique qualities to this organic vineyard but the most appealing to me is the owners’ love of Italian varieties. So much so, that I supply my Italian restaurant Baduzzi in Wynyard Quarter with Mick Unti’s wines. Just to name a few, they ambitiously grow Sangiovese, Barbera, Montepulciano, Aglianico, Primitivo, Vermentino, and Fiano. Grab a bottle and join me for my last recommendation below.

Deli sandwiches and a hike through the woods

Although this story is mostly about food and wine, I urge you to hug a tree next time you’re in San Francisco. Here is the best way to do that in style. With your Unti bottle of wine in your day pack you must visit my favourite deli, Molinari Delicatessen in North Beach, which was established in 1896. Purchase one of their outstanding old-school takeaway sandwiches and store that in your day pack.

Cross the Golden Gate Bridge and put Muir Woods in your GPS … because we’re going on a picnic. This Californian monument pays homage to Johnathan Muir, who was a naturalist, author, zoologist, and environmental philosopher.

If you follow my trail, something special will happen as you walk among the old-growth coastal redwoods; it might be primeval, and you might experience the quickening of your heart or butterflies in your stomach. Could it be the trees? Or maybe it’s the sandwich.

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