By JULIA CHEN & RICKY RODRIGUEZ
The new spots we checked out—and loved.
When new restaurants open, we check them out. This means that we subject our stomachs and social lives to the good, the bad, and more often than not, the perfectly fine. And every once in a while, a new spot makes us feel like experiencing the first ray of sunshine after a month of straight fog. When that happens, we add it here, to the Hit List.
The Hit List is where you’ll find all of the best new restaurants in San Francisco. As long as it opened within the past several months and we’re still talking about it, it’s on this guide. The latest addition might be a buzzy omakase counter, a new taqueria, or a Thai spot with food we can’t stop talking about. Or maybe it’s even a restaurant with caviar priced by the bump.
Keep tabs on the Hit List and you will always know just which new restaurants you should be eating at right now.
The Spots: Z&Y Peking Duck
You’ve heard of Z&Y, the institution offering mouth-numbing Sichuan dishes in Chinatown. But their more modern-looking offshoot just across the street, dubbed Z&Y Peking Duck, is a Jackson Street newcomer worth rounding up a group and clearing your calendar for. The titular whole duck (which is $69 and, PSA, must be reserved ahead of time over the phone), is phenomenal. It’s carved to order when you arrive and touches down on your table with all the fixings: housemade hoisin, cucumber, and translucent flour pancakes for wrapping. And the skin, which crunches audibly, is ridiculously light and crackly. The rest of the menu is packed with Chinese dishes that help round out your meal, like plump xiao long bao and dan dan noodles. But you’re mainly here to pack around a table for a big old poultry party.
Source: The Infatuation, January 18, 2024
