Benu is the first restaurant in San Francisco to have received Three Michelin Stars. Located in the SoMa district, Benu was opened in 2010 by chef Corey Lee, the former Chef de Cuisine at the French Laundry.
Burmese cuisine encompasses the diverse regional culinary traditions of Myanmar, which have developed through longstanding agricultural practices, centuries of sociopolitical and economic change, and cross-cultural contact and trade with neighboring countries at the confluence of Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South Asia, such as modern-day nations of Thailand, China, and India, respectively. Mohinga, a savory fish soup with lemongrass and banana leaves are eaten for breakfast with rice noodles, lunch is rice accompanied with small side dishes of vegetables, a small soup and a meat or fish dish. Dinner is consumed in a similar fashion to lunch. Burmese stews or curries are not Indian curries but milder with reliance on the trio of onion garlic and ginger to create savory gravies. Burmese food does not rely heavily on coconut such as in Thai cuisine. Burmese however enjoy spicy food with addition of chilis mixed into the dishes.
Burmese tofu is a food of Shan origin and of Chinese from Yunnan Province, made from water and flour ground from yellow split peas and the Burmese version of chickpea flour, also known as besan flour, in a fashion similar to polenta. The flour is mixed with water, turmeric, and a little salt and heated, stirring constantly, until it reaches a creamy consistency. It is then transferred into a tray and allowed to set. It can also be made using dried chickpea instead of processed flour. In this process, dried chickpeas are soaked overnight. Once the peas have been re-hydrated, they are ground into a puree with some of the liquid used to soak the peas, then allowed to set for a couple of hours. Much of the top layer of clear liquid is then skimmed off and the remaining puree is brought to a boil with turmeric and salt and cooked and set in the same manner as the version using chickpea flour. It is matte yellow in colour, jelly-like but firm in consistency, and does not crumble when cut or sliced. It may be eaten fresh as a Burmese tofu salad or deep-fried into a Burmese fritter. It may also be sliced and dried to make crackers for deep frying. Despite the name, Burmese tofu is unrelated to Chinese tofu, which is made from soy milk with added coagulants.
Traci Des Jardins is an American chef and restaurateur who previously owned Jardinière, a French influenced California fine-dining restaurant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California.
Timothy Hollingsworth is an American chef. In 2012, he left his post as Chef de Cuisine at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry and moved to Los Angeles, where he opened Otium. He has won multiple awards throughout his career, including the 2010 James Beard Foundation's Rising Chef of the Year Award, the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Rising Star Chef, and the 2009 Bocuse d'Or, where he placed sixth. He was the winner of the 2018 cooking competition The Final Table.
Nan gyi thoke is an a thoke salad dish in Burmese cuisine, made with thick round rice noodles mixed with specially prepared chicken curry and chili oil. The dish is garnished with toasted chickpea flour, sliced onions, chilis, crispy noodles, slices of hard-boiled egg, fish cakes, and zested with lime or lemon. The noodle salad originated as a street food from Mandalay.
Anthony Eric Myint is an American restaurateur, chef, activist, author and food consultant based in the Mission in San Francisco, California. He is a founder of Mission Chinese Food, "The Perennial", Mission Street Food, Mission Cantina, "Mission Burger", "Lt. Waffle", and "Commonwealth Restaurant". He is a pioneer in the environmental and charitable restaurant movement.
James Daniel Bowien is a chef and restaurateur. He is the founder and owner of Mission Chinese Food in New York City and Brooklyn and co-founder of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco, California. Bowien is a James Beard Award winner, and the main subject of season six of the food and travel show The Mind of a Chef.
Boulevard is a New American fine dining restaurant located in San Francisco, California.
Quince is a restaurant in the Jackson Square neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Opened in 2003 by chef Michael Tusk and his wife, Lindsay, in Pacific Heights, the restaurant has been located in Jackson Square since 2009. A sister restaurant, Cotogna, opened next door in 2011.
Mister Jiu's is a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, San Francisco. It specializes in Cantonese cuisine blended with modern Californian twists.
Top Burmese is a small chain of restaurants serving Burmese cuisine in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, in the United States. Owners Kalvin and Poe Myint started the business in 2019. There are three locations in addition to the original restaurant on 21st Avenue in northwest Portland's Northwest District: Top Burmese Bistro Royale has operated in Beaverton since 2020, Top Burmese Burma Joy opened on 23rd Avenue in the Northwest District in 2021, and Top Burmese Ambassador opened in Hillsboro in 2022. Top Burmese branch off beyond Burmese Cuisine with Old Asia Teahouse opened in Beaverton in 2023.
Charles Phan is an American chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur. He is the executive chef and founder of "The Slanted Door" restaurant in San Francisco, California and The Slanted Door Group of restaurants. He has published two cookbooks on Vietnamese cuisine.
Sunshine Noodles was a Cambodian American restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States. Owner Diane Lam operated the business from 2019 to 2022, initially as a pop-up noodle bar and later as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Slabtown area of Northwest Portland's Northwest District. Despite garnering a positive reception, Lam closed Sunshine Noodles permanently in late 2022 and relocated to San Francisco.
Pho 79 is a restaurant in Garden Grove, California. In 2019 it was named one of America's Classics by the James Beard Foundation. It has a Bib Gourmand designation from Michelin.
Marlena was a restaurant serving American cuisine in Bernal Heights, San Francisco, California. The restaurant opened in 2020.
Piglet & Co is a Taiwanese restaurant in San Francisco, California. It was named one of twelve best new restaurants in the U.S. by Eater in 2023.
Omakase is a Japanese restaurant in the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco, California. The 14-seat restaurant, owned by Kash Feng and chef Jackson Yu, has earned a Michelin star.
Chez Noir is a restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, in the U.S. state of California. It has received a Michelin star, and was a semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant category of the James Beard Foundation Awards in 2024.
Aphotic is a seafood restaurant on Folsom Street in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It has one Michelin star. The restaurant opened in March 2023 and has announced its forthcoming closure in December 2024.
