Where to find bargain bites in San Francisco
— -- Cost-conscious travelers can enjoy bountiful pleasure at mealtime if they choose their itineraries carefully and order smartly. To help with the planning each month, USA TODAY's Jerry Shriver offers a menu of suggestions from a major destination.
Down-home dining: Profiles of cheap-eats classics
1. Rosamunde Sausage Grill 545 Haight St.; 415-437-6851 This tiny, no-frills operation does just one thing — grilled sausages on a French roll — but it does it so well that it has become a must-visit for road-food fanciers. More than a dozen varieties ($5.25-$5.50) are offered, including a vegan option, but the best are the spicy and smoky ones made from pork or lamb and topped with grilled onions or peppers. The storefront has six stools and a counter, but diners are encouraged to take their sandwich next door to Toronado bar and avail themselves of the generous beer selection.
• Top treat:Smoked lamb sausage with grilled onions and hot peppers, $5.50
2. Arang Restaurant 1506 Fillmore St.; 415-775-9095 Decisiveness is a necessity at this casual Korean eatery, where the menu boasts nearly 120 items, most under $13. That variety allows novices to be as exotic (steamed pork intestines, $10.95) or mainstream (fried chicken with spicy sauce, $12.95) as they wish. The specialty — and a meal in itself — is the bi bim bap ($6.50-$8.95 depending on the size). It comes in a sizzling stoneware pot filled with grilled sweet marinated beef strips, a fried egg, spinach, shredded carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms and rice, accompanied by kimchee, tofu and a miso broth. The mini-feast makes the beer (including two from Korea) taste so, so good.
• Top treat:bi bim bap (beef/rice/vegetables in a hot pot), $8.95
3. Taylor's Automatic Refresher 1 Ferry Plaza; 866-328-3663; taylorsrefresher.com
The original Taylor's in Napa Valley's St. Helena redefined drive-in cuisine by taking a gourmet approach to the standard burgers/fries/shakes menu and adding fish tacos, rare tuna burgers, frou-frou salads and boutique beers and wines by the glass. Now there are two more locations, including one along San Francisco's Embarcadero. The burgers ($5.99-$9.99) are made with vegetarian-fed Niman Ranch beef, topped with high-quality cheeses, mushrooms and guacamole and served on egg buns or sourdough. Fish tacos, made with marinated grilled mahi mahi and served in corn tortillas with slaw, salsa and jalapeño-cilantro sour cream, are now the signature item.
•Top treat:Fish tacos, $11.99
Easy Splurges: Low-cost dishes at the hot new places.
4. The Moss Room 55 Music Concourse Drive; 415-876-6121; themossroom.com
It's rare to find a vibrant restaurant inside a public space, but The Moss Room in the recently reopened California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park succeeds admirably. Diners descend from the museum above (admission is not required) and are greeted by a glistening moss-covered wall and a peaceful ambience. The compact menus (lunch is slightly less expensive than dinner) highlight upscale comfort food made mostly with regional, sustainable ingredients.
• Cheapest dinner appetizer:Salt cod fritters with mixed greens, lemon aioli and piquillo peppers, $9. Others, $9-$14.
• Cheapest dinner entrée:Wild nettle and faro risotto with mushrooms, grana padano cheese and Himalayan truffles, $20. Others, $21-$28.
• Worth trading down? Yes. Even though the high-priced dishes sound alluring, one can make a satisfying meal out of the fritters and risotto.
5. Bottega Napa Valley 6525 Washington St., Yountville; 707-945-1050; botteganapavalley.com
Food Network star Michael Chiarello is back behind the stove inside a charming bricks-and-beams wine-country space, and the results are fantastico. The menu is mostly modernized reinterpretations of rustic Italian classics or original creations made with top-notch ingredients. Try any dish with house-cured meats, or the veal meatballs ($17).
• Cheapest dinner antipasto:Shaved brussels sprout salad with almonds, egg and pecorino cheese, $8. Others, $8-$14.
• Cheapest pasta/main entrées:Among pastas, ricotta gnocchi with tomato salsa, $14. Others, $15-$19. Among meats/fishes: Arrosto of Duro pork with honey-sage roasted apples, $23. Others, $23-$36.
• Worth trading down? No on the antipasto and pasta, yes on the entrée. Fireworks begin in the antipasti with the $11 house-cured organic prosciutto with chestnut fritta, pomegranate seeds and lambrusco dipping sauce; and in the pastas with the $19 garganelli with balsamic rabbit sugo. The roasted pork with applesisas good as the $26 cold-smoked and braised short ribs.