Dutch crunch got you down? Will you scream if you see another leaf of iceberg lettuce? For office workers, lunch can be more of a daily bore than a break. But this slew of new, fun midday meal spots around town might actually make your day in the office.
The only worker-oriented FiDi lunch stop where you'll find delicious Della Fattoria bread, mac and cheese made with Bellwether Farms dairy, and a Zuni-style roasted chicken, served with bread salad for just $11.75, Harrow even has a stylish dining room (and wine and beer) if you really need an hour of escape.
Rotating various food themes through a newly renovated ground floor space in the Renoir Hotel, SF FoodLab is bringing San Rafael Puerto Rican mainstay Sol Food to Market Street for lunch almost every weekday this month. The venue has already been written up in Vogue (scroll to slide 10 here), but the real reason you'll want to drop in is for Sol Food's daily changing rotisseried meats. Keep abreast of the schedule, and the next lunchtime host here.
If you work anywhere near 11th and Harrison, drop into this new wedge-shaped development hosting up to 10 food trucks every weekday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Offerings range from Slider Shack's Kalua pork sliders to CurryUpNow's spicy, addictive deconstructed samosas. You can even tap into the park's WiFi if you need to work through lunch.
Cafe Claude and Gitane baby-sister spinoff Claudine is a slightly fancier joint. The interior's curved central bar and graphic paintings on the wall create a modern backdrop for the cafe's best sellers: A meatball and fregola soup drizzled with Arbequina olive oil, burrata salad with butter beans and foccacia or hand-rolled garganelli pasta with walnut pesto and cherry tomatoes. There's beer and wine on tap here, and the wrap-around 24-seat patio just opened up for your outdoor dining purposes.
The Tenderloin sandwich shop has a solid following for its unusual-for-SF sandwiches served in soft rolls with warm dipping sauces. Now that a second Fillmore Street location has opened—nearby workers can duck out for the likes of their roasted pork deliciousness, served with hot jus, cracklings and arugula. Take a look at the menu, which appeals to a wide array of tastes.
Where do you go to break your lunchtime rut?
