Cooking at home gives you the satisfaction of knowing all ingredients of your meal, as well as where all of the food was grown/how it was raised, etc.  Unfortunately, I’m a big foodie and eating out is one of my favorite things to do.  SO…it’s quite luckily that I live in a city full of incredible restaurants who pride themselves on supporting healthy, clean produce and sustainable food and farming systems.  If I know a restaurant holds this of great importance, I can feel confident that the ingredients on my plate are free of added hormones, pesticides, chemicals or processed ingredients….and can scarf down without a care in the world.

Here is an extensive list of just some of the restaurants who support local, organically grown produce and offer humanely raised meats/freshest fish.  Basically, this is your SF city bible to eating out.

• A16 - Marina
• Alembic - Haight/Ashbury
• Americano - Embarcadero
• Baker and Banker - Lower Pac Heights
• Bar Jules - Hayes Valley
• Bar Tartine - Mission
• Beretta - Mission
• Blue Plate - Bernal Heights
• Cafe Gratitude - Mission
• Coco 500- SOMA
• Cha Cha Cha - Haight/Ashbury and Mission
• Contigo - Noe Valley
• Green’s Restaurant - Marina/Fort Mason
• Market Bar - Ferry Building
• Maverick - Mission
• Mission Beach Cafe - Mission
• Mixt Greens - Financial District
• Nopa- Western Addition/NOPA
• Olea - Nob Hill
• Perbacco - Financial District
• Quince - Financial District
• Range - Mission
• Roam - Cow Hollow/Marina
• Rose’s Cafe - Cow Hollow/Marina
• Rue Saint Jacques - Nob Hill
• Serpentine - Potrero Hill
• Slanted Door - Ferry Building
• Slow Club - Mission
• SPQR - Pacific Heights
• Spruce - Laurel Heights
• Tataki - Lower Pac Heights
• Terzo - Cow Hollow/Marina
• The Plant Cafe - Marina
• Universal Cafe - Mission
• Yield Wine Bar - Dogpatch
• Zuni Cafe - Civic Center

As a last note….if you’re at a restaurant where you are unsure of the quality of produce/meats, never feel awkward asking where the food came from.  ”Is your produce grown locally or organically?”  ”How was this beef raised?”  TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE.

(Restaurant list based on article in “Buy Fresh Buy Local: The Eater’s Guide to Local Food”. Bay Area, 4th Edition)