Zuni Cafe

Zuni Cafe Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: Zuni Café remains one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. Its loyal clientele hangs out at the long copper bar, downing freshly shucked oysters with Champagne or a signature balsamic Bloody Mary. Then they stroll past the wood-burning oven in this complex of eccentrically added rooms and take a seat to dig into a sumptuous lunch of a stellar hamburger on rosemary focaccia, or a warming winter supper.

Food & Drinks: The late owner-chef Judy Rodgers built Zuni's kitchen and reputation on her high standards, consummate skill and fondness for the rustic style of southern France and Italy --- which is apparent in the roasted chicken for two, revered as of San Francisco's modern classics, served with warm bread salad with red mustard greens, scallions, currants and pine nuts. Be warned: the chicken takes an hour to prepare; voice your desires early and arrive ready to linger. The Caesar salad, made with anchovies cured in-house, is also justly famed. For dessert, you might encounter walnut cake with burnt honey cream and mandarins. The wine list features selections from the U.S., France and Italy.