San Francisco has always had an appetite — for ideas, for reinvention, and for a great meal shared with interesting people. Long before farm-to-table became a catchphrase, this city was already obsessed with where its food came from and who was cooking it. Today, that culinary passion has attracted a remarkable cast of characters to its dining rooms: Food Network chef champions, Oscar-winning filmmakers, NBA legends, Michelin-starred visionaries, and Korean television icons who have turned noodle shops into global empires. Whether you’ve lived in the Sunset for twenty years or you’re visiting for the very first time, these celebrity-owned restaurants define what it means to eat well in San Francisco right now. They’re listed alphabetically so you can build your own itinerary at your own pace.
Angler — Joshua Skenes, Embarcadero
Joshua Skenes built his culinary reputation through Saison, one of the most talked-about and decorated restaurants San Francisco has produced in the past two decades. Angler, his follow-up along the Embarcadero waterfront, takes that same commitment to craft and strips it down to something more primal. That’s not to mention that Angler has earned a Michelin Star for three consecutive years.
A Restaurant Built Around Fire
A live-fire hearth dominates the open kitchen, and the menu — driven largely by exceptional seafood — lets the cooking method do most of the talking. Additionally, the room itself is stunning, with sweeping views across the bay that shift beautifully as the evening light fades. Order the wood-roasted fish, settle into the view, and let the experience unfold at its own pace. Most guests find themselves mentally planning a return visit before the check even arrives.
Atelier Crenn — Dominique Crenn, Pacific Heights
If there is a single celebrity-owned restaurant in San Francisco that represents the absolute pinnacle of the city’s dining ambitions, this is it. Dominique Crenn became the first female chef in the U.S. to earn two Michelin stars in 2012, then added a third in 2018.
San Francisco’s Most Celebrated Table
Her Pacific Heights flagship weaves together French and Californian cuisine into a multi-course experience that feels less like dinner and more like an evening at the theater. Furthermore, Crenn has extended her influence well beyond the kitchen — she served as the consultant behind every menu item in the 2022 film The Menu. Dinner here requires advance planning and a fully cleared calendar, but it rewards both without reservation. Book as early as you possibly can.
Benu — Corey Lee, SoMa
When Corey Lee opened Benu in 2010, it became the first restaurant in San Francisco to receive three Michelin stars, earning that distinction in 2014 — and it has held all three without interruption ever since. Lee is also a two-time James Beard Award winner and a goodwill ambassador to his hometown of Seoul, Korea. Before striking out on his own, he spent nearly a decade as head chef at Thomas Keller’s legendary French Laundry, and that foundation of discipline and precision runs through every detail of the Benu experience.
The Restaurant That Put San Francisco on the World Map
What makes this celebrity-owned restaurant so singular is the way Lee has built an entirely new culinary language from the ingredients and techniques of his Korean heritage, filtered through the rigor of classical French training. Meals begin with a series of highly technical small bites, and while these delicacies alone might rival some of the country’s most ambitious tasting menus, the evening has considerably more to offer. Signature dishes — including the iconic lobster coral xiao long bao and a reimagined take on Korean beef barbecue — are simultaneously rooted in deep tradition and unlike anything you’ve encountered before. Plan to set aside a full three hours, arrive with genuine curiosity, and let Chef Lee take you somewhere entirely new.
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Chef Michael Mina (credit: Randy Yagi) Bourbon Steak & The Eighth Rule — Michael Mina & Stephen Curry, Union Square
One of the city’s most talked-about recent openings brings together a celebrated chef and a four-time NBA champion. Michael Mina’s revamped Bourbon Steak opened in October 2025 alongside The Eighth Rule, a reservation-only whiskey bar developed with Stephen Curry as his first hospitality venture. The evening at Bourbon Steak unfolds around signature Mina dishes — tuna tartare mixed tableside, lobster pot pie, wood-grilled steaks, and the theatrical Caviar Twinkie dessert.
Eighth Rule Bar (credit: Randy Yagi) Next Door at The Eighth Rule
Just across the lobby, the experience shifts entirely. The Eighth Rule — a nod to the seven rules of bourbon production — offers a six-course omakase-style cocktail experience built around Curry’s own Gentleman’s Cut whiskey line. Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry and Chef Mina have been planning this collaboration since they first met in 2017. Together, they have built one of the most distinctive celebrity-owned restaurant experiences in the country. Book Bourbon Steak for dinner. Then finish the night at the bar next door.
Cafe Zoetrope (credit: Randy Yagi) Café Zoetrope — Francis Ford Coppola, North Beach
Walk to the wedge-shaped Sentinel Building at the corner of Kearny and Columbus. Step inside, and you immediately enter one of SF’s most storied addresses. Named for his celebrated production company, Francis Ford Coppola’s Café Zoetrope is a European-style cafe offering authentic Italian cuisine and a wide selection of Italian and California wines.
Cinema History on Every Wall
The walls carry decades of cinematic history. Photographs, awards, and mementos from The Godfather and Apocalypse Now line every surface. Additionally, the wines poured here come directly from Coppola’s own estate. Order a glass of Cabernet. Then let the atmosphere do the rest. This is North Beach at its most atmospheric and alive.
Chef Kathy Fang (credit: Randy Yagi) Fang Restaurant — Kathy Fang, SoMa
In 2009, Food Network star and two-time Chopped champion Kathy Fang returned to San Francisco. That is when she opened Fang Restaurant with her father, the legendary Chef Peter Fang — founder of the iconic House of Nanking.
A Family Legacy, Reimagined
This celebrity-owned restaurant blends family heritage with global inspiration. Kathy draws influences from many regions of China and combines them with ideas gathered from her travels around the world. The result is a sophisticated, multicultural take on Chinese cuisine that feels both rooted and refreshingly modern.
In 2022, Kathy starred in the Food Network docuseries Chef Dynasty: House of Fang and received a 2023 TASTE Award for Breakout Foodie of the Year. Walk in for the handmade noodles. Stay for the hot sauces. You might even spot Kathy herself moving through the dining room. By the way, if you want to visit Chef Peter Fang’s House of Nanking restaurant, it’s just across from Cafe Zoetrope.
Related: House of Nanking Cookbook: A Taste of San Francisco’s Culinary Legacy
Gary Danko (credit: Randy Yagi) Gary Danko — Gary Danko, Fisherman’s Wharf
Chef Gary Danko is a celebrity in every meaningful culinary sense. He built his reputation over decades of precise, ingredient-driven cooking. Along the way, he earned a five-star Mobil rating, a Relais & Châteaux designation, and a James Beard Award.
The Gold Standard of San Francisco Fine Dining
His namesake celebrity-owned restaurant near Fisherman’s Wharf delivers multi-course menus built around elite ingredients. Expect Maine lobster, caviar, and perfectly prepared venison. Moreover, the service here matches the food at every turn. This is the kind of restaurant that turns an ordinary Tuesday night into a milestone evening. You dress up, slow down, and surrender to the experience entirely.
International Smoke (credit: Randy Yagi) International Smoke — Ayesha Curry & Michael Mina, SoMa
Head deeper into SoMa, where cookbook author and TV host Ayesha Curry teamed up with chef Michael Mina to create one of the city’s most enthusiastically received celebrity-owned restaurants. The concept is built around one universal idea: every culture has its own way of cooking over fire. First of all, you can can start with their Korean-style short ribs. Then move on to Portuguese peri peri chicken, indulge in a center-cut filet mignon with lobster, and finish with cinnamon-spiced rice pudding and a Smoked Old Fashioned cocktail.
A Global Celebration of Fire
This is also where the Curry-Mina friendship first took root. That connection eventually led directly to the creation of Bourbon Steak and The Eighth Rule. In other words, one meal here helped shape an entire corner of San Francisco’s dining scene.
Draymond Green (credit: Randy Yagi) Meski — Draymond Green, Chef Nelson German & Guma Fassil, Lower Nob Hill
Co-owned by Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, Top Chef alum Nelson German, and restaurateur Guma Fassil, Meski sits in San Francisco’s Lower Nob Hill neighborhood and serves a bold, genre-defying fusion of Ethiopian and Dominican cuisine. The restaurant opened in early 2025 and immediately became one of the most talked-about celebrity-owned restaurants in the city — and one of the hardest reservations to land on any given weekend.
Where Oakland Swagger Meets San Francisco Style
The concept grew from the cultural backgrounds and family recipes of its co-founders, blending Fassil’s Ethiopian heritage with German’s Dominican roots into a menu that bridges continents and generations. Signature dishes include the Meski Yetsom Platter, Pollo Guisado Sambusas, Steak Tibs Pintxos, and the Habichuela Misir Wat — Dominican red kidney beans fused with spicy Ethiopian lentil — alongside Ethiopian honey wine and cocktails inspired by both cultures.
The space itself is stunning: jewel-toned sofas in a subterranean lounge, a 22-foot living centerpiece of preserved botanicals, and interiors designed to make you feel transported somewhere entirely new the moment you step inside. Green has been clear about his intention from the start: to create a cultural staple in San Francisco that celebrates Black culture and welcomes everyone, regardless of their background. On a Friday night, the energy here is unlike anything else in the city. Don’t be surprised if a few more Warriors end up at the table next to yours.
Chef Tyler Florence (credit: Randy Yagi) Miller & Lux — Tyler Florence, Mission Bay
A few miles south at the Chase Center, Food Network veteran Tyler Florence turns the steakhouse experience into something closer to theater. The theatrical aspect includes tableside Caesar salads made from a bespoke cart, alongside a Champagne and sparkling wine cart, a dessert cart, and a Dover Sole cart — all enticingly wheeled past patrons to create a party-like vibe. The dry-aged steaks are exceptional, the raw bar features Hog Island oysters and Maine lobster cocktail, and on a Warriors game night, the energy here is absolutely unmatched. You come for the steak and stay through dessert without once checking your phone.
Quince — Michael & Lindsay Tusk, Jackson Square
When Michael and Lindsay Tusk opened Quince in 2003, critics and diners immediately raved about the elegant atmosphere, the flawless service, and Tusk’s beautifully executed French-Italian cuisine. Rather than rest on that early success, the Tusks chose a path of steady evolution — earning their third Michelin star in 2017 and making Quince one of only a handful of restaurants in the entire country to hold that distinction. Michael Tusk was also named Best Chef: Pacific by the James Beard Foundation in 2011, and Quince has since earned four stars from the San Francisco Chronicle and a Michelin Green Star for its sustainability practices.
California’s Most Elegant Table
To mark their 20th anniversary, the Tusks gave the restaurant a sweeping renovation that reinvigorated its early 1900s Jackson Square setting — and the commitment to seasonality here is striking, with much of the produce sourced exclusively from their partner farm in Bolinas. The Gastronomy Menu — an eight-to-ten course tasting journey composed nightly by Chef Tusk — is the definitive Quince experience, served in the main dining room, while the Bolinas Bar offers a more relaxed four-course alternative for those who prefer a slightly less structured evening. However you choose to experience this celebrity-owned restaurant, the result is the same: some of the most refined, ingredient-driven cooking you’ll find anywhere in the United States. Book as far ahead as the reservation window allows.
SPIN San Francisco (credit: Randy Yagi) SPIN San Francisco — Susan Sarandon, SoMa
Not every great night out needs to be formal. Actress Susan Sarandon co-founded the SPIN table tennis club chain in New York in 2009. San Francisco’s location brings that same irreverent energy to SoMa, with over a dozen ping pong tables, craft cocktails, and hearty bar food all under one roof.
The Celebrity-Owned Restaurant That Doubles as a Playground
Equal parts sports bar, nightclub, and creative dining room, SPiN defies easy categorization. The cocktail program is inventive. The food holds its own. And if you’re even slightly competitive, you’ll still be there well past midnight. Come with a group. Come ready to play. Leave your formality at the door.
State Bird Provisions (credit: Randy Yagi) State Bird Provisions — Stuart Brioza & Nicole Krasinski, Western Addition
The Restaurant That Changed Everything
Chef-owners Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: West in 2015. They are, by almost any measure, the biggest names in the San Francisco culinary scene today. Their celebrity-owned restaurant didn’t just earn critical praise. It fundamentally changed how Americans think about dining out.
How It Works
In 2011, the duo reimagined the dim sum format by presenting New American small plates on trolleys wheeled around the restaurant’s industrial-cool dining room. Dishes range from potato chips with crème fraîche and cured trout roe to their signature fried quail with stewed onions.
More than a decade after opening, State Bird Provisions remains one of the hardest reservations to land in the city. Consequently, booking early is essential. Grab everything that rolls past your table. That, after all, is the whole point.
Tony’s Pizza Napoletana (credit: Randy Yagi) Tony’s Pizza Napoletana — Tony Gemignani, North Beach
Not every celebrity-owned restaurant in San Francisco deals in white tablecloths and tasting menus. Some deal in dough, fire, and a level of obsession that borders on the extraordinary. Tony’s Pizza Napoletana was founded by 13-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani, inspired by an authentic pizzeria he encountered in Naples, Italy and that inspiration has never left the building. The restaurant opened in July 2009 on Stockton Street in North Beach and has since been recognized as one of the city’s best pizzerias.
The World’s Greatest Pizza, Right in Your Neighborhood
What sets this place apart from every other pizza restaurant you’ve ever visited is the sheer breadth of what Gemignani has mastered. Seven different ovens line the kitchen, and the menu covers an extraordinary range of styles — Neapolitan, Classic Italian, Sicilian, Roman, Detroit, New York, Grandma, California, and more — all made with imported Neapolitan ingredients and locally sourced produce from organic farmers and artisan cheesemakers Gemignani selects personally.
Named Pizzeria of the Year in 2022 by Pizza Today, Tony’s has earned its blockbuster reputation through an unwavering commitment to craft across everything on the menu — from the giant meatball appetizer to house-made pastas and a comprehensive cocktail and wine program. On any given afternoon, it’s common to find a line stretching down Stockton Street, filled with both devoted locals and visitors who made the pilgrimage specifically for this meal.
Tony’s doesn’t take reservations, so arrive early and bring your patience. The wait, without exception, is worth every minute.
Wayfare Tavern (credit: Randy Yagi) Wayfare Tavern — Tyler Florence, Financial District
Tyler Florence opened this beloved American restaurant on Pine Street in 2010. Since then, it has earned its place as one of the city’s most enduring celebrity-owned restaurants. After 14 years at its original location, Wayfare Tavern relocated to a roomier space at 201 Pine Street, keeping staple dishes that have been on the menu since day one — including the famed fried chicken, seasonal deviled eggs, and burrata whipped potatoes.
A San Francisco Institution
The interiors nod to the Gold Rush era. Marble floors, leather upholstery, and warm lighting set the tone immediately. Florence designed this place to feel like a genuine welcome, and it shows in every carefully considered detail. You sit down a stranger. You leave feeling like a regular.
Paik’s Noodles (credit: Randy Yagi) Bonus Pick: Paik’s Noodle — Chef Baek Jong-won, H Mart on Alemany
Founded in 2006 by South Korean celebrity chef Baek Jong-won — widely described as the Korean Gordon Ramsay — Paik’s Noodle has grown to over 300 locations globally. The brand took off in part because of Chef Paik’s hosting of multiple cooking shows, including Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars.
Korea’s Most Famous Chef Comes to San Francisco
San Francisco’s location sits inside H Mart on Alemany Boulevard. It brings something genuinely different to the local dining scene. Among the signature dishes are jajangmyeon — black bean stir-fried noodles — alongside spicy jjamppong noodle soup and sweet and sour pork, all given extra depth by intense wok heat. You don’t need a reservation nor need to spend a fortune. What’s more, it’s not really a restaurant and more of a fast food spot. On the other hand, you simply need to show up hungry and you’ll get gourmet street food.
Related: MOHI Food and Wine Festival
About The Author
Randy Yagi is an award-winning writer who served as the National Travel Writer for CBS from 2012 to 2019. More than 900 of his stories still appear in syndication across 23 CBS websites, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. During his peak years with CBS, Randy had a reported digital audience reach of 489 million and 5.5 million monthly visitors. Additionally, his stories have appeared in the Daily Meal, CBS News, CBS Radio, Engadget, NBC.com, NJ.com, and Radio.com. He earned a Media Fellowship from Stanford University and is a Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW) member
