We all need a go-to restaurant, the kind of place you can show up to any time of day and get exactly what you were craving.
A kitchen that seamlessly transitions from morning to night is a niche usually filled by diners and hotel restaurants—and there are plenty of good ones to check out in SF, including the 24-hour Pinecrest Diner and Terrene Restaurant and Bar at 1 Hotel.
But for a cafe that walks the line between the two—a place you can go regardless of who you’re with, how you’re dressed, and whether you’re craving a full meal, a cup of coffee, or a tipple—is a breed of restaurant rarely found in this city’s landscape.
From the Transamerica Pyramid complex’s brand new Cafe Sebastian to the Presidio’s Il Parco, these seven restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between.
Cafe Sebastian
(Courtesy of Cafe Sebastian)
The transformed Transamerica Pyramid debuted the first of its three upcoming dining concepts last week, an all-day eatery from celeb chef Bradley Kilgore. Cafe Sebastian is designed to transition from morning to midday to night without skipping a beat, a lofty goal they’ve achieved with the help of an extensive in-house pastry program that furnishes everything from babka and cinnamon rolls with Japanese brown sugar to the milk bread and sourdough baguettes used in their organic egg salad and mortadella sandwiches at lunch. There are heartier dishes in the morning too, like a croque monsieur waffle made with mornay and prosciutto cotto, and a handful of dinner centerpieces, including baked sea scallops with fine herb and Meyer lemon risotto. The high-ceilinged, elegant space crafted by Kevin Klein Design is a charming spot for a meal or a glass of wine (ordered QR code-style) but they also have grab-and-go items like yogurt parfaits and salads.
// Open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm on Saturday, and 9am to 6pm on Sunday; 546 Sansome St. (FiDi), cafesebastiansf.com
Mattina
(Courtesy of @mattinasf)
Beloved SF chef Matthew Accarrino opened his all-day, everyday restaurant Mattina last year with a seasonally-driven menu of Cal-Italian dishes that moves slickly from morning to night. Mornings are for coffee and breakfast, which includes loaded charcoal-grilled biscuits and milk bread, frittatas, oven-baked eggs, and pastries like caramel apple biscotti. Lunch and dinner feature housemade pastas, charcoal grilled skewers (spiedini), and showstoppers like brick oven whole branzino, and late-afternoons are for “appi hour,” Accarrino’s take on Italian aperitivo culture when every vermouth spritz is served with pizza al taglio. Don’t miss Thursday nights, when Mattina does BBQ Italian style.
// Open 10am to 9pm Thursday and Friday, 9am to 9pm Saturdays and Sundays, and 5pm to 9pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 2232 Bush St. (Pac Heights), mattinasf.com
Il Parco
(Lemon Ad Media)
All-day dining darling Il Parco, a light-filled cafe-meets-market, opened late last year to furnish park goers with food and drinks morning, noon, and night. At breakfast, ready-to-grab and on-demand options like breakfast bowls, quiche, scones, and toasts rotate regularly to pair with coffee, tea, and smoothies. Lunch and dinner feature paninis and pizzas made with pillowy focaccia, piadina (flatbread sandwiches) loaded with porchetta and chicken Milanese, and two types of lasagna complimented by craft spritzes like the fragola (aperol, strawberry syrup, prosecco, and soda) and wine. They’ve also got an arsenal of house and California-made pantry goodies like jams and mushroom jerky. The space is too small for indoor seating but it’s the Presidio, who wants to eat inside anyway when the views from outdoor picnic tables, the Glass Pavilion, and the Main Post lawn are so epic?
// Open daily from 8am to 7pm; 215 Lincoln Blvd. (Presidio), ilparcosf.com
Rad Radish
(Courtesy of @eatradradish_)
Fresh, peak-season produce is the star at Rad Radish’s all day long. The plant-based Hayes Valley cafe follows up their kick-ass chilaquiles (plus, breakfast sandwiches, avocado toast, and chia pudding) at breakfast with lunch and dinner selections that include “neatball” masala, probiotic bowls, orecchiette and spicy sausage arrabbiata, and burgers. Stop by anytime for a snack (chili crisp cauliflower, anyone?) and a probiotic mango basil soda or low-ABV cocktail; the bright, colorful restaurant in the former The Grove space has plenty of room for hanging out or getting some work done.
// Open 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 9pm Saturday to Sunday; 301 Hayes St. (Hayes Valley), eatradradish.com
Todo El Dia
(Courtesy of Todo El Dia)
Whenever your hankering for tacos hits, the appropriately named Todo El Dia’s got you. The Mexico City-inspired cafe, which opened this spring from the team behind Tacolicious, has four egg-enhanced versions at breakfast (plus, tres leches french toast, chilaquiles, and more), another four at lunch and dinner (think pork chile colorado, camaron frito, and chile verde), and even one for dessert, the housemade chocotacolicious. Tortas, salads, snacks, and rotisserie chicken round out the menu in the afternoon and evening.
// Open daily 9am to 8pm; 4063 24th St. (Noe Valley), todoeldiasf.com
Brenda’s French Soul Food
(Courtesy of @brendasfrenchsf)
No matter the time of day, Brenda Buenviajé of Brenda’s French Soul Food and Brenda’s Meat & Three is cooking up Creole-style comfort food. Most importantly, both restaurants are part of the new Brenda’s Kickass Breakfast Club, when sandwiches like the Messy Mess (runny egg, fried chicken cutlet, devil dip, American cheese, chipotle remoulade, tomato, butter toasted roll) and the Pillow Queen (scrambled egg with succotash and white cheddar, chipotle remoulade, tomato, butter toasted roll) are just $5 from 8am to 11am Monday through Friday. Yeah, you read that right: five-freaking-dollars. Brenda’s greatest hits are up for grabs throughout the day too, including butter pecan french toast at breakfast, shrimp and grits with spicy tomato-bacon gravy at lunch, and fried chicken at dinner—and anytime is a good time for her can’t miss beignets, crawfish-stuffed or otherwise. // Open from 8am to 8pm Monday and Wednesday to Sunday and 8am to 3pm on Tuesdays; 652 Polk St. (Lower Nob Hill), frenchsoulfood.com
Little Original Joe's
(Emma K. Morris)
Technically SF’s favorite restaurant spinoff, Little Original Joe’s in West Portal, doesn’t serve breakfast but that depends on how you define it. The market portion of the casual Italian operation opens daily at 10am with coffee, grab-and-go meals and snacks, and an assortment of cured meats, gourmet cheeses, and artisanal bread—the makings of a great Euro-style morning meal. By 11am, pizza by the slice, sandwiches, and salads are on deck and, at 4pm, they expand to include whole specialty pizzas like The Spicy Mike, pasta, rotisserie chicken, and four varieties of parmigiana. A swirl of soft serve with crumbles of Joe’s famous butter cake is a delightful snack any time, including as the punctuation mark on your meal.
// Open daily from 10am to 10pm; 393 West Portal Ave (West Portal), littleoriginaljoes.com
