Meal Plan: David Barzelay

Last year, Lazy Bear’s David Barzelay supplied our most-read Meal Plan: a day’s worth of eating at some of the best (and most slept-on) restaurants from S.F. to Napa.

To kick off 2017 right, we asked him to do us a solid: come back.

Here, his picks for the year to come, from sugar egg puffs and hashbrowns to dim sum and cocktails.

This year, let’s plan every meal like it’s our best.

Brunch: St. Francis Fountain
“There are lots of places in the city where you can get fancy brunch — but if you want breakfast basics, diner-style, and you love being served by hungover hipsters like I do, then this is the place for you. It’s family friendly, and the pancakes are great. But the best part is that they do hash browns right. No, not hash brown patties, nor shredded potatoes. These are the hash browns I grew up having from my mother. They are griddled while constantly chopping the potatoes into smaller and smaller bits. Smaller bits equals more surface area equals more crispy bits. But you get a variation in size that actually allows for some larger, soft chunks of potato. That tension between the crispy and the creamy makes for my ideal kind of hash browns. Of course, they are better when my mom makes them, but St. Francis Fountain is the next best thing.”

Lunch: Tartine Manufactory
“San Francisco’s worst-kept secret: Tartine Manufactory for breakfast/brunch/lunch. This hits on so many of the San Francisco classics, such as sourdough, awesome local ingredients, and our love for waiting in lines. [Editor’s note: LOL.] But it’s so good! But here’s something that’s maybe still a bit less well-known: Tartine Manufactory for dinner. There is nothing they don’t do well.”

Dinner: Koi Palace
“Great for dim sum, but I have probably had dinner here more times than any other restaurant in the Bay Area. The menu is enormous, and I have been here enough times to have tried all of the dungeness crab preparations. The fried ones are best. Try the classic salt-and-pepper version, or the Sampan-style. For beginners, be sure to get the oven-roasted pork royale and the roasted albino chicken (but ask for the red bean sauce on the sauce — half the time they will know what you are talking about and serve this amazing sauce on the side. The other half, you can still dream.) All the soups are awesome (and will feed at least 72 people). Avoid the fried spot prawns, which they always overcook, and finish with the sugar egg puffs, which are the airiest donuts, covered in sugar, with an interior that is somehow also custardy at the same time.”

After-Dinner Drinks: Wild Hawk
“It’s half a block from Lazy Bear, but so are a ton of other bars. We come to this one because of the amazing drinks and the awesome staff. The menu changes often, so I won’t recommend anything specific. Get the cocktails.”