2 Bay Area Restaurants Among Nation's 20 Best New Eateries: New Ranking

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Two Bay Area eateries are among the nation's 20 best new restaurants, according to a new ranking released Monday by Bon Appétit magazine.

The Northern California entries include a restaurant serving up Cantonese "drinking food" in a setting reminiscent of a Japanese izakaya and a self-proclaimed progressive Salvadoran restaurant that makes the most of California's seasonal bounties.

The Bay Area honorees — Four Kings in San Francisco and Popoca in Oakland — are among three Golden State eateries that made the list. Azizam in Los Angeles also made the top-20 cut.

"The search for this year's best new restaurants took us on a six-month expedition, with stops in Texas's barbecue capital and Manhattan’s roaring Lower East Side," the magazine wrote.

One major theme in Bon Appétit's ratings this year is "teams working together in exciting ways," according to its writers.

"Chefs across the country are wholeheartedly embracing collaboration, pulling ideas from cooks and waiters, their mentors, and other restaurants to create unique menus infused with personality and a real sense of place," Bon Appétit wrote.

Here's a look at the Bay Area restaurants, with descriptions from Bon Appétit:

Four Kings
Chinatown, San Francsico

"As you lift a paper-thin slice of chili-crisp-laced pig head to your lips, in comes a clay pot of rice flecked with Chinese sausage and smoky bacon. When you’re sure the stream of food has ended and you can’t eat anymore, a cluster of massive snails arrive, served in their shells, packed with XO sauce, and accompanied by a sidecar of fluffy milk bread. Sweet, spicy oil stains anything in its path. This is the cooking of two chefs who know how to really let loose, and hope you will too."

Popoca
Downtown Oakland

"Anthony Salguero’s pupusas are mesmerizing. The chef nixtamalizes and grinds corn into plump balls of masa that he stuffs with seasonal vegetables and presses flat on a cast-iron griddle set above a wood fire. They arrive at the table molten hot, oozing salty cheese, and tasting of smoke and sweet corn. It’s tempting to order another before you’ve finished the first. But Salguero’s menu has much more to offer, blending local produce with Salvadoran tradition to create something entirely his own."

View the complete list of the 20 Best New Restaurants of 2024 at Bon Appétit.

Read more:

• Bay Area Michelin Stars 2024: Restaurant List
• Trader Joe's 2024 Favorites List: All New Winners
• Venerated Bay Area Restaurant Makes New USA Today List of Top Eateries