San Francisco has dazzled culinary visitors for the past three decades, and restaurants like Coi hint that the Bay Area’s epicurean excellence will only continue into the foreseeable future. Nestled in the vibrant Italian neighborhood of North Beach, and flanked by Telegraph Hill and the Financial District, Coi (pronounced “kwa”) is ideally positioned for discerning locals and savvy visitors longing for a taste of California-French refinement.
Food is a work of art at Coi; it's as if each plate were a portrait. The inspired kitchen is run by newly appointed executive chef Erik Anderson, who executes an intricate, technique-driven menu that has wowed patrons since Coi’s 2006 opening.
Our Inspector's Highlights
- Coi's degustation dinner menu puts Northern California at
the center stage of farm-to-table meals.
- The presentation will bowl you over. This is precision dining
at its most complex level. Plates here are culinary masterpieces.
- Even if you aren’t a budding food photographer, the configurations
and colors of the eye-popping dishes will insist on an Instagram post or two.
- Despite its proximity to North Beach’s raucous Broadway corridor,
the dining room is tucked away in a serene-like setting.
- As you would expect from such a celebrated eatery, the
service here is impeccable. The staffers are exceptional, going out of their
way to explain the complexities of each dish, but not overcrowding you or ever creating
a rushed-along evening.
Things to Know
- Ordering is a simple task at the fine-dining restaurant. There
is one nightly 11-course menu that you can complete with wine pairings, if you
wish.
- The wine list is quite extensive of California and French varietals.
You can bring your own, but a corkage fee of $50 per bottle applies with a
maximum allowance of two bottles per table.
- The dress code at Coi is smart casual, so plan accordingly.
The Food
- Fresh fare reigns supreme at Coi. As much of the menu as
possible is sourced regionally, due to the abundance of farmers and food
markets that call Northern California home.
- Though dishes will often change with the seasons, you can
expect to be enticed by items like locally caught Dungeness crab molded into a
terrine and charred, roasted octopus paired with creamy foie gras.
- Even though the menu is seafood-centric,
it's not all about sustainable fruits of the sea here. The kitchen pays homage
to the European countryside by bringing Armagnac-flavored tourtes and Meletti Amaro-doused etrogs (a
citron fruit) to the table, too.
- The evening’s crescendo is a two-dessert
course that might include blood orange or grapefruit sorbet that’s followed by one
of pastry chef Riley Redfern’s masterworks,
like a chocolate mille-feuille (also called a napoleon) or a coffee cake with medjool
dates.
The Design
- The intimate San Francisco restaurant comes with a soft earth-tone
color palette. The Japanese-style ambiance is subtle, almost Zen-like, and
conjures a bit of a contrast to Coi’s more eclectic menu.
- You’ll find wooden slab tables with soft chocolate-brown
leather chairs in the coziest of open dining rooms for just under 30 patrons.
- Though much of the interior remains the same
since chef Anderson’s transition into the kitchen, he did make one subtle
alteration — he brought in serving ware from Oregon-based ceramicist Lilith Rockett.
Amenities
Dinner
Getting There
