Holiday As If It's All OK
Restaurants Pizzeria Delfina and Chotto Matte are in Downtown SF's best shopping neighborhoods.
Really need a stroll under strings of winter lights to ignite the joy of the season? Pizzeria Delfina and Chotto Matte sit in holidayed-up destination neighborhoods full of fun shops — of course — and also great food and winter activities, like the ice rink at Union Square ("Ice rinks are lame," you say? Come now, it's not a time to be jaded about joy, let us eat some low hanging fruit.) The neighborhoods of Union Square and the Fillmore will appeal to SF-stationed humans and to the bridge-and-bridge crowd looking for a spot to drop in, fuel up, and shop out. You deserve a break from all that you are doing and feeling.
I've loved the Fillmore since my dad had a place near there briefly in the 80s. The Fillmore Theater and the Boom Boom Room, the Kabuki Theater and The permanently closed but recently designated landmark (so, maybe?) Clay movie theater. Union Square is a mixed bag for locals, with mega-hotels towering among tourist-map locations surrounded by a lot of sketch. But it is also the theater district of the city, walking distance from everywhere, and has its share of jewels.
One such jewel is my favorite hotel in SF, Axiom Hotel. I first stayed there while "on assignment" and loved it so much my lady and I came back for our anniversary. Truly lovely people in a slick setting with robot room delivery for introverts (plus writers suffocating under a deadline), stylish and functional rooms for lovers and self-lovers, and a super inviting lounge with legit coffee and bev service. The food from the café has that pan-Asian snap to it that will appeal to any contemporary Californian. Really, this is a great stay for Bay Area locals and for YOU my sweet SUBS_ subscribe to the SUB_SCRIBE newsletter and get a chance to win a free night.
YES, we WILL get back to seeking out the voices less heard, with the most astounding stories to be told, the culture from below that is the inspiration for this newsletter. 2025 is trending up for The SUB_SCRIBE Newsletter. Some of the stories I have planned for the year ahead will be uplifting, some devastating, they will all be true. I promise that in every story the imperative will be to uncover actions to share with you all. You can do this. We can do this.
In the next issue I will lay out some of the upcoming coverage for 2025. For now, just twirl through the holidays a bit, be kind to yourself, have faith in each other, shop at the limit of your inflation tolerance with local merchants. Read below for recommendations for a holiday outing to treat yourself and your loved ones to a delicious meal.
But first …"Fuck it, Dude, let's go [caroling]"
Where has caroling gone? Yes, it is normative and old-fashioned but dang, it feels good. Was it my imagination or did caroling opportunites abound pre-pandemic? Paraphrasing Walter's plea to the Dude in The Big Lebowski, if anyone knows a great spot anywhere in North Bay for caroling, or bowling, give me a holler. [Research question: Venn Diagram overlap between insistent non-Christian carolers and league-rostered bowlers?]
I may just have to gather the family to holler "Jingle Bell Rock", "Feliz Navidad", or "All I want is (what's that song?)" from our front porch like we howled into the neighborhood during the first weeks of the pandemic. Maybe we'll do "Happy XMas (War is Over)" in the style of John Lennon's scream therapy recordings.
Pizzeria Delfina - Pacific Heights
Foodies in the City — that’s San Francisco if you are tuning in from outside California — will know the name Delfina. Starting from a fine dining restaurant in the contemporary style, Delfina has grown to several locations through its more casual neighborhood pizzerias.
Pizzeria Delfina on California and Fillmore may have started from genetics in another neighborhood — which at one time may as well have been another country in SF — but it feels totally rooted in the rich-adjacent Fillmore Street at the southern edge of Pacific Heights, a world away from the more well-known Fillmore District down the hill, once the jazz capital of the West Coast.
While the divide between those historically black and white neighborhoods can’t be avoided at this lovely little joint — with all-blond tables outnumbering mixed-raced tables on the night we ate here — it seems clear that all guests are honored here and that the crew finds pleasure in serving whoever sits to enjoy the rustic Italian fare.
The menu is an upscale reimagining of SF-style Italian spots, reminiscent of North Beach Pizza or Original Joe's. These clever enhancements of nostalgic neighborhood plates will appeal to a more contemporary palette. Considering the price of a burrito these days, the cost of dinner was very reasonable and for plenty of food.
Just as at the North Beach Pizza chain, meatballs are featured along with pizzas and entrées served on hot oval dishes. The offerings designed by long-term chef Craig Stoll draw on that tradition in comforting, yet surprising ways. Close your eyes, imagine a chicken picata for a second, then look at this beauty, billed as Ragazza Salad.
The pies are among the best you will find in the Bay. We were blessed to catch the end of tomato season for the Cherry Pie. Just outstanding what a tomato handled with a light touch can do—juicy, sweet, and sharp cherry tomato halves surfing on rolling crust, made with a pizza dough prepared over three days.
The charred eggplant starter was cooked more tenderly than any I've had. Being Mediterranean, I had to ask the secret because I have never had its equal. I won't share, you will have to go ask for yourself.
All of this is prepared on classic Italian implements visible in the open kitchen, copper chili oil pots and wooden pizza peals all adding to the homey-charm. Modern efficiency, yesteryear awareness, SF verve.
Pizzeria Delfina – Pacific Heights is a neighborhood restaurant with a crackerjack staff as they used to say. The team works together to bring a satisfying meal in a nourishing environment that is accessible to anyone with a modest budget. As the kids say these days, Delfina is cracked at neighborhood pizza.
Chotto Matte, a tipsy walk to ice skating
Chotto Matte is bombastic from the start. The entranceway gleams with neon the exact hue of the 2020s, a new, highly-Instagrammable shade of pink at home in any cyberpunk cinematic sequence.
Emblazoned with the phrase "Tokyo to Lima," the menu introduces the restaurant's food as Nikkei, an east-west cuisine that emerged from the Japanese diaspora of Peru.
Yelp search "restaurants around Union Square" and you'll see that Chotto Matte is billed as a Japanese restaurant. It's the kind of vague categorization that could mean almost anything, especially in a small but global chain like this one. The tables are large, ready for groups. Chopsticks sit perched on their holders at each place setting. A glance at the menu gives Japanese-steakhouse feels. But they do it different here. Look around the interior and — despite the lack of in-your-face hotplate cook trickery — it's Benihana on designer drugs.
I took my +1 during Dia de Los Muertos and the vibe was kicking in hard. From a six-piece mariachi band adding a touch of class to a truly gruesome sugar skull howling my name (figuratively, to be clear). Just look at it.
Nikkei is a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese, a mix that Chotto Matte balances well. The Sharing Menus are the YouTube influencers of the show here, the main attraction, with plates ranging from a mushroom tostada to maki to octopus with spicy yuzu on a purple potato purée to BBQ salmon with curry.
Maybe it's the mix of wasabi and chili peppers, but it feels good here. One can see why it is a popular spot. We craned around for Bay royalty Ayesha and Steph Curry who are known to frequent the place. No luck for my queen and me but no regrets either. This place won't deliver the farm fresh, heritage recipe type of fare I tend towards, but it does deliver a full sensory experience that's fun and festive without distracting from the taste of a well-seared Wagyu.
For more Bay Area wintering, here's an old East Bay Mag favorite with mostly still valid holiday jaunts. Click below to read.
Michael Giotis