There’s no shortage of lunch options on Chestnut Street, but, since opening earlier this year, Popi’s Oysterette has been winning over the neighborhood with a menu of raw bar standards and seafood-centric favorites. You can’t go wrong with a platter of shellfish and a glass of bubbles for a leisurely lunch, but the menu also offers more casual fare including fish and chips, salads, and a shrimp or crab roll if that’s more the mood. There’s a small dining room, a couple of bar seats with a view of the kitchen, and a smattering of tables on the bustling sidewalk. 

Elegant French viennoiserie is the specialty at this bakery and cafe, tucked down a side street just off Columbus Avenue. You’ll know it by the line of customers that often snakes down the sidewalk outside but it’s worth the wait for a thick slab of pate en croute or a jar of rustic, garlicky rillette de cochon served with sliced baguette and a medley of pickles. Snag one of the seats inside and enjoy your light fare with a canned cocktail or glass of wine.

It’s not easy to get quality sushi quickly, but the Grubbies has managed to be a FiDi beacon for a quick bite of sashimi or unagi, served out of a takeout window on Sacramento Street. Go for the mini chef’s choice if you’ve got your mind set on sashimi or the nigiri combo. Orders come with a side of miso soup, perfect for warming up as the temperatures cool down.

Widely accepted as one of the finest Thai restaurants in town, Kin Khao is the more casual sister restaurant to owner Pim Techamuanvivit’s Nari in Japantown. Here, the menu skews more toward street food, so don’t skip dishes like the mushroom hor mok and fish sauce-infused Pretty Hot Wings, which do require getting your hands a little messy but are more than worth sacrificing a few extra napkins.

This small Mexican restaurant planted its flag in the Outer Sunset, bringing with it a menu of flavor-packed tortas and tacos. The stars of the show are the quesabirria tacos, which can be ordered as a plate of four or individually. The tortillas get grilled to a crisp and shelter a mountain of tender meat that’s best enjoyed with a shower of cilantro and raw onions. The cozy blue-and-white space offers a few tables where diners can enjoy a meal under a canopy of papel picado. 

The menu of simple but excellently executed Arabic food at this casual full-service restaurant never ceases to satisfy. Just off the main drag in Cole Valley, Beit Rima serves flavorful hummus, smoky baba ghanoush, and grilled meats in either a comfy dining room or at tables outside. It’s a solid choice for vegetarians and omnivores alike.

Chef Charles Phan’s casual sandwich counter in the Mission goes all in on an array of sandwiches. The CP OG #3 is the chef’s take on a classic banh mi built on a baked-in-house baguette using the chef’s pate and pickles. It’s essentially a takeout-only situation but these handhelds make a perfect park lunch.

Pop into this classic Mission District deli and grocery store for fresh tortillas, sweat-inducing salsas, and a menu of Mexican food offered to go including burritos, tacos, nachos, tamales, and more. The pro-move is to get a foil-wrapped Mission-style super burrito, a San Francisco special, which can be stuffed with your choice of protein. Carnitas makes a respectable option but if you want to break out of the usual suspects, go for La Palma’s chicharrones.

Dontaye Ball ode to gumbo is open for lunch on the city’s east side. His farmers market phenomenon-turned-restaurant has brought gumbo to the city’s dining zeitgeist in a big way, making space for okra, andouille sausage, and black-eyed peas in the bowl. Plus, po’ boys go hard here, too.

There are just a handful of places in San Francisco where one can reliably get crispy lumpia, rich dinuguan, and tender chicken adobo six days a week from morning until night. Excelsior residents and devotees alike head to Baby’s for affordable prices and dynamite flavor. It’s a “turo-turo” restaurant, literally translated as “point-point” and common in the Philippines, so most dishes are on display on steam tables and ready to eat within seconds.