The Foodie’s Weekend in the Bay Area: Where to Eat Saturday and Sunday
There are two kinds of Bay Area weekends: the kind where you cook, and the kind where you let the Bay Area cook for you. This is a plan for the second kind: a full Saturday and Sunday built entirely around eating well.
Saturday morning: the Ferry Building
Start at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, open Saturdays from 8am to 2pm. Get a coffee, do a slow lap for samples, and then commit to the Roli Roti porchetta sandwich. The line is long and the line is correct. Eat it on a bench facing the water. This is the single best ten dollars in the Bay Area on a Saturday.
Saturday lunch: the Mission
Work up an appetite walking, then point yourself at the Mission. A super burrito from El Tonayense or a Senor Sisig plate are both perfect. If you want the full rundown of where the trucks park and when, our food trucks guide has it. Save room.
Saturday dinner: let the group chat decide
This is where the Bay Area Foodies community on Tribe earns its keep. Instead of refreshing reservation apps alone, people post where the wait is actually short in real time. That is how you end up somewhere great instead of somewhere you settled for.
Sunday brunch: the main event
Sunday is brunch and brunch is non negotiable. Zazie in Cole Valley, Plow in Potrero, and Brenda’s on Polk are the holy trinity, and all three are very much still going strong. Expect a wait, put your name down, and go walk a block while you wait. Our SF brunch guide breaks down which one fits your morning.
Sunday afternoon: learn something
If you want the weekend to actually stick, take a cooking class. 18 Reasons in the Mission runs hands on classes that are equal parts dinner and social hour, and you walk out able to make the thing yourself. More in our cooking classes guide.
That is a full weekend of eating, and almost none of it is a secret to the people who live here. The trick is having people to do it with. The Foodies and Bay Area communities on Tribe trade exactly these recommendations all week. And for everything beyond the table, here is the rest of what to do in the Bay Area this weekend.
