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Mid-2022 San Carlos Restaurant Update

Mid-2022 San Carlos Restaurant Update

There’s obviously been a fair number of changes to the San Carlos restaurant scene over the last two-and-a-half years during the pandemic, but the city’s eating and drinking establishments have proven to be fairly resilient. We believe that the partial closure of Laurel Street and creation of restaurant spaces in the street have been an unmitigated success — the scene is as lively as ever! We have also updated the master list of restaurants to be as current as we…

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Updated Top 5

Updated Top 5

The City of Good Eating has updated its Top 5 recommendation list. The list was last completed in March 2019, and a lot has happened since then. There has been some restaurant turnover plus the pandemic which has changed some menus and put more of a focus on takeout and outdoor dining. We hope you enjoy the updated recommendations!

Town Highlighted as Top Chronicle Brunch Spot

Town Highlighted as Top Chronicle Brunch Spot

This week the San Francisco Chronicle published an article on the best brunch spots in the Bay Area, and San Carlos’ most famous restaurant, Town, was included in the list of 23 restaurants. The Chronicle has been historically biased against restaurants outside of the city and within the larger Bay Area, but that is becoming less so under current restaurant critic Soleil Ho (who replaced Michael Bauer in 2019) — so it’s good to see the San Carlos shout out…

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Drake’s Looks to Nostalgia

Drake’s Looks to Nostalgia

After “coming soon” for over a year (admittedly during a pandemic), Drake’s finally opened this morning. They classify it as a “soft opening,” with only a small notice in their window and without an updated website. Officially, the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as having a “happy hour.” However, it seems like a place that will most likely fill the niche of breakfast/brunch, for which there are only about five other breakfast places in San Carlos, not…

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The Laurel Street Non-Debate

The Laurel Street Non-Debate

Although many consider the moniker hokey, the “City of Good Living” is a fairly appropriate slogan for San Carlos (and of course, the inspiration behind the name of this website). The weather is mild almost all year long, we’re near hundreds of leading businesses, schools are strong, and most of its residents are open-minded and progressive. But nature abhors a vacuum, and when there aren’t big problems to tackle, we San Carlans tend to put way too much time and…

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The Most Expensive Restaurant in San Carlos

The Most Expensive Restaurant in San Carlos

Everything in the Bay Area is expensive, and San Carlos restaurants are no exception. One can easily spend $30+ on an entree, drop some serious coin on a high-end bottle of wine, or even spend $15 on a burrito! Dropping a few hundred dollars on dinner (even if just for two people) was never that difficult, especially if you got steaks from Town or spent decent money on alcohol. Until recently, Yelp didn’t list any San Carlos restaurants with four…

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Still Going Strong

Still Going Strong

As San Carlos sees over 97% of its eligible population vaccinated from COVID-19, restaurants in town have roared back over the last few months. Laurel Street, in particular, is constantly buzzing with activity.1 The proliferation of parklets for outdoor dining has clearly made people very comfortable dining out and has added to the festive atmosphere downtown. It certainly appears that most restaurants are busy even on weekdays, and although a few places have closed, a bunch more have opened since the…

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San Carlos Shake Up

San Carlos Shake Up

Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant scene everywhere — including in San Carlos — continues to be tough, however most of the San Carlos eating establishments have continued to serve takeout and/or with outdoor dining (bars have had a tougher time as they have fewer alternatives). The 600-800 block of Laurel Street has turned into quite an outdoor mall with many of the restaurants having created makeshift spaces into the parking lots of the street, some having just…

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Are we going to Addis Ababa, Mr. Luthor?*

Are we going to Addis Ababa, Mr. Luthor?*

(* Superman, 1978) Well, we’re probably not going to Addis Ababa anytime soon, but now San Carlos can bring Addis Ababa to us. In one of City of Good Eating’s first posts, it yearned for two new culinary options in the city. One of those was Ethiopian cuisine, which was nowhere to be found anywhere between San Francisco and San Jose. Well, maybe someone heard our call and answered it, as during the lockdown we discovered True Ethiopian Cuisine. Technically,…

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Pazzo gets focus of SF Chronicle

Pazzo gets focus of SF Chronicle

In today’s San Francisco Chronicle, writer Omar Mamoon pens a nice review of Pazzo in San Carlos, which during the lockdown remains open for takeout from 4-8pm on Tuesdays-Saturdasy. The City of Good Eating highlighted Pazzo over a year ago, so it’s nice to see the Chronicle paying more attention to San Carlos. The head restaurant critic at the SF Chronicle turned over last year, so maybe this article heralds a renewed focus on Peninsula restaurants (and those in San…

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