The Outer Sunset is a residential neighbourhood that happens to have a few commercial strips, rather than a commercial neighbourhood people live near. That distinction shows up most clearly at lunch on a weekday. The rooms that make this part of the city worth visiting are largely weekend rooms — brunch operations, beach-day operations, evening operations — and at one o'clock on a Tuesday a surprising number of them are simply shut.
Out on the avenues the list of things open at 1pm on a weekday is genuinely short, and it is not the list you would get from a weekend guide. Tell Karpo the day and hour and it will filter down to what is actually serving.
The one that always works
Palm City at 4055 Irving Street is the most dependable lunch out here and the least like everything around it. It was started by a Sunset native and a Philadelphia transplant, and the format is footlong hoagies alongside a serious wine and beer list. The Italian American with mortadella and arugula is the sandwich to order first.
The hoagie-and-good-wine combination sounds like an affectation and is not — it is the thing that makes this a place you can take an hour over rather than a counter you leave immediately. On an afternoon when everything else in the neighbourhood feels closed, this is the address that reliably has a room, food and something worth drinking.
Noriega's daytime layer
Yonkers Cafe at 3815 Noriega Street does gourmet sandwiches, coffee, smoothies and wine, which is a fairly precise description of what a residential neighbourhood actually needs at midday. It is the kind of place that exists because people live here, not because people visit, and that is exactly why it is open when the destination rooms are not.
Devil's Teeth Baking Company at 3876 Noriega Street is on the same stretch and is best known for a breakfast sandwich — scrambled eggs, avocado, bacon, pepper jack and lemon-garlic aioli on a biscuit. On a weekday the queue that defines it at weekends is much shorter, which is the single best argument for eating here on a Tuesday rather than a Sunday.
Judah, which skews later
Judahlicious at 3906 Judah Street does açaí bowls, fresh juices and vegan dishes, and it is genuinely a lunch proposition rather than a snack one. Celia's by the Beach at 4019 Judah Street does large plates of enchiladas and fajitas with margaritas, and Sunset Cantina at 3414 Judah Street has a back patio and an interior set up for watching sport. Both of those two lean evening, and both are more useful to know about for a weekday afternoon that runs long than for a strict lunch break.
Outerlands at 4001 Judah Street is the neighbourhood's most famous room and is a breakfast and brunch operation at heart — the Dutch pancake with seasonal fruit and ricotta, morning buns, breakfast sandwiches, an interior built like the inside of a boat, and blankets for the outdoor seats. Treat it as a morning plan rather than a lunch one and it will not disappoint you.
The pattern
Two things to internalise about weekday lunch on the avenues. First, the neighbourhood's schedule is inverted relative to central San Francisco: quiet on weekdays, extremely busy at weekends, with several kitchens closing one or two days a week entirely. Checking before you drive out is not fussiness, it is the difference between lunch and a wasted twenty minutes. Second, the compensation for all of this is that parking is easy and the room is never full, which on a Tuesday is worth quite a lot.
Choosing
A proper hour with something to drink: Palm City on Irving. Quick sandwich and coffee: Yonkers on Noriega. The famous breakfast sandwich without the weekend queue: Devil's Teeth. Something light after a walk on the beach: Judahlicious. An afternoon that is quietly turning into an evening: Celia's or Sunset Cantina, both on Judah.
Practical notes
Addresses: Palm City 4055 Irving St; Yonkers Cafe 3815 Noriega St; Devil's Teeth Baking Company 3876 Noriega St; Judahlicious 3906 Judah St; Celia's by the Beach 4019 Judah St; Sunset Cantina 3414 Judah St; Outerlands 4001 Judah St. Outerlands takes Resy bookings and is a breakfast and brunch room rather than a lunch one. The N Judah runs the length of Judah Street to Ocean Beach, the 7 covers Noriega and the 71 area routes serve Irving; the three strips are roughly three blocks apart from each other, which is a short walk in good weather and a genuinely cold one in the fog. Street parking is easy here by San Francisco standards.
Tags: #LunchNearMe #OuterSunset #SanFrancisco #IrvingStreet #NoriegaStreet #JudahStreet #PalmCity #DevilsTeeth #SunsetDistrict #SFLunch #FogBelt #CoffeeAndDessert #SFEats #OceanBeach
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Ask Karpo first
The avenues keep weekend-shaped hours, and a room that was full on Sunday can be dark on Tuesday with no notice anywhere. Ask Karpo what is genuinely open right now near the avenue you are on, and which of the good places are closed today rather than merely quiet.
