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Summary of kosher food options in the bay area:

Restaurants:
(all under hashgacha of the Sunrise Kosher / Vaad Hakashrus of Northern California unless otherwise stated)

San Francisco
Sabra Grill (Chinatown)
L'chaim Foods (not a restaurant, take out / delivery only) currently "Under Orthodox Certification of Rabbi Joel Landau."
Frena BakeryDairy and pareve sambusak, burekas, shakshuka, savory and sweet baked goods
Limonnana Middle Eastern dishes, principally Falafel, Shawarma, and Hummus, and of course, delicious limonnanas.
Hummus Bodega Hummus, Falafel, Middle Eastern in the Richmond district

East Bay
Amba Falafel (Oakland) (Fleishig as of 4/28/14). Pas Yisroel available by request CLOSED
Oakland Kosher (Oakland) Fleishigs. Check for certs on www.restaurant.com.
Cafe 3 at UC Berkeley
Touro Kitchen in Vallejo, CA - http://dining.tu.edu/menu.html

South Bay
Izzy's Bagels (Palo Alto) Pas Yisroel. Some Items Cholov Yisroel, Check the kashrus certificate, Open on Shabbos
Kosher Food Oasis at the OFJCC (Palo Alto) Holy Sushi requires ordering in advance. Walk-in orders are accepted for Caffe Mediterraneum and for many items at Malawach Bar. Please check vendor sites for individual holiday hours. All under the Vaad.
Jerusalem Grill (Palo Alto area)  not Kosher, no Kashrus certification, not Jewish owned (as of Nov.22, 2015)
Pars Kosher Market in San Jose, certified by the Vaad, now has a small eat in section (4 tables, first come first serve) with a short meat menu and ready made hot food. Also lots of kosher groceries.
Stanford University Cafeteria weekday lunches five days a week and dinners Monday - Thurs. General public can pay at Florence Moore Dorm and enjoy the Kosher section. Fleishig (meat) for both meals each day. Flo-Mo, as it is called, is on Mayfield Ave., across from the parking lot of Tressidor.  Finding the dining hall can be a challenge for outsiders but any student will direct you.




Groceries (etc):

San Francisco
CHOUX Bakery - French cream puffs (Haight-Ashbury) Pas yisroel, cholov yisroel. No longer certified kosher / open on Shabbos.

East Bay
Oakland Kosher.
Grand Bakery (Oakland) Pas Yisroel, Dairy items are NOT cholov yisroel. Closing 12/23/16
Berkeley Bowl (Berkeley) has some kosher items.
Costco (Definitely the one in Richmond. I believe this applies to others in the Bay Area, but this is what I know firsthand.) has cholov yisroel cheese and Jack's sausages. (As of August 2014)

South Bay
I believe Mollie Stone's in Palo Alto has a big Kosher selection. there are probably other options there as well.

« Last edited by ninjaleh on January 17, 2023, 12:38:15 PM »

Author Topic: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread  (Read 199226 times)

Offline Dan

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #320 on: June 10, 2015, 02:07:18 PM »
Apparently there's also something new in SF, I didn't quite catch the details. some kind of take out or something like that. sounds like people are happy with it.
Name? Type of food?
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Offline whYME

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #322 on: June 10, 2015, 02:30:47 PM »
Love the chicken soup at Sabra
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline yslkwd

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #323 on: June 13, 2015, 11:36:21 PM »
i'm planning on flying through Oakland in August for Sunday to Thursday, I want to see the Big Sur area and Yosemite. Any other things  to throw in or is that to much already?

Offline shiframeir

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #324 on: June 14, 2015, 01:16:00 AM »
I know Alcatraz is awesome, but is it scary/creepy during the day? Going to sfo Next week with a n 8, 7 and 1 year old and they are big time scaredycats, should I just skip it (and do a boat around the area)?
Also, I see on the jcc page there is a daily lunch that they say is kosher, anyone know if the jcc old people lunch is a viable kosher option? Without that sushi place we are going to have to overuse our waffle maker we bring everywhere (use it for eggs and cheese sandwiches too).
Finally, are the bagels at trader joes in sf  under any decent supervision?

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #325 on: June 14, 2015, 01:36:11 AM »
Sabra is open for Lunch... really nothing wrong with their food...
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline whYME

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #326 on: June 14, 2015, 02:58:50 AM »
Finally, are the bagels at trader joes in sf  under any decent supervision?
I'm not sure what you mean by "decent supervision"

Are you looking for Pas yisroel?

I don't know about the TJ's bagels, but you should be able to find Pas Yisroel bread in any Safeway.
There's a $.99 store in Berkeley that has PY bagels, if they have any locations in SF I imagine they would have those bagels as well.

Offline whYME

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #327 on: June 14, 2015, 03:01:33 AM »
really nothing wrong with their food...
+1
The place is nothing special, I wouldn't recommend making a trip to SFO just to eat there, but people make it sound like you need to avoid the place like the plague.

My biggest problem with it has been the service, but from what I understand that has improved.

Offline tzifanya54

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #328 on: June 14, 2015, 03:12:51 AM »
I know Alcatraz is awesome, but is it scary/creepy during the day? Going to sfo Next week with a n 8, 7 and 1 year old and they are big time scaredycats, should I just skip it (and do a boat around the area)?
Also, I see on the jcc page there is a daily lunch that they say is kosher, anyone know if the jcc old people lunch is a viable kosher option? Without that sushi place we are going to have to overuse our waffle maker we bring everywhere (use it for eggs and cheese sandwiches too).
Finally, are the bagels at trader joes in sf  under any decent supervision?
Not too scary for kids. IME I went as a young child, and I was back there recently.

Offline tzifanya54

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #329 on: June 14, 2015, 03:15:10 AM »
+1
The place is nothing special, I wouldn't recommend making a trip to SFO just to eat there, but people make it sound like you need to avoid the place like the plague.

My biggest problem with it has been the service, but from what I understand that has improved.
+1
Good food. Terrible service. Oy the memories of standing in line, just to get a table...

Offline nossonp545

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #330 on: June 14, 2015, 11:40:11 AM »
Name? Type of food?
   
Maybe reffering to this
http://taboonsf.com/mobile.html

(Not to be confused with non kosher restaurant with the same name.


Offline Dan

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #331 on: June 14, 2015, 11:42:41 AM »
Only there once, must have been 10+ years ago. Service was atrocious and food was served burned.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline ushdadude

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #332 on: June 14, 2015, 12:23:10 PM »
I went to Amba grill and was very satisfied

Offline shiframeir

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #333 on: June 15, 2015, 12:53:00 AM »
I'm not sure what you mean by "decent supervision"
I'm staying by the Pier (on Bay Street) so looking for something to feed kids, and in NY we love the TJ bagels which have KVH (that our LOR said we could rely on). I assume in SF they wont be under KVH, but wonder if they may be under another hashgacha.

I was right about the kosher lunch at JCC, starting at 11:30 each day.
https://www.jccsf.org/adult/adult-prog-con/kosher-lunch-program

Sabra is open for Lunch... really nothing wrong with their food...
not saying its bad, but my kids are picky, and we cant eat there for 3 nights straight (plus its a bit of a shlep, would love sushi delivery if the hechsher was ok).

Maybe reffering to this
http://taboonsf.com/mobile.html
Note that that place appears to only be open thursday and friday... http://taboonsf.com/

Not too scary for kids. IME I went as a young child, and I was back there recently.
How old were u? my kids are 7 and 8, and scared at that (cant even watch some disney movies without running away...).

Offline shiframeir

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #334 on: June 16, 2015, 04:11:35 PM »
I was speaking to someone from the Vaad yesterday and got some updates...
What I was told was that his certification was revoked due to multiple serious kashrus violations.
I spoke with Alex at Lchaim today, he says they are currently supervised by R Landau, the rabbi at Adath Israel (modox). http://www.adathisraelsf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=265&Itemid=6 I will ask my LOR to confirm, but seems that should be good enough for me. Did the person at Vaad say what the specific violations are?

Offline shiframeir

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #335 on: June 16, 2015, 04:22:10 PM »
Just spoke to a rabbi at the Vaad/Sunrise Kosher, he wouldn't comment on the sushi place (impressed with that), but noted that there is the kosher lunch program at the JCC and then there are grab n go sandwiches/cold stuff there the rest of the day, prob open til 9pm, so that's another option. also, challah and perhaps other breads at trader joes should be under good hechsher.

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #336 on: June 16, 2015, 04:26:46 PM »
   
Maybe reffering to this
http://taboonsf.com/mobile.html

(Not to be confused with non kosher restaurant with the same name.

Was in SF about 3 months ago, right near there. It must've opened up very recently

ETA: Looks like Taboon is out of a shul.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2015, 04:51:42 PM by mochada »

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #337 on: July 19, 2015, 10:46:19 PM »
Are there any big grocery stores like Ralph's or Von's that have a kosher section?

Offline shiframeir

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #338 on: July 19, 2015, 10:58:50 PM »
Are there any big grocery stores like Ralph's or Von's that have a kosher section?
dont know about that, but Trader Joe's all over have really great selection of kosher food (and wine, like sara bee moscato for $6). this includes (at least at 401 Bay St San Francisco, CA 94133) several empire chicken options (if u have a grill), lots of good bread and bagel options, cookies, chips cereal etc all generally under good hashgachos (but u gotta be careful). https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B80L9npNaQf6OXgxNExTdHhmalU&usp=sharing
bring some good kosher cheese, and you can have bread sandwiches whenever so u dont have to deal with a crazy scene at Sabra (went there once at 6pm and they just were too busy and wouldnt be able to take my takout order for 2 falafels for at least 15 minutes, so i left). I recommend going to Sabra at like 4pm if u want a hot meal, otherwise there is sadly way to few options in SF.   
« Last Edit: July 19, 2015, 11:06:52 PM by shiframeir »

Offline E R K

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Re: San Francisco/No Cal Master Thread
« Reply #339 on: July 20, 2015, 12:23:13 AM »
I also went to SF (started in SD and drove PCH with stops along the way). We stayed in Emeryville at a Hyatt House (8000 PTs/ night) which is right over Bay Bridge not too far from Berkeley and Oakland. It had a bedroom, living room and kitchen. (Full size fridge/freezer microwave but stove was the glass kind, but I always travel w a burner). It came with free breakfast. Kosher items were cereal, milk, fresh fruit, juice and coffee. They also had pkgs of cream cheese and jelly. And free parking. Trader Joes was walkable (but I drove). I always drove in to SF as I had no problem parking but The BART is close by.
One night we ate at Amba. Portion was huge but food mediocre. Pita was soggy, shawarma was good as were French fries and Israeli salad. Cole slaw and hummas were tasteless. Falafel balls tasted good but needed to be more "done".
Didn't bother w Sabra as I had POM meals and didn't think it would be worth the wait.
Activities were: Golden Gate Park - did Botanical Gardens and CA Academy of Science
Walked around Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, Exploritorium (great kids museum and I didn't go w little kids) Alcatraz (get tickets early and if sold out keep checking cuz that's what happened to me!) Cable car, Lombard Street and Muir Woods.
I was there for shabbos and stayed at Chabad house.