Foster City (SF) Eats

We just moved back to the west coast - this time to the Bay Area. Our corporate housing is for several weeks in Foster City until we find something. What are some good/decent eats in Foster City (or closeby) ?

Do you have a car? If so, San Mateo across the bridge has plenty of Japanese. If you are craving high end sushi, Yoshizumi is near by.

Foster City has a large Hong Kong population, so there is a fair number of cafes serving HK food. I haven’t really explored it, but that’s something to consider.

If you like seafood, and you feel like cooking in your corporate housing, I heard Dragon Baby Seafood have a stand at the Foster City farmers market (I think on Saturdays). All manners of seafood catered to the Hong Kong population that are very infrequently, if at all, sighted at the Bay Area grocery stores- e.g. eastern coral trout @Night07 . We bought seafood from them via delivery. A few great hits and a few misses in terms of freshness. So being able to check out the goods live at the market will ensure freshness.

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Thanks - yes, we have a car (but will keep it to takeout and no onsite restaurant visit until our daughter can get vaccinated) and also the possibility to cook in our apartment - so your recommendations are helpful.

In that case, the slow roasted pork shoulder takeaway for reheating at home from Number5Kitchen in San Carlos, is an excellent value for a hunk of meat that you can use for your main dish at home to be supplemented by your own carb. Marinated overnight with sichuan peppercorn, its delicious. Something like $8 for 5 oz or $15 for a pound (I really can’t remember).

The falafels from Mediterranean Delite in San Carlos in my opinion are probably the best in the area. The owner once made a boast to us that if we found better falafels elsewhere, we could have ours for free. They make theirs from scratch, not from flours.

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Welcome back to the Bay Area and my 'hood, Foster City! Foster City doesn’t have that many restaurants, and some restaurants closed due to redevelopment in the last few years; you’ll have more choices out of FC itself.

If you can drive to downtown San Mateo, there are more restaurants than other retail establishments there, and every cuisine you can think of (except for a proper NY style deli). They are all doing take-out and many have outside dining in parklets (streets are closed off for that purpose), B Street in particular. B Street has about 20 restaurants in a 4 block stretch alone. There is a website for DT San Mateo that lists all the restaurants within the core area. Be aware that parking can be difficult to find now, especially with the parklets taking up space on the streets and the movie theater complex on B Street is open again.

A bit south, San Carlos has many restaurants on Laurel Street, which also has parklets for dining, and regular retail as well, but it’s a smaller area than DT San Mateo.

If you like farmer’s markets (and willing to cook), then there is one up the hill via Route 92 in a College of San Mateo parking lot, every Saturday morning. It’s more than twice the size of the Foster City farmer’s market, and they also have a few food trucks there every week (my favorite is the falafel one).

Good luck here, and happy dining!

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We aren’t dining in restaurants yet (daughter can’t get vaccinated yet) but are willing to drive to San Mateo etc as long as it is within 15-20 minutes driving range (otherwise take out food tends to get too cold). Are there ant restaurants you really recommend in San Mateo and San Carlos ? We are also looking for some good Italian place (extra points if pasta is made in-house)

Forgot to add - any good places for pizza (whole pies, bonus points for wood-fired (neo)-napolitanean style) in Foster City, San Mateo area ?

There was a recommendation on the board for Centro in Burlingame.

Rise Woodfire in San Mateo does wood-fire. The pizza is ok, although the decor is fab. (Its in a converted train station) It is close to playgrounds for the family.

I haven’t been there in awhile (basically pre-pandemic) but North Beach pizza on B Street/corner of 3rd in DT San Mateo is very good. There’s nothing “foodie” about it and they have good other entree options besides pizza. It’s casual but with good service. Another option is Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria, also on 3rd. I haven’t been there in well over 25 years (not for any particular reason) but it seems to do good business. Amici also has gluten-free pizza which is great for me (I’m not allergic, but doing GF as much as possible), I don’t recall if North Beach does.

Friends that live in Burlingame love Pausa Italian restaurant: 223 E 4th Ave, San Mateo. 11 min from FC.

One of our favs to hit - their frozen Dungeness crab is literally indistinguishable from fresh; it’s unlike any other we’ve bought even from good fishmarkets - is New England Lobster Market and Eatery. Also make a fine lobster-corn chowder which is sold frozen if you want to take some home. Great place for fresh raw oysters, too. Regular sales on fresh lobster. 824 Cowan Rd, Burlingame - 13 min from FC.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve been there, but Tannourine (Lebanese/Mediterranean) was a big fav of ours. Nice but not fancy DR although leisurely service, LOL. The Kebbeh and Boruk were the best of the appetizer platter we tried. Skewers were good. Wrap (we were with our friends for lunch, the last time) was generous and very tasty. Tannourine is at 120 W 25th Ave, San Mateo - 10 min from FC.

What sold us on Tannourine was the offer of Arabic coffee. Don’t know if they still do it, but I LOVE Arabic coffee - brewed with cardamom pods in the traditional long-handled copper pot. Worth bouncing off the walls at 11p [smirk]!

There’s also a Pizzeria Delfina in Burlingame. I haven’t been to that one but if it is as good as their locations in SF (here’s a thread on one of the SF ones that is still closed) definitely worth trying.

Thanks everybody for really helpful ideas.

One item we are also looking for are good banh mi (the last five years in Boston didn’t have many good examples.)
Are there any good banh mi in this area - a brief search shows places like m-sandwiches but are they really worth $10-11. When we lived in San Diego many good banh mi were available for $4-5. Willing to drive even a bit longer for a good (reasonable priced) banh mi.