Universal Cafe

San Francisco Recommendation

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The Universal Cafe is an awesome restaurant in the rapidly gentrifying Potrero Hill new media gulch.  Expect excellent food at very reasonable prices.   Tucked away on a formerly industrial street, the Universal Cafe turns out incredible food.  Featured lunch menu items recently were:

  • fresh-squeezed valencia orange mimosa, white peach bellini  9.00
     house-made ginger lemonade  4.25
    fresh fruit shake with strawberries, yogurt, banana  5.25  
     frites with herbs and aïoli  6.00 
    puree of sweet pepper-corn soup  8.00
    garden lettuces with red wine vinaigrette  6.50
    little gems lettuce with avocado, cucumber, beets, lemon-dill vinaigrette  10.00
    charcoal-grilled gulf white shrimp with salsa verde, yellow wax beans, dry-farm tomatoes, purslane  12.00
    grilled flatbread with cream sauce, new potatoes, corn, mozzarella, rosemary  11.75
    charcoal-grilled hoffman farm chicken on focaccia, savoy cabbage salad, grilled onions, aïoli  13.00
    moroccan-marinated roasted goat on house-made pita with tzatziki, heirloom tomatoes, grilled onions  13.00
    rigatoncini housemade sausage, hot peppers, tomato sauce, parmesan  14.00
     charcoal-grilled niman ranch flatiron steak and frites with salsa verde  18.75

If you love fresh, delicious, thoughtfully prepared California food you will die for the Universal Cafe.  One downside is that parking in this neighborhood is bad (but average for SF).  The Universal Cafe's management will also be running a new upscale dinner restaurant "XYZ" at the very highly recommended SOMA Hotel W - San Francisco (get it!).  Very Highly Recommended

2814 19th Street near Potrero

415-821-4608