The BEST New S.F. Restaurants Of 2014

San Francisco’s dining scene has been especially lively lately, with a crush of new openings this year. There were small, groovy pop-ups inside Mission hole-in-the-walls; spendy, splashy new build-outs; and established restaurants relocating into bigger digs.

Many chefs are having fun with their menus and stepping outside the confines of traditional genres. Diners are likewise more playful and adventurous, embracing new dishes like beef heart tartare and rabbit chorizo and even coming around to concepts like family-style service. Another welcome change? The later hours a lot of restaurants are trying to keep. (Let’s support them in that, folks.)

Yes, good things are happening in the Bay Area dining scene — so many, in fact, that there's simply no way we could include every spot that opened in S.F. in 2014. Instead, we're bringing you the top 25 restaurants that caught our attention — and deserve some of yours, too.