Jonathan Kauffman

Smitten's chocolate ice cream with almond brittle.

SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition ​The Kelvin, as Robyn Sue Goldman has named Smitten's proprietary ice-cream-making machine, looks like a KitchenAid redesigned by the Nutty Professor. When you order up a scoop of the chocolate ice cream, the staff will pour a small cup of thick cream into the bowl of the machine and flip a switch. It begins shuddering and turning, spewing forth smoke, thanks to the liquid nitrogen that is flowing into the bowl, freezing the ice cream almost instantly.

Goldman switches up the stand's flavors on a near-daily basis, but her basic chocolate ice cream, made with TCHO chocolate and cocoa powder, is the most opulent. It has a deep, potent chocolate flavor whose impact almost approaches hot fudge sauce. By the third spoonful, you begin to notice that there's a little salt in there, too, which engages parts of your palate that most ice creams don't.

But it's the texture that makes the ice cream so marvelous. Kelvin produces ice crystals so minute that the ice cream seems to have been thickened and enriched rather than frozen. Aided by the fat from the chocolate, it tastes more custardy than custard, more buttery than a pat of softened butter. It melts quickly, this ice cream, so that you have to devote yourself to the scoop, spooning it up before the effect fades away. Which is rarely hard to do.

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Iann Ivy

Boxing Room's dirty rice.

​SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition ​Boxing Room's chef, Justin Simoneaux, brings a California sensibility to traditional Cajun dishes -- fried oyster salad with arugula and fennel, gulf flounder with tasso and green garlic -- but for his dirty rice, he adheres strictly to his mother's recipe. More >>

​Every now and then, you discover a place you're reluctant to recommend even to your close friends, for fear that the precious "hidden gem" quality will be corrupted by noisy patrons and lines gathering at the door. Two Sisters Bar & Books, the new restaurant and watering hole in the heart of Hayes Valley, is exactly that. Even during brunch service (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday), with only a handful of tables available for seating, Two Sisters is a haven of quiet comfort, the walls lined, unsurprisingly, with dusty hard-cover books and a customer sipping coffee in a pillow-filled window seat as light pours inside. More >>

Lou Bustamante

​SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition

​In the Bay Area, "chorizo" usually refers to the fresh, spicy Mexican sausage that fills tacos and tortas in the Mission. The occasional bit of Spanish-style chorizo that turns up in paella is often little more than a dried-out paprika delivery system.More >>

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Traditional Sunday brunch in New Orleans is something special, from the white tablecloths and Eggs Sardou to classic cocktails and live jazz. But the Boxing Room, Hayes Valley's lively Cajun/Creole restaurant, isn't trying to imitate any of that with its recently added brunch menu.

Turns out, that's a good thing.

What they've created instead is something unique: delicious and authentic Louisiana bayou food in an open, relaxed setting that doesn't feel the least bit contrived.More >>

​The promise of beer-filled boots attracts crowds to Hayes Valley's Suppenkuche on Saturday nights, but come back the following morning and you may be surprised. Not only does the restaurant offer a full, ever-changing German brunch menu, bartenders are doling out boots once again, this time to a family-friendly clientele.
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