What started in 1995 as an obscure little family-run restaurant in the Mission District has become one of the most popular and written-about restaurants in the city. Due to its meteoric rise -- helped along by celebrity fans such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Quentin Tarantino -- it's been relocated within a beautiful bay-inspired, custom-designed space at the Ferry Building Marketplace. What hasn't changed is a menu filled with incredibly fresh and flavorful Vietnamese dishes such as catfish clay-pot flavored with cilantro, ginger, and Thai chilies; an amazing green papaya salad with roasted peanuts; and fragrant peppercorn duck served with apples and watercress. If the cellophane noodles with fresh Dungeness crab meat are on the menu, definitely order them. Be sure to start the feast with a pot of tea from their eclectic collection.

Reservations: Reservations recommended

Transportation: Bus: All Market Street buses. Streetcar: F, N-Judah line