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San Francisco Chronicle​

This popular seafood counter just opened its second location. Here's the best thing on the menu

Each week, critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan shares some of her favorite recent bites, the dishes and snacks and baked goods that didn't find their way into a full review. Want the list a few days earlier? Sign up for her free newsletter, Bite Curious. Where better to eat raw fish than at a fishmonger? Billingsgate in Noe Valley is a seafood market that sells everything from whole branzino to trays of uni, but they also have a counter and a few tables where you can tuck into a poke bowl or toss back a few oysters. My strongest recommendation is the hamachi crudo ($18), served with thinly shaved slices of hearts of palm and segments of grapefruit. It was all dressed aggressively with finely chopped shallots, olive oil and flaky sea salt (which some of the other dishes were lacking). East Bay residents take note: Billingsgate recently expanded to Oakland, taking over the Hapuku Fish Shop stall at Rockridge Market Hall. Belfare serves a superior fried chicken sandwich. The Petaluma business got its start at farmers markets and moved into a brick-and-mortar location in a strip mall in 2022. The classic ($18), with sesame mayo and plenty of Cajun-spiced slaw, is always available, but seasonal specials are worth a peek as well. A recent offering featured ingredients you might find on a torta — piquant tomatillo salsa, cilantro, avocado — loaded onto a Parker House bun with grilled spring onions and fried chicken. If I have one quibble it's that the wet ingredients led to a bit of a soggy bottom, but the flavors didn't miss. Pair it with a side of furikake-spiced fingerling potatoes ($11), served with more of that delectable sesame mayo. Belfare. 1410 S McDowell Blvd. # D, Petaluma. While in Petaluma, I took a stroll through downtown and passed a sandwich board at the entrance to an alley advertising a business called Once Upon a Slush. After walking past a row of industrial garbage bins, my expectations were low, but I perked up at the sight of two women eating layered frozen desserts out of tiny plastic cups. Once Upon a Slush sells both Italian ices and soft serve, and the trick, one of the women told me, is to combine them. The full menu was overwhelming with various syrups, floats, shakes, frappes and such, so I just copied her order — creamsicle, with a belt of vanilla soft serve bisecting two bands of orange Italian ice ($5). As the owner of the shop handed over my kiddie cup, he said confidently, 'See you tomorrow.' If I lived in Petaluma, he probably would.