$$$$Prezzo: caro • Filippina • North Beach
Abacá is an airy, atelier-style restaurant with a cool outdoor terrace, whipping up Filipino-Californian cuisine with flair in Fisherman's Wharf. It's the bricks-and-mortar spin off of chef Francis Ang's pop-up Pinoy Heritage. The lively menu is split up into barbecue sticks, noodles and rice, and small to big plates, but its far more nuanced than just that. Flavourful dishes pull from family recipes and are glazed with modern and heritage technique to result in a vibrancy that's hard to come by. It's grounded by local produce. Smoked Bay scallops lead in the seafood pancit, heirloom tomatoes top homemade tinapay bread, chicken skin is glazed in an adobe before hitting the grill and guinea fowl comes slathered with peanut sauce. A truncated list of creative Southeast Asian libations bring it full circle – if you're on the terrace, cool off with the Baguio breeze slushy – a dreamy mix of pandan-infused vodka, coconut and strawberry.
