Cioppino
San Francisco's answer to French bouillabaisse, cioppino (cho-pea-no) is fish stew with an Italian flair.
It's an American food that's been around since the late 1800s, when Portuguese and Italian fishermen who settled the North Beach section of the city brought their on-board catch-of-the-day stew back to land and area restaurants picked up on it.
Cooked in a tomato base with wine and spices and chopped fish (whatever was plentiful, but almost always crab), cioppino probably takes its name from the classic fish stew of Italy's Liguria region, where many Gold Rush era fishermen came from.
Get a memorable bowl at Sotto Mare in North Beach, Scoma's on Fisherman's Wharf, and Anchor Oyster Bar in the Castro District. Don't feel bad about going with the "lazy man's" cioppino -- it only means you're not going to spend half the meal cracking shellfish.
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