The sun is out in the Bay Area — the mood infused with a healthy dose of vitamin D.

This update is a bit of a hodgepodge with some loose themes like affordability, fresh summer options and eggs. OK, the last one is a bit of an exaggeration, but I am adding a new, egg-centered restaurant called Egglicious India, the first of its kind in the region. To cool down, there’s Mariscos El Aguachile 8, a truck in East San Jose known for its blazingly spicy ceviches. Immigrant mothers will tell you that hot soup on a sweltering day has a cooling effect on the body; for that, I point you to Korean restaurant and bone broth master Han Sang in Millbrae.

Click here to see the full list of Top 25 Restaurants in the S.F. Bay Area. — C.H.

For more restaurant suggestions, review our guides to the best fine dining restaurants, the best San Francisco restaurants and the best sushi.

Anchovy Bar | 1740 O'Farrell St., San Francisco

Just around the corner from restaurant siblings the Progress and State Bird Provisions is Anchovy Bar, where the anchovies of the world get ample time onstage. And during our local anchovy season, which runs roughly from April to October each year, the restaurant brings in the fresh catch, devoting hours of labor to cleaning each anchovy. Whether local or imported from Spain, each preparation highlights the individuality of a fish so often used as a seasoning in bigger dishes. They might be pickled and curled over coconut sambal, tucked into nests of fried onion and quail eggs ($22), or perched atop the ultimate deviled egg ($9).

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Beer and wine | HOURS: Dinner Tuesday-Saturday | PHONE: 415-796-2710

Copra | 1700 Fillmore St., San Francisco

The latest restaurant from chef Srijith Gopinathan and partner Ayesha Thapar, Copra is a stunning tropical palace for unrestrained South Indian food. The restaurant looks like the kind of boho plant shop you’ve seen before, with ample greenery throughout, but don’t let appearances fool you: The food here is way out of the ordinary. While dishes like the bone marrow in a toasty gravy ($18) and hamachi collar ($42) are excellent, the must-order dish is the chutney sampler ($17). These are the Gucci of chutneys; making each one is a laborious process that involves stewing, fermenting and reducing ingredients like coconut or gooseberries to a potent sauce, or toasting chiles until nearly singed. Those scorched chiles are used for the burnt chile chutney, which is sort of like a coconut salsa macha — tangy, spicy with a touch of sweetness. Do not skip dessert at Copra: Try the surprising bay leaf flavored semifreddo-like dessert ($12) or God’s Own ($15), an icy presentation of coconut in five ways, and chase it down with a sweet and creamy chai ($5).

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Full Bar | HOURS: Dinner Tuesday-Sunday | PHONE: 415-873-0795

Daytrip | 4316 Telegraph Ave., Oakland

Since it opened in Temescal in 2021, bottle shop-restaurant Daytrip has remained a neighborhood hot spot. Its interior is decked out like an indie art gallery, with iridescent materials and trippy wall art, and the menu is all about pairing pickled and aged ingredients and naturally fermented wine. Serving food with heady zero-zero wines and robust ciders is a challenge, but chef and co-owner Finn Stern and his team counter those strong flavors with an arsenal of misos, infused vinegars and pickles. Though the menu is constantly shifting, a few classics never go away, like the incredible celery salad ($13), crusty focaccia with fruit vinegar ($8) and the crucial miso butter pasta ($29). Try the custardy nixtamalized yams ($17) and hefty, soul-warming beef and pork ragu ($26) — two winter menu items that are hypnotizing.

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Beer, wine and sake | HOURS: Dinner Wednesday-Sunday

Egglicious India | 4996 Stevens Creek Blvd., San Jose

At this new Indian restaurant, the egg comes before the chicken. Egglicious is stationed in a San Jose strip mall, and inside, the egg yolk-colored walls match the majority of the menu. If you’re partial to the boiled method, seek out the excellent lasan tadka ($8.99), where boiled eggs are swirled with garlicky sauce. For those who prefer omelets, try the one paired with an intensely savory tomato gravy ($8.99); if fried huevos are your thing, go with the punchy garlic fry ($8), topped with a potent garlic mixture; and for scrambled egg fans, the Mumbai egg bhurji ($11.99) shouts with spice. The surati egg gotala ($12.99), more flavorful than any American breakfast, features a sunny-side egg over a bed of garlic gravy with white strands of grated eggs mixed in. It comes with a chile oil-stained pav (roll) to mop up the egg yolk and leftover sauce. While it may be tempting to stick to eggs, make sure to try a chaat and Indo-Chinese dish, like the audible Veg sizzler ($15.99).

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Beer | HOURS: Lunch and dinner Wednesday-Sunday | PHONE: 669-301-3801

Han Sang | 420 Broadway, Millbrae

Korean restaurant Han Sang puts you in a carnivorous mood. Diners pinch oxtails between their digits, appraising them like diamonds as they try to find every bit of flesh attached to the bone. Opened in February, Han Sang specializes in deeply soothing bone broth soups, cheesy short ribs ($75/$85, add $5 for cheese) and small mountains of sliced beef ($60-$65). Don’t sleep on the top-notch appetizers like the crunchy jeon ($12), a pancake threaded with leeks, or the fantastic yukhoe ($25; spelled “yuk-hoi” on the menu), Korean beef tartare on a bed of crisp Asian pear spears topped with an egg yolk. Try the combo sul long tang ($28), soul-comforting soup with thin sheets of brisket, beef tongue, oxtail and slippery chunks of tendon, all in a cloudy white stock. The soup comes unseasoned, but each table is equipped with small boxes of salt and pepper. Pair the rich food with artisan Korean spirits, like the Golden Barley ($29) and Seoul Night ($29) for soju, or Yangchon Chungju ($45), a savory Korean rice wine.

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Beer and soju | HOURS: Lunch and dinner Wednesday-Monday | PHONE: 650-419-6018

LeYou | 1100 N. First St., Suite C, San Jose

Of all the Ethiopian restaurants in the Bay Area, LeYou is best suited to introduce diners to a more contemporary take on the cuisine. One thing that jumps out immediately is the San Jose restaurant’s focus on small bites. Breaking from the norm of beef kitfo, LeYou reaches for ahi tuna or salmon, creating an enthralling appetizer-size version dubbed kitfo bites ($10.95), served with crisped injera. The craggy beef sambussas come in egg roll form, vigorously flavored with cumin. For more crisp excellence, you cannot skip the kategna ($7.95), a toasted injera slathered with berbere oil. Vegan options, less commonly seen at local Ethiopian restaurants, are plentiful here such as beets ($5.95) and sauteed zucchini ($8.95).

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Beer and wine | HOURS: Dinner daily | PHONE: 408-320-2620

Lion Dance Cafe | 380 17th St., Oakland

The mushroom goreng, fried and topped with a handful of herbs and spicy sambal, from vegan restaurant Lion Dance Cafe, is so craggy and crisp that it's something like a flavor earworm; you’ll be thinking about it for hours. Opened by chefs C-Y Chia and Shane Stanbridge in 2020, Lion Dance was a takeout window until December 2022, when the restaurant opened its dining room. It’s now transitioned to a wine bar format with small plates, like that unforgettable mushroom, along with brothy, piquant Bomba beans ($16) and nutty, sourdough shaobing ($16), a baked sesame-studded bread. The latter comes with whole mustard and pungent mushroom rendang pate. Lion Dance has an enticing list of house-made drinks, most of which are zero to low ABV cocktails like the refreshing jade jungle ($15). Leave room for the warm pandan cake ($12), with a crisp crust and chewy center.

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Beer, wine and cocktails | HOURS: Dinner Wednesday-Saturday

Mariscos El Aguachile 8 | 1111 N. Capitol Ave., San Jose

Mariscos El Aguachile 8, a seafood truck in San Jose that parks at a gas station, will recalibrate your idea of spicy. There are 12 levels, but owner Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez encourages folks to stay at or below the third level. The aguachile campechana verde ($40), a mix of octopus, scallops, and cooked and raw shrimp, is humbling — painful but absorbing. Rodriguez is a pepper maestro, harmonizing its pain-inducing qualities with acrobatic acidity and seasoning. It hurts but you can’t stop eating it, even after your eyes and nose are leaking. The truck doesn’t have a menu but the base order, which easily feeds two, starts with shrimp ($30) and the price increases as you add more seafood. Make sure to try the red, made with chile de arbol, and the black aguachiles, made with scorched chiles. Or opt for the exquisite seafood cocktail dubbed the Campechana Michoacana ($35), a giant cup of shrimp, sea snails, scallops, octopus and, the oceanic cherry on top, a blood clam.

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Cash only | DRINKS: None | HOURS: Lunch Saturday-Sunday

Mazra | 504 San Bruno Ave. West, San Bruno

In 2020, the family that owned Green Valley Market, a Mediterranean grocery store in San Bruno, turned the space into a vibrant restaurant. It was a bold move during the pandemic, but over time the restaurant blossomed into the joyful gathering place that it is today. Neon signs, Arab pop art and faux floral installations proliferate in the wide-open space. The menu is a mixture of wood-fired Levantine street food and new-wave dishes, including my favorite, a whole head of tender and crisp purple cauliflower ($11) draped in an earthy tahini sauce. Large-format dishes, like spit-roasted garlic chicken ($18) are excellent to share and are available as family-size packs complete with side dishes.

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Soft drinks | HOURS: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday | PHONE: 650-225-9027

Noodle in a Haystack | 4601 Geary Blvd., San Francisco

In a corner space in San Francisco’s Richmond District, married couple Yoko and Clint Tan have worked tirelessly to bring their dream of top-quality ramen into reality. The noodles are the centerpiece of a fascinating tasting menu experience ($175) that walks the diner through the flavors of modern Japanese cuisine. You’ll find the noodles served in different forms depending on the type of soup (or lack thereof): as ebi shio, in a translucent salt-seasoned broth paired with spot prawns and meaty New Caledonian blue shrimp; or tossed with rich Wagyu beef fat in an indulgent take on abura soba. It’s been a long journey for the self-taught chefs, who made a name for themselves by hosting pop-ups on Feastly and even competing in a global ramen competition. This restaurant is a culmination of all that effort, and the Tans’ enthusiasm is palpable in every course.

PAYMENT OPTIONS: Credit cards accepted | DRINKS: Beer and sake | HOURS: Dinner Sunday-Wednesday