Classic Foods and Cocktails Invented in the San Francisco Bay Area | Eater SF

"While this Italian-American seafood stew resembles some tomato-based cousins served around Northern Italy, cioppino is definitively native to San Francisco for one main reason: a true version has to be made with Dungeness crab and Pacific shellfish. The biggest contingent of Italians who immigrated to San Francisco in the late 19th Century were from Liguria, where they made a similar stew called ciuppin, but legend has it that fisherman around North Beach had a community tradition of carrying an empty pot around to their fisherman brethren when they came back empty-handed from a day on the water. Friends were expected to toss in anything extra they might have, resulting in a catch-of-the-day stew, and they expected the same on days when their catch was dismal too. The modern version, according to Saveur, comes from Genoese immigrant Giuseppe Bazzuro at his eponymous SF restaurant, ca. 1850. And like the Provencal French version, bouillabaisse, cioppino is best served with grilled bread. Beyond North Beach haunts like Sotto Mare, you’ll find good versions at Tadich Grill and Woodhouse Fish Co." - Jay C. Barmann