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Best Pão de Queijo in San Francisco

“Chewy cheese bread from cassava starch — gluten-free for centuries before it was a lifestyle.”

Pão de Queijo

What the real thing tastes like

Minas Gerais' pão de queijo is made from polvilho — fermented cassava starch — which bakes into a crisp shell around an elastic, almost mochi-like cheese interior. No wheat was ever involved; the recipe predates the concept of gluten-free by three hundred years. Eaten warm at breakfast, at coffee, and at every weakness in between.

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The stretch is the review — pulled apart on camera, the elastic interior does the marketing itself. Brazilians abroad describe airport pão de queijo as the first and last taste of home, and cold ones are universally ruled a waste of cheese.

Order it here when it has

  • mochi-like pull
  • cheese perfume
  • breakfast ritual
  • naturally gluten-free

Walk away when you see

  • cold ones disappoint
  • addictive by the basket

Restaurant-level rankings for San Francisco land as the Polydish review engine processes this city's reviews. Explore the dish itself while you wait —

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