With over 200 French restaurants in San Francisco to choose from, it can be overwhelming to decide where to go. Here are two neighborhood bistros that I can wholeheartedly recommend. Zazie in Cole Valley is a casual French bistro with old French posters on the wall and a friendly staff. Côté Sud in the Castro, with its crisp white tablecloths and French waiters in pressed shirts, manages to be nice without being formal and stuffy.

Zazie (415-564-5332, 941 Cole between Parnassus and Carl, take the N-Judah Muni, get off at Cole/Carl)
This is a old standby for any meal of the day for some friends of mine. When I was in San Francisco earlier this week, my friend and I got to Zazie’s at 2:15 pm, just in time to still have both breakfast and lunch options. We split La Croque Royale, a grilled prosciutto and gruyere sandwich on levain with a sunny cooked egg on top, and a poppyseed sour cream pancake with meyer lemon curd. I also had a cup of the carrot ginger soup du jour. Delish. Total neighborhood gem. If you go there for Sunday brunch, the 30 min.+ wait is worth it - especially, if you can score a table on their intimate (heated) patio out back.

Côté Sud (415-255-6565, 4238 18th Street between Collingwood and Diamond, take the #33/Stanyan bus, get off at 18th/Diamond)
Côté Sud on 18th in the Castro is a place where everyone speaks that mumbly French-accented English that can only be understood if you squint your eyes and concentrate hard on the space just over their left shoulder. This is the kind of place that believes a meal, a fantastic French wine (we had their wonderful by-the-glass Graves bourdeaux), and your dinner companion should all be savored.

My friend and I both got the very reasonably priced, prix fixe 3 course dinner. I had the blini de mais au saumon (corn blini stuffed with salmon lobster sauce, served with a dollop of tobiko sour cream), medaillon de rôti de porc (roasted pork medaillions with a walnut crust and in a tarragon sauce), and the dessert du jour which was a raspberry tart. Will had mostly du jour items - a foie gras terrine with grilled french bread slices, the venison in red wine sauce served on a bed of spaghetti squash, and the Crepe Suzette.

The blini was like a super moist lobster flavored corn muffin with a chunk of (steamed?) salmon in the center. It was good, but I tend to be a bit of a flavor hound. It might have been a bit too subtle for me, with no single flavor that stood out. I expected the walnut crust on the pork medaillons to be crunchy-toasty-nutty, but it was more of a puree or mousse. The pork was super moist and tender and the tarragon sauce (which was like an au jus) very nicely complemented it. The tart was wonderful - not overly sharp from the beautiful plump raspberries, not overly sweet, and the crust was not overly buttery. The portions were perfect.

My friend’s venison and spaghetti squash, though, was the stand out dish of the evening. The cabernet sauce was rich with the flavor of the meat, and I had no idea that spaghetti squash could be so good. I don’t know if they cooked it in the cabernet sauce or what, but it was amazing.