Dalida

The story

Dalida, San Francisco: Eastern Mediterranean and Turkish Cooking in the Presidio

Dalida is a Mediterranean and Turkish restaurant at 101 Montgomery St. in San Francisco, listed as Michelin Recommended for 2026. It sits on the Main Post inside the Presidio, a National Park Site, and the menu draws on the flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Chef and cooking style

Executive Chef Laura Ozyilmaz was born in Mexico and trained at the Culinary Institute of America. Her résumé includes Café Boulud, Mugaritz, Eleven Madison Park, Del Posto and Saison. In 2017 she and her husband Sayat started the pop-up Istanbul Modern, and she later reached the final four of Top Chef season 21. The kitchen looks to Istanbul's mix of Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Arabic and Persian influences.

Sharing, vegetables and sourcing

Meals follow the principle of "little little in the middle," with mezes passed around the table. Menus are plant-forward, so a diner can eat entirely from the vegetable side. The team sources from nearby farms and candies the spent walnuts from its house nocino. Limes that have already been juiced go into stock, and the chefs grow some ingredients in a community garden fed by the restaurant's compost.

Wine and cocktails

Wine Spectator gave Dalida its Best of Award of Excellence in 2025. The list runs past four hundred bottles from small family wineries that farm with care and keep intervention low. Evan Williams directs the bar, where cocktails use spices, yogurt and preserved fruit alongside foraged Presidio aromatics such as eucalyptus, rose geranium and yerba buena.