Restaurants in Hillsborough

Sink into soft cushions beneath honeycomb chandeliers as you slip into the Sunday morning feastival. Menu selections include a prawn salad with chicories and tangerines ($15) or house-made brioche french toast with spiced apples and maple syrup fraiche ($11). Well past noon, gingerly ease into the day as you would with a too-warm hot tub with a sparkling pinot noir ($5) and goat cheese semifreddo with melon granite and peppercorn meringue ($9). Nectar Wine Lounge carries more than 600 bottles of wine, along with standard brunch sips such as mimosas ($7). Eating, sipping, and socializing all take place within a cozy, coolly lit lounge atmosphere with a drizzling of natural light from an overhead skylight.

At La Costanera, Peruvian-born Chef Carlos Altamirano adds contemporary twists to traditional South American dishes that earned the restaurant a 2012 Michelin Star. A variety of ceviches whet appetites amidst a dining room that the San Francisco Chronicle called "breathtaking by day and almost mystical at night," filled with the soft sound of the surf. Free-range chicken and slow-cooked pork shoulder thrive beneath what a reviewer for the Pacifica Tribune applauds as "dramatic presentation.” Imported Peruvian beers and pisco cocktails clink to toast potatoes reclaiming exoticness by arriving in shades of purple and green, and even simple favorites take on the gleeful elegance of a solid-teak waterslide with the aid of truffle oil or saffron. La Costanera’s 10,000-square-foot space opens onto an open-air patio and glass-enclosed rooms. Windowpanes soaring from floor to ceiling arch high overhead, admitting cascades of sunlight as diners gaze out and give each rolling wave a name and backstory.

Every day, San Francisco Soup Company’s chefs craft 12 soups from scratch. Soups showcase organic and locally sourced ingredients such as cage-free eggs from Glaum Egg Ranch and organic milk from Clover Stornetta, and cast tendrils of steam from biodegradable containers. San Francisco Soup Company’s commitment to conscious dining extends to the nutritional realms: each recipe comes with nutrition stats, and the menu even designates which soups are gluten-, meat- and dairy-free, and which soup spoons best shield noses from affectionate pinches.

Visitors to Tortellini Originali Pasta Company can watch through the kitchen's window wall as cooks fill and fold each piece of pasta by hand, ensuring the freshness of its Italian-inspired dishes. Though the menu might be brief, each dish is crafted to order and packed with savory flavors. Fresh ravioli swell with fillings made with italian sausage, lobster, or duck, enveloped by pasta dough infused with paprika or red or black pepper. A trio of sandwiches ensconce housemade morsels, from the special recipe meatballs to tomato and garlic spreads.

Those who want to take their feast to go can order pasta by the pound at the counter, where a spread of salads and meats wait under glass. Nearby blond wood shelves are lined with imported goods, including olive oil, jarred garlic and capers, and the mozzarella-coated seeds from which pizzas are sprouted.

Marqs' modest menu of globally influenced plates offers small plates such as oyster shooters with tropical salsa ($7), filet wellington rolls in a truffle mushroom sauce ($15), and seared scallops with crispy pancetta and saffron risotto ($10). Entrees include pasta surf and turf with filet mignon, sautéed mushrooms, and lobster macaroni ($33). Marqs' chicken potpies, which are made in-house, are pillowy bites of steamy comfort ($14). In addition to getting you a complimentary glass of house wine or a draft beer, this Groupon can be used toward drinks at Marqs' full-service bar (though you must purchase at least one food item).

Crafting each plate from organic ingredients and local produce, Red Lantern's chefs whip up a parade of palate-pleasing dishes from Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian nations for lunch and dinner. Start with a porcine offering of adobong pinoy, adobo-sauce draped pork short ribs ($11), or slurp a bowl of aromatic soto kudus, chicken soup with tofu and a one-two punch of fresh bean sprouts and chilies ($7). A full fleet of regional wines accentuate meticulously designed plates such as pepes udang, a helping of sambal-chili and coconut-milk marinated prawns wrapped in banana leaf ($20), as well as the cambogee beef, wok-tossed cubes of beef tenderloin flavored with a Thai trifecta of lemongrass, galangal, and lime ($24). The martabak unites a Singaporean griddlecake with long-lost twins of spiced lamb and mango chutney ($10), while humans of the vegetarian persuasion can happily feast upon dishes such as the adobo eggplant tossed in a wok with garlic and lemongrass ($8).