The latest community list, circulating on r/sanfrancisco this May, drew the usual spirited pushback, but the notable move was the nomination of Cellarmaker — the SoMa brewery at 1150 Howard Street, operated by Tim Sciascia and Connor Casey — as a future addition. Cellarmaker built its name on California-focused craft beer, but its kitchen has developed a following for Detroit-style pies that regulars treat as a destination in themselves, not just bar food.
The brewery's pizza program didn't emerge from a formal dining concept. It grew out of a taproom that needed food worth staying for. That origin story — a bar kitchen that outpunches its category — is increasingly common in a city where standalone pizzerias carry enormous rent exposure and taprooms can absorb slower nights with beer margins.
What the Cellarmaker nomination signals isn't just that one more spot deserves a look. It's that the city's pizza conversation has gotten democratic enough to include places that don't bill themselves as pizza destinations first. The operators running serious pies out of brewery kitchens, counter-service windows, and weekend pop-ups are now part of the same discussion as the white-tablecloth wood-fired rooms.
For anyone building a list right now, SoMa and the Mission remain the densest clusters. But the borders are expanding.