San Francisco: Crowd control

Sure, we’ve got restaurants (Quince, Gary Danko) that book up as far out as a Lady Gaga show. But we’re not a city that cordons off its masses behind velvet ropes. It’s not hard to get an audience with Corey Lee and his sea urchin over risotto with black truffles, even though the man behind Benu last worked at French Laundry. How populist are our most crowded places? Two of the toughest tables (Flour + Water and Una Pizza Napoletana, pictured) are at restaurants that do pizza.

Score: 5