Many classic English foods, stereotypically, leave much to be desired. Mushy peas? I ate earlier, no thank you. Black pudding? It lacks the forceful spicing of Mexican or Korean blood sausages. Jellied eels? I’m leaving.
Yet Dingles Public House, the new English restaurant inside the Inn at the Opera in Hayes Valley, makes classic British food worth craving. Opened in November, Dingles is the first restaurant by couple Anissa and George Dingles, who met while working at Corey Lee’s now-shuttered Monsieur Benjamin in the city.
San Francisco has the Pig and Whistle pub and more upscale Cavalier, but English establishments remain a relative novelty. At Dingles, tables are fully booked nightly, while wait times for a bar walk-in can climb up to an hour. Part of a wider gastronomic British invasion, its immediate popularity suggests that right now diners desire comforting simplicity on the plate and warm diligence in hospitality…