Z & Y Restaurant
Z & Y opened on Jackson Street in 2008 and the card ran past 150 dishes at Eater's last count. The house dish is explosive chicken. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the MICHELIN Guide California 2026 selection.
Why go
Má is the numbing buzz of the Sichuan peppercorn. Là is the burn of the chile. The Chronicle's restaurant critics, MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, write that the má is here to complement the là. They also report that the kitchen makes concessions for anyone who does not want the full heat. So a mixed table works.3 The MICHELIN inspector calls the dining room well worn and the service laid-back. He adds that the cooking can be relied upon to hit its mark.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the explosive chicken.
- Order: the mapo tofu, or a clay pot under spicy shrimp.
- Avoid: driving. The MICHELIN inspector calls parking in the neighborhood a tall order.
What locals & experts say
- The MICHELIN Guide California inspector, on the whole card:
Nearly every dish is crowned with chilies, from the huge mound of dried peppers that are tossed with tender, garlicky bites of fried chicken, to the toasty chili oil anointing slippery bean jelly noodles, buzzing with Sichuan peppercorn.
1 - MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, August 2025, on the chile-oil fish:
Somewhere in the bubbling cauldron before you, under that layer of chiles, is fish.
3
Good to know
- Closed: Tuesday. Lunch and dinner the rest of the week.
- The other door: Z&Y Peking Duck at 606 Jackson Street is a separate restaurant from the same team, and it takes its own bookings.
- Where: 655 Jackson Street, between Grant and Kearny.
Verdict
should-visit — Go with four and let one person order for the whole table. This is the Chinatown room to bring anyone who thinks they like chiles.