San Francisco’s Iconic Cioppino: A Seafood Delicacy Explored & Reviewed!

Join Dave from Dave & Kathy Unplugged as he dives into a steaming bowl of San Francisco’s iconic seafood stew at the legendary Cioppino’s on Fisherman’s Wharf!

In this mouthwatering adventure, we uncover the fascinating history of Cioppino, born in the late 1800s when Italian fishermen at Meiggs’ Wharf shouted “Chip In!” to share their daily catch, creating a hearty tomato-based dish packed with Dungeness crab, shrimp, clams, and more. Learn how this Genoese-inspired stew got its name—possibly from “ciuppin,” a Ligurian soup, or the communal call to contribute!

Discover why Cioppino’s pairs their world-famous stew with warm, garlicky sourdough bread, perfect for sopping up every drop of that rich, wine-kissed broth. We’ll also dish on the family behind Cioppino’s, fifth-generation San Franciscans led by Nick Hoppe, who chose the name not for their lineage but because it sizzles in neon lights and celebrates their signature dish. Watch Dave savor each bite, crossing his fingers that the stew’s subtle spice doesn’t set his taste buds ablaze!

Will he conquer the cioppino or cry for mercy? Hit play to find out, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and ring the bell for more unplugged foodie fun! #Cioppinos #SanFranciscoEats #foodies #DaveAndKathyUnplugged

Welcome to another episode of Dave and Kathy Unplugged, where tonight I’m going to be having dinner at Chapinos. Now, this Chapinos is not only the name of a restaurant, but it’s the name of a very special seafood dish that started a hundred years ago here in San Francisco. It’s kind of a San Francisco treat. You think riceeroni is San Francisco’s treat? I beg to differ. It’s chapinos. Basically, what would happen is all the fishermen would come off the their boats and they would stick all their fish or whatever they caught, fish, crabs, all different things, shrimp in a big pot, cook it up, put some some tomato sauce in there and a stew. There’s basically a fish soup. And I’m going to try it today. So, let’s get into this. I can’t wait. Sourdough bread as well. Garlic sourdough bread. If you like the dunk in the tomato sauce, this is where it happens. Let’s get into it. So, I’ve walked down to the other end of Fisherman’s Wararf because I’m hungry. And I’ve had read about this seafood stew that’s pretty famous here at Chapinos. I guess Chapino is famous for some kind of a broth-based seafood stew that I want to definitely check out and try. Um, it’s got a four out of five star rating, so it’s not like the best, but apparently it’s decent, especially for down here in Fisherman’s Wararf. It’s not just a cheesy tourist trap. So, I’m going to go in there, have me some dinner, and then uh I’ll let you know how the seafood stew is. Let’s check it out. All right. Well, here I am inside Chapino, and I’m actually going to sit at the bar. It’s a lively place. It’s It’s quite loud in here. Um and this bar looks pretty nice, and I just need to kind of grab a quick a quick dinner. They got a they got a baseball game going on over here. And they’ve got seating up on another level right behind me over here with these cool lights behind there, which is pretty cool. So, it’s a big place. It’s uh it’s not quiet in here, but I got to sit down, order me some chapos, if that’s how you say it. I got to ask them. I may be pronouncing it all wrong, but let’s see. Let’s sit down and have some dinner. Okay, so I have ordered the chapino, and I was saying it correctly. It’s uh it’s a bountiful seafood extravaganza of dungeonous crab legs, clams, muscles, snapper, calamari, and shrimp stewed in a savory tomato broth. I was told it’s not spicy, but I’ve been told that in the past. I can’t take spice. Well, boy, as you get to know me, spice and Dave, they don’t get along. Um, it’s a local classic. It’s served with garlic sourdough bread, and you can pay $6 more to have the crab out of the shell. And you know what? I’m spraying for it because I don’t have a much time and b I got nice clothes on and the bartender was like he’s like Dave you you got to get the you got to get it taken out of the shell. So that’s what I’m going to do. Um they have other things on the menu as well. Pastas. They got fish and chips, fried prawns, a fisherman’s platter. They got pizzas, garlic roasted crab sandwiches and sides and a huge drink order menu as well. Yeah. Look at this. It’s already come. I ordered this and you said 5 minutes and you weren’t lying. Look at this seafood soup. Oh man, I hope this isn’t spicy. Let’s get into this meal here. This looks delicious. So, you look at this. It’s got the garlic toast. And I would think that I need I need a spoon for this, but look at this. You got Oh, this is my kind of thing. Crab is already taken out. This looks delicious. I love the presentation as well. I would imagine it’s pretty fast for them to prepare this big big vat of it once a day. Dish it out. Put it in one of these. I like this presentation in this metal dish. That’s awesome. All right, it’s time to taste this Kurt Chappino. Here we go. We’re going We’re going in here. It looks really good. And it looks really wholesome, healthy. That’s delicious. That’s really good. I’m glad I walked down towards the other end of uh where all the tourist stuff is because this is worth the wait. And I’ll tell you, there’s so many restaurants that have gone out of business. This place has been around since only about 2000. My understanding is um you know many of the uh restaurants down here on Fisherman’s Wararf have been named after the families that start the restaurants, but um this restaurant was not. It’s just named after this signature dish right here. Um and so what this says here is that um you know many of Fisherman’s Wararf restaurants are named after the family that’s operated the establishment for generations. Uh it’s part of the charm of the Wararf. Some of the names that we’ve seen in the past have have gone away. Aliettos and some of the other names. Um but um you know and Chinos continues that tradition, but they wanted to name it after the family that started this. But um fifth generation San Francisco took great pride in both the city and the restaurant. The only difference between us and many other familyrun restaurants at Fisherman’s Wararf is that our family name is not Chapino. We would have used our family name, but we were forced to admit it simply didn’t look good lights. Didn’t look good in lights. So, they settled on Chapinos, which is what we do best. Chapino is a lusty lusty and flavorful seafood soup, which is uniquely San Francisco. San Francisco, sorry about that. The origin of both the dish and the name derived from the Italian fisherman in the early 1900s when fisherman’s wararf was still called Meg’s wararf. Someone would make the rounds of the mor fishing boats calling out for contributions to a common festive stew. One fisherman would toss a nice fat fish into the bucket. Another would drop in a succulent dungeonous crab. Another some herbs and vegetables. And the cry that prompted each contribution was chip in chip in. But coming from an Italian throat, this American slang had to end in a vowel and it was the in because in so chapin was born. It’s been a hundred years but the Italian fishermen are still here and so is chapino and which is our signature dish dish. Our chapino is so good we named our restaurant after it. So, that’s what I’m here for. Uh, I’ve been looking forward to trying this out. And, um, you know, there’s a whole big menu. There’s a lot of other things on the menu as well, but that’s the history of this uh, restaurant and the history of this dish. So, it’s time to dig in. All right. Now, I’m going to go for the dungeonous crab right now. Boy, is that good. It’s really, really good. Look at this nice piece of fish here. There’s a there’s a whole I don’t know if you can see this right here. Look at this. Look at this piece of fish. And man, is it hot. Now, it’s not spicy at all. They didn’t lie. And I’m very sensitive to spice. So, this is not spicy at all. I can’t wait to dunk the garlic bread and the sourdough bread in this. But this piece of fish right here, I’m probably going to This is going to be too big, but I’m going for it. Oh, baby. hot temperature- wise. What kind of fish is that? Let me see. Snapper. Snapper fish. So, there’s clams, there’s crab legs, muscles, calamari, shrimp stewed in the savory broth. You know what’s interesting is no lobster, right? So, we’re This is not Maine. This is This is California. No lobster in this dish, but I think it’s interesting how how the dish came to be. Sort of like a pop pirie uh of of whatever came off the the the fishing boats. That’s pretty cool. I like that. Oh boy, that is good. And it’s a good portion, too. It’s a big portion. What’s interesting is they don’t give you a They don’t give you a spoon. They give you a fork. I’m sure if I wanted a spoon, I could get one, man. Is that good? We got the muscles here. We’ve got Where is it? The clams. There’s a clam right there. So served in the actual dish is sourdough bread with garlic on it. And then when they bring the extra bread, that’s just regular sourdough with uh with butter right there. So, but man, when you dunk this and you let this dunk and munch Oh boy. What what you can see here is when you let the bread just soak in the juices, it becomes it becomes so amazingly soft, kind of falls apart. I think it’s I I think the bread ends up becoming seafood itself somehow through a transition. It’s so good. Amazing. So, I’m going fishing for more stuff in there. And I think I got all of it. I think I got what? Wait, wait. What do we have here? Oh, we’ve got something here. Oh, yeah. Look at that. One last piece of big fish. Oh, that is It is time. It is time. That was bread. I think I think my fishing expedition is over. It’s time for the Czech police. It’s time for me to head to the airport and say goodbye to Chapinos. I just had an amazing meal here in uh Fisherman’s Worth. It’s worth the walk towards the end of uh Jefferson Street here and uh the chapino. If you like seafood stew, I highly recommend this. It was really delicious and I did steal a little piece of sourdough bread. So anyway, thanks again everyone for watching another episode of Dave and Kathy Unplugged. This is the food tour continuing San Francisco. Take care now. Bye-bye. [Music]