If you think pumpkins are just for carving, you don't know Jack O'Lantern about these delicious gourds. Here's a few ways to enjoy pumpkin and winter squashes in and around San Francisco right now.

• The Afghan dish borani kadoo (or kaddu) is a sweet-sour preparation with tangy yogurt, with or without ground beef. Try it at Helmand Palace.
• Burma Superstar features a pumpkin pork stew—technically kabocha squash, which is even better—with a kick of ginger.
• Jitlada Thai's vegetarian "Autumn Delight" pairs organic pumpkin with shiitake mushrooms and cashews in their special sauce.
• The crisp-fried pumpkin strips with salted egg yolk at Hakka Restaurant are not to be missed.
• Glen Park pizza star Gialina sports butternut squash on their zucca pie, along with ricotta salata, sage and brown butter.
• Delfina's rocking the squash in a risotto with creamy fontina val d'aosta and sage.
• Want to bring the flavors of fall in Italy home? Lucca Ravioli's seasonal pumpkin ravioli is a San Francisco classic.
• Wash that down with a pint of 21st Amendment's He Said Belgian-style tripel, brewed with pumpkin and spices.
• Another San Francisco classic, Mitchell's Ice Cream rolls out a pumpkin flavor every year, to much acclaim.
• And for the month of October, modernist ice cream maker Smitten has a Maple Brown Sugar Squash flavor, made on the spot with dry ice.