The much acclaimed Rose Pizzeria, a favorite of both the SF Chronicle and the New York Times as well as SFist, has just debuted its much anticipated second location in SF's Richmond District. Let the jockeying for reservations begin!

They've yet to serve their first pizza, to the general public anyway, at the new Rose Pizzeria at 1 Clement Street, and already there is not a single table available to reserve in the next month. Such is the passion for pizza in San Francisco and such is the buzz around this opening, which we've known was coming since a little over a year ago.

This second location of the successful Berkeley operation arrives today in the Inner Richmond's former Village Pizzeria at Clement and Arguello, and will reportedly have a slightly expanded menu compared to the tiny Berkeley flagship.

As the Chronicle tells us, the much larger kitchen at the new location will allow for customizable pies for the first time, with diners able to add things like mushrooms, sausage, pepperoni or pickled chiles to the plain cheese pizza.

Rose Pizzeria is known for its delicious topping combos, however, like the She Wolf pie with burrata, slow-roasted tomato, garlic confit, olives, capers, and Sicilian oregano; and the Old Faithful, with fennel sausage, goat horn peppers, mozzarella, and red onion.

The 14-inch pies are described on the menu as "West Coast style," and by that they mean well crisped, fairly thin, with a flavorful sourdough crust.

And new to the SF location will be even thinner, Roman-style pizzas, tonda Romana, with five topping options — including a riff on spaghetti alla Norma, with eggplant, tomato, mozz, capers, olives, ricotta salata, mint, and a sweet-and-sour agrodolce drizzle. There is also a potentially controversial take on a Hawaiian pizza, called the Beach Club, featuring mortadella.

There are also meatballs on the menu, along with some favorite starters from the Berkeley menu like baked feta, Rancho Gordo beans in broth, and miso-rich Spicy Caesar salad.

Wines lean toward Italian varietals and funky naturals, including a section devoted to "White Orange Pink."

Rose Pizzeria enjoyed a major bump in business in the summer of 2024, after the New York Times included it on a list titled "22 of the Best Pizza Places in the United States." The place had already enjoyed a Chronicle rave review one year earlier, and it remains highly ranked on the paper's Top 100 Restaurants.

The SF location has some walk-in seating, both on the unheated sidewalk and at the counter inside, so expect some waits for those seats in the coming months, and perhaps some lines. Otherwise, it appears reservations will be appearing on Resy one month out — maybe one day at a time? Check back on the app. There currently aren't any available tables showing through May 26.

Do note: They are open for lunch as well.

Rose Pizzeria - 1 Clement Street (at Arguello) - Open Mon-Sun 11:30 am to 9:15 pm (ish) - reserve here

• Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said federal agents shot another protester Saturday morning in Minneapolis, but no further information was given. [CBS]
• John Brodie, the legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback who played a record-breaking 17 seasons from 1957 to 1973 and led the team to its first NFC West titles in a 1970–73 three-peat, died Friday at age 90. [Bay Area News Group]
• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted an image on X Thursday that had been manipulated to make it look like Minnesota protester Nekima Levy Armstrong was crying as she was being arrested. [NBC News]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

The pizza empire of SF's Flour + Water is growing again this week, with the first location of Flour + Water Pizza Shop debuting in Oakland, near Lake Merritt.

Flour + Water Hospitality Group, which began with the Mission District pasta and pizza mecca Flour + Water nearly two decades ago, continues to expand its standalone pizza business. Last year we saw the opening of the first satellite Flour + Water Pizza Shop at Mission Rock, growing out of the Flour + Water Pizzeria in North Beach.

And this week, they expand across the Bay to 269 24th Street with a new Flour + Water Pizza Shop, which opens Thursday, January 22. The space, at the corner of 24th and Harrison, is in the base of the Lark Uptown apartments, at the northwest end of Lake Merritt.

The 2,000-square-foot space features a 14-seat communal table and 19 counter seats along the exterior windows. And sidewalk seating will be available as well.

Like at the Mission Rock outpost, the Oakland location will get its dough from the North Beach flagship — dough made from organic grains from Central Milling. The dough gets a poolish pre-ferment, and then gets multiple days of cold fermentation for superior flavor.

And, like at Mission Rock, the new location will also get a few items exclusive to its menu, including some dry-fried chicken wings seasoned with Oakland Spice Co.'s Grand Lake Shake spice blend. In addition to pizza and wings, the menu includes mozzarella sticks, ricotta meatballs, and a chop salad.

To drink, there will be the "Dough Boy" house Kölsch made by Oakland's own Temescal Brewing, and there's a new Lambrusco Slushie, a frozen riff on Italy's chilled sparkling red wine.

Hours at the Oakland location will be 11:30am to 10pm, Sunday to Thursday; and  11:30am to 11pm on Fri and Sat.

More Flour + Water Pizza Shops are expected to pop up in other locations in San Francisco, allowing for quick and easy takeout and delivery for various neighborhoods.

An acclaimed Berkeley pizza spot is expanding to San Francisco, the Lord Stanley team is shifting its focus to Dogpatch, and St. Helena is getting a fancy new (museum) restaurant, all in This Week in Food.

The big pizza news that arrived Thursday is that acclaimed Berkeley spot Rose Pizzeria is expanding with a San Francisco location — and this is excellent news for pizza fiends indeed. As the Chronicle tells us, a second Rose Pizzeria will be debuting in the former Village Pizzeria location at 1 Clement Street in the Inner Richmond. The space has a fairly small, 700-square-foot dining room, and there will also be sidewalk seating and a to-go window. No opening date is set. ICYMI, Rose Pizzeria was among a group of New York Times "best" picks from around the country last year, and is in fact one of the best pizza spots in the Bay, full stop.

There's also some big news from the husband-and-wife team behind the about-to-close Lord Stanley in Polk Gulch, and that's a new restaurant project in the former Serpentine space (2495 3rd Street) in Dogpatch. As Tablehopper tells us, Rupert and Carrie Blease are partnering with Tommy Halvorson of The Fire Society, which runs catering brands Radish and Foxtail Catering, as well as Halvorson's longtime pop-up Phoenix Supper Club. Lord Stanley's wine director Louisa Smith will be involved as well, and there will also be a full bar and cocktail program, but the name and other details are still TBA. They're aiming to open this summer or fall.

In other pizza news, following the announcement about Jules opening in the Lower Haight next week, reservations went live on Tuesday and disappeared quickly. But you can keep trying 14 days out on Resy — and note that the full menu is now up here. Mmm nori guanciale pull-apart buns!

Louisiana-born gas station chicken go-to Krispy Krunchy Chicken is opening a second Mission District location, and get this — it's not in a gas station! Mission Local reported this week that a stand-alone Krispy Krunchy Chicken has opened just behind the 24th and Mission BART Station, at Osage and 24th. This means, for those who know and love Krispy Krunchy, you can now get the good stuff at South Van Ness and 17th (inside the gas station market), or at 24th.

And Tablehopper also reports on the new tenants at SFJAZZ's restaurant space in Hayes Valley, B-Side, and that is Pacifico, from Colombian husband and wife Daniel Morales Vallejo and Laura Gelvez. Dishes will include favorites from their Pacifico pop-up, including halibut ceviche and vegan ceviche (Morales Vallejo worked in the kitchen at La Mar), as well as Latin American fare like steak frites with chimichurri and anticuchera sauce.

A new restaurant opens in St. Helena on May 26 called Under-study, and it's the new museum cafe/restaurant at the newly open Napa Valley Museum of Arts & Culture, or the MAC. As the Chronicle reports, it's being run by the team at Michelin-starred Press, including chef-partner Philip Tessier and Chef de Cuisine Lyn Wells. The menu includes enticing pastry items and breakfast dishes like beef fat hashbrowns and a Dungeness crab omelette, and on the daytime menu, there are things like a lobster corndog topped with caviar, various charcuterie, and a fried chicken sandwich. There's also a three-course "Julia's menu" to coincide with the museum's exhibit on Julia Child, featuring green asparagus vol-au-vent, and a roast chicken with morel mushroom sauce.

And there's still no new restaurant review at the Chronicle, but critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan shared in her newsletter that she loved a shaved fennel and endive  salad with radishes and feta at Piccino Presidio even more than the corn pizza and other delights. And Associate Critic Cesar Hernandez sings the praises of the dolsot bibimbap (sizzling rice bowls) at new San Leandro Korean restaurant Vivid Bibim.

Top image: The Spicy Ronny at Jules, via Instagram

We finally have an opening date for Jules, after a bit of delay, in the former Iza Ramen space in the Lower Haight.

The hype is real is around Jules, and with good reason. Chef and expert dough man Max Blachman-Gentile has been perfecting his pizza skills after years in the kitchens of Tartine Bakery and Roberta's in Brooklyn, and the result is something that feels particularly unique, light, crispy, and layered with flavor from the base sauces to the extra sprinkles and drizzles on top — and he's got great taste when it comes to toppings, salads, and side dishes to boot.

Jules' pop-ups, which were happening regularly last year at Buddy, the Mission wine bar, and Loquat Bakery, were hot tickets and frequently sold out quick. But finally there will be a five- (or more?) night-a-week pizza place where you can find Blachman-Gentile's pizza in the Lower Haight, at 237 Fillmore Street — and a big, gas-powered, deck oven replaces the counter-top propane ovens that the pop-up was using, which Blachman-Gentile says he's been looking forward to for a long time, both for reasons of volume and control.

SFist first reported on the brick-and-mortar Jules in September, and after a plan to open in March was pushed to April, in typical SF fashion, the opening date is now May 20, with some final inspections still pending. Reservations will go online on Resy starting May 13.

The pizza menu will be anchored by Jules' spin on the margherita, The Marone ($21), a cheese pie topped with four cheeses: house-made fresh mozzarella, low-moisture mozz, caciocavallo, and pecorino Toscano. Another favorite, the white mushroom pie, the Fun Guy ($25), is an intensely mushroom-y creation featuring a mushroom cream sauce as a base, topped with roasted maitake and honshimeji mushrooms, red onion, four cheeses including Hornkuhkäse from Switzerland, and a tamarind-black garlic drizzle. And there will be the favorite meat pie of the pop-up, the Spicy Ronny ($24), Blachman-Gentile's decidedly spicy take on a pepperoni pie with big hunks of Calabrian chile on top.

Come summer, we can expect the return of the Field Dream pie, topped with corn cream, roasted corn, sungold tomatoes, and serrano-Thai basil pesto; and other seasonal creations like the Curse of the Golden Flower, a squash-blossom pizza with confit garlic cream, extra-thin slices of summer squash, and a drizzle of Old Bay Caesar dressing.

There will also be sides and starters on the menu like well-dressed crudos; charred arrowhead cabbage with Calabrian chile butter, pumpkin seed gremolata, and shaved bottarga; and lamb-and-beef meatballs. And here's hoping for the return of his spin on a chopped salad with butter beans, pepperoncini, and Bulgarian feta.

We can expect the menu at Jules to evolve and change fairly regularly, inspired by farmers' market finds, much like the pop-up was. One spring pie that Blachman-Gentile made last year, the Ramson Gets Me Lifted, featured fresh ramps, guanciale, and vodka sauce, as an example.

In addition to pizza, there will be roast chicken on the menu, served with an oregano white wine jus, blistered snap peas, and braised butter bean mash.

And to drink, there will be beer and wine as well as soju — Blachman-Gentile brought his pizza pop-up to Seoul last year, and got inspired.

He tells the Chronicle this week that the name Jules comes — as so many restaurant names do — from his grandmother Julia, who was called Jules, and who taught his mother how to cook and, in turn, him. And, the Oakland native proudly posted the Chronicle article to Instagram Wednesday morning, saying, "Look, Ma! We're in the paper I grew up reading!"

Jules - 237 Fillmore Street near Haight - Opening May 20th

Previously: San Francisco’s Best New Pizza Is Coming From a Pop-Up, But Maybe Not for Long

The new outpost of Flour + Water Pizzeria, and the first of what are planned to be several satellite Flour + Water Pizza Shops in the city, is opening next Monday at the new Mission Rock development.

The new Flour + Water Pizza Shop opens April 14 next to China Basin Park at 1090 Dr. Maya Angelou Lane. As was reported when the shop was first announced last fall, this 1,800-square-foot pizza outpost will get its dough each day from the flagship Flour + Water Pizzeria in North Beach, and unlike the larger restaurant this will be a quick-service pizzeria with a focus more on takeout and delivery.

A dedicated takeout window situated on Toni Stone Crossing Lane will be the pickup spot for pre-orders, and inside the shop there will be self-service kiosks for fast ordering. And there is some limited seating for dining in.

A release describes the floor-to-ceiling glass-walled kitchen facing the street at the new shop, where "those passing by [can] watch the Shop’s pizzamakers stretching and topping dough."

The 13-inch pies will all be baked in high-powered PizzaMaster electric deck ovens, and come in an array of flavors like those at the main restaurant. And, like Flour + Water Pizzeria began doing back when they had their Valencia Street restaurant, they'll be selling a daily rotating "Big Slice" here for dine-in or takeout. See the full menu here.

Situated across McCovey Cove from Oracle Park, this opening coincides with the start of baseball season, and at least one new menu item is geared toward Giants fans on game days: garlic fries with cacio e pepe dipping sauce — which are sure to be superior than the famed garlic fries in the stadium. Also on the menu, besides the Chop Salad from the Pizzeria, are hand-rolled mozzarella sticks, Calabrian chicken wings with housemade ranch, and ricotta meatballs.

On the beverage menu there is beer, primarily local wine, a boozy slushie, and a "Cheers to the Home team" shot of Don Julio tequila. The beer list includes a collaboration with Oakland's Temescal Brewing, a house Kolsch called Dough Boy.

And, for dessert, there is Double8 Dairy soft-service ice cream, in both fior di latte and salted caramel flavors, with a choice of toppings that include chocolate cookie crumb and brown butter cereal crunch.

The plan is to open more Flour + Water Pizza Shops in order to make takeout and delivery easier for fans in multiple neighborhoods around the city.

Hours at the new shop will be 11:30 am to 9 pm daily.

Flour + Water Pizza Shop - 1090 Dr. Maya Angelou Lane - Opening April 14

It's time to enjoy some Che Fico pizzas over at the Chase Center — and while Miller and Lux may have some draw for the upscale steakhouse thing, the opening of Che Fico Pizzeria might mark the first standalone reason for people to go Thrive City when they aren't going to a concert or a game.

Che Fico Pizzeria opened Wednesday night at Chase Center's Thrive City, filling in a long unfilled gap in the spaces along the plaza outside the venue. The pizzeria takes over the space along the Terry Francois Boulevard side of the plaza, with a large covered patio overlooking the Bay. (Too bad they opened this week and not during the heatwave!)

While the original Che Fico location on Divisadero, and the arguably even splashier Che Fico Parco Menlo that opened earlier this year, offer a full menu of Italian antipasti, salads, pasta, pizza, and entrees, the new pizzeria focuses things on pizza, but there are some other options.

"We always knew that a pizzeria would be forthcoming — we just had no idea what it would look like, where it would be, and how it would go," says chef and owner David Nayfeld, speaking to Eater.

There are five salads on the menu — chopped, Caesar, Greek, heirloom tomato, and a bomba shrimp salad — and some starters like rosemary-garlic potato chips, wings, calamari, and suppli, which are basically smaller arancini, or risotto croquettes stuffed with cheese.

There are also four sandwich options on offer, to please potential lunch crowds at surrounding offices (like OpenAI and Uber): chicken parm; a chicken cutlet sub with provolone, pesto, marinated artichokes, pepperoncini, and pickled onions; a New Orleans-style muffuletta; and a traditional Italian sub.

As for pizzas, the opening menu features a margherita and a cheeseless red pie (which is vegan); a cheese pie with vodka sauce; a rapini white pie with fontina and ricotta cheeses; a standard pepperoni pie; a sausage, mushroom, and pepperoni pie;  a sausage and mushroom pie; a pineapple and Calabrian chili pie; and a four-cheese white pie with Calabrian chili and chili honey.

The pizzas will be larger at Che Fico Pizzeria — at the original location they are 12-inch pies, here there will be 14- and 20-inch options.

And Nayfeld acknowledges that this is a big step, given that pizza was "the thing I struggled with the most" in opening Che Fico — and the Chronicle went after that this week, noting how many complaints there were about burnt pizzas when Che Fico first opened. But Nayfeld detailed how they've gotten the dough making and everything else down to a science now, regularly checking the pH level of their sourdough starter, and making it all in a temperature-controlled, dedicated room.

The new spot also features a full cocktail bar, with a concise list of house cocktails: a Negroni, a Manhattan, a Mai Tai, and a tequila smash with mint, lime, juniper, and Douglas fir eau de vie called the Northern Califoolya Smash. And there are ample beer, wine, and non-alcoholic options.

For dessert, there is soft-serve which looks to be rotating, flavor-wise. The opening options are strawberry gelato and coconut lime sorbet, with a swirl option as well.

As we learned today, as of early next year, Che Fico Pizzeria will have some big-name pizza competition a few blocks away in the form of Flour + Water Pizza Shop — but the latter will be a more quick-service operation, not a sit-down, dinner-and-drinks experience.

Che Fico Pizzeria is open for dinner only, to start, 5 pm to 9 pm Tuesday through Friday, and 4 pm to 9 pm Saturday and Sunday, with Monday hours being added soon. Also, lunch will be forthcoming, served from 11 am to 2 pm, Monday to Friday.

Among the food options at the new complex of buildings at Mission Rock will be the first standalone, quick-service pizza shop from Flour + Water, outside of its recently opened flagship location in North Beach.

Flour + Water Pizza Shop is now slated to open early next year in an 1,800-square-foot corner space at 1090 Dr. Maya Angelou Lane, also known as Building B in the larger, four-building Mission Rock complex. The building's ground-level retail spaces are already home to a location of Ike's Love & Sandwiches, along the Third Street side, and LuxFit gym, with several smaller spaces still to be leased.

After opening the flagship, sitdown pizzeria in North Beach last year, Flour + Water Hospitality Group said that they had plans to open multiple satellite, quick-service pizza shops around the city — allowing for both a wider delivery footprint, and the ability to deliver pizza faster and hotter to neighborhoods around the city.

Now we have the first of these coming to Mission Rock, where the team says they will be cooking made-to-order pizza using dough made daily in the North Beach location's dough room.

"Our vision for the Pizza Shop is to bring our pizza and hospitality-driven approach to new neighborhoods where we can make a positive impact," says Thomas McNaughton, co-chef and co-founder of Flour + Water Hospitality Group, in a statement. "We look forward to serving and contributing to this dynamic Mission Rock community."

In addition to pizza, the new location will feature salads and antipasti items, as well as other popular dishes from the flagship location including hand-rolled mozzarella sticks and Calabrian chicken wings.

The new Flour + Water Pizza Shop is the latest addition to the food-and-drink array that has been taking shape at Mission Rock over the last year. Still to open, and apparently opening within weeks, is a new location of croissant specialist Arsicault Bakery — in the base of the Verde apartment tower designed by Studio Gang, who also designed SoMa's Mira tower. That building just officially opened last month.

Also coming to other buildings in the complex is a standalone location of Trick Dog's quick-service food concept Quik Dog, as well as a still-unnamed, full-service restaurant from the Che Fico team, which they've said will not be Italian. (Che Fico, just this week, opened a new Che Fico Pizzeria at the Chase Center's Thrive City, four blocks away.) One 2,700-square-foot, full-service restuarant space facing China Basin Park remains to be filled.

"Flour + Water Hospitality Group is a beloved San Francisco institution and its Pizza Shop is the perfect restaurant to occupy this prime location within Mission Rock," says Tishman Speyer Managing Director Maggie Kadin in a statement. "We are thrilled to add yet another exciting offering for the neighborhood’s growing community of residents, workers and visitors."

Flour + Water opened its original Mission District restaurant to immediate acclaim in 2009. Since then, it has expanded into a restaurant group that includes Penny Roma up the street from the original, Flour + Water Pasta Shop, and they are a partner in next-door cocktail spot Trick Dog.

An ownership split meant that the originally opened Flour + Water Pizzeria at 18th and Valencia, which debuted in 2019, became Yellow Moto Pizzeria in 2022, and the restaurant group set its sights on a new flagship in the former Rose Pistola space in North Beach. Flour + Water Pizzeria made its second debut last summer.

The Mission Rock development occupies what was formerly the Giants-owned parking lot, across McCovey Cove from Oracle Park. The Giants organization began planning to develop the property 15 years ago, and partnered with developer Tishman Speyer to come up with the final concept, which features four distinct buildings designed by different architectural firms, and a mix of office, laboratory, retail, and residential uses, along with the newly opened China Basin Park.

The first residents moved into the residential portion of The Canyon, one of two residential buildings, in June 2023.

Related: Che Fico to Open New, Unnamed Restaurant In Mission Rock Development

It's official: Buzzy pop-up Jules has secured a brick-and-mortar location, in the Lower Haight, and by mid-winter you should be seeing crowds gathering near Haight and Fillmore for their excellent New York-meets-California pies.

What could become SF's hottest new pizza destination is now taking shape, and we know where it will be for the long-term, serving up excellent, crisp-crusted pizzas and inspired seasonal side dishes.

SFist had gathered from chef and owner Max Blachman-Gentile, when we spoke to him in July, that this brick-and-mortar location was in the works. And now it is official: Jules will be taking over the former Iza Ramen space at 237 Fillmore Street. (Iza Ramen closed its doors in May.)

WhatNowSF was the first with the news, and SFGate spoke to Blachman-Gentile today about the big move.

"The pop-ups have been great and very successful for us, but I am really excited to be in my own space and just do a lot more with the menu," Blachman-Gentile tells SFGate.

He previously told SFist that while he's had success in putting out great pizza from a set of portable, countertop gas ovens — which he hauls along to the various pop-up locations where Jules has made regular appearances the last year or so, including Buddy the wine bar and Loquat Bakery — he was looking forward to having a proper pizza oven.

"Honestly I'd prefer to be cooking at a lower temperature and [the countertop models aren't] really perfect," Blachman-Gentile said. "I'm very excited for a deck oven in a real space."

And the chef says that he'll be retaining the open-kitchen design and wood-paneled walls in the former Iza space.

Blachman-Gentile culinary background includes a stint at Tartine Bakery, and he worked at famed New York pizza spot Roberta's — which he says is where he gained his love and respect for the pizza arts. And he tells SFGate, "In the last two years I decided pizza was the best option for me [as a business], partly because I love it and I can eat pizza every day."

Blachman-Gentile launched Jules as a pop-up in July 2023, and he hasn't looked back since. And besides SFist, multiple other publications around town have been raving about the quality of the pizza for months.

The chef is promising a menu with a rotating selection of six pizzas — which will likely always include his popular pepperoni pie, the Spicy Ronny, as well as some more unusual and seasonal pies, like the red-topped Drunken Sailor, with wine-infused tomato sauce, anchovies, and capers (and optional mozzarella). Summertime selections have included the Field Dream, a corn and fresh tomato pie with a corn pudding base and dollops of Thai basil pesto; and the Curse of the Golden Flower, a squash-blossom pizza with confit garlic cream, thin slices of summer squash, and a Caesar-like dressing with Old Bay seasoning.

Additionally, the restaurant will feature seasonal starters and salads, along with entree options like chicken parm, and roasted whole fish. He tells SFGate that he's also hoping to feature weekly submarine sandwich specials on fresh Italian loaves.

Jules is aiming for a February 2025 opening in the Fillmore Street space, and until them you can still book tables for pop-ups — follow Jules on Instagram for the latest schedule.

Previously: San Francisco’s Best New Pizza Is Coming From a Pop-Up, But Maybe Not for Long

The buzz around Jules, a pizza pop-up from a former Tartine baker and self-described "dough nerd," has been growing for months, and I can confirm it's not all hype.

San Francisco has been blessed with a wealth of terrific pizza in the last decade and a half — particularly of the well-blistered, wood-fired variety, but also, more recently, of the burnt-cheese-crusted, Detroit variety. Still, none of these has risen to the level of Jules, a pop-up from Tartine alum Max Blachman-Gentile, where the combination of flavorful, yeasty, perfectly crisped crust and stellar topping combinations make for memorably delicious pies every time.

Jules remains a pop-up, making regular appearances on certain Tuesdays and Sundays at Mission District wine bar Buddy, and elsewhere — recent pop-ups have been at Bimbo’s 365 club and Loquat Bakery. But it's already caught the attention of local foodinistas and pizza aficionados, not only for that excellent dough and ever-changing menu, but for the care and taste that has clearly gone into the salads and small plates as well.

One memorable starter from recent months was a spin on an Italian chopped salad, featuring Iacopi Farms butter beans, chopped iceberg lettuce, Bulgarian feta, pepperoncini, and mortadella with Italian dressing.

While people who order it have loved the salad, Blachman-Gentile laments that it hasn't been a huge seller. "I think people have a weird thing with beans, which is sad for me because I love them so much," he says.

A white pie in the current rotation, for example, the Field Dream, is an ultimate ode to summer, featuring a corn pudding base, fresh sweet corn, mozzarella, perfectly blistered cherry tomatoes, dollops of Thai basil pesto, and Makrut lime shrimp dust.

Another summer selection is the Curse of the Golden Flower (did I mention the whimsical pizza names?), a squash-blossom pizza with confit garlic cream, thin slices of summer squash, and an anchovy-Old Bay hollandaise that you could easily mistake for Caesar dressing.

One pizza that Blachman-Gentile says will most certainly be in the regular rotation once the brick-and-mortar shop opens is the Spicy Ronny — a celebration of pepperoni with ajika chile flake and Calabrian chiles, and both mozzarella and caciocavalla cheese.

The name references 'roni cups, but Blachman-Gentile says, "I honestly kept thinking about Ronny from The Jersey Shore when I first made that pizza because he was so beefy and it has a ton of pepperoni on it so I figured it was something he would like."

Don't miss out on the house-made tarragon ranch for dipping — a sauce that's like if ranch dressing and green goddess had a baby.

A simpler but equally fantastic pizza that will be on the regular menu but only makes occasional pop-up appearances is the Drunken Sailor — a red pie that you can have topped with some optional mozzarella, featuring a white-wine-rich tomato sauce, anchovies, and capers.

All these pizzas are coming out of five small, propane-burning, counter-top ovens, which produce top-notch pies every time in the hands of the Jules team.

"Honestly I'd prefer to be cooking at a lower temperature and [the countertop models aren't] really perfect," Blachman-Gentile says. "I'm very excited for a deck oven in a real space."

Seriously, though, we need to talk about the dough. The secret to the crisp, shattering crust that stays crisp all the way to the center, and the delicious flavor, is the result of many months of experimentation — and not opting for straight-up sourdough.

"I've tweaked the dough a lot over the last year, but I'm really happy with where it's at right now," Blachman-Gentile tells SFist. "With that said, I look forward to being in one consistent location since that makes managing the fermentation a lot easier."

Calling himself a "total dough nerd," he explains that it contains a mix of two flours from Cairnspring Mills, a mill based in the Skagit Valley in Washington state that uses grain exclusively from farmers using regenerative farming practices. The mix brings a higher percentage of whole grain into the flour than your average pizza dough.

And fermentation with just sourdough starter tends to have a "leathery" result, Blachman-Gentile notes, so he's mixed it up. "I use a mix of a sourdough starter (levain), another type of starter that uses commercial yeast (poolish), and a very small amount of straight commercial yeast as well. I've landed on this because each of the three contribute their own properties I really like that help to give the dough the flavor I want."

And the crispness, he says, along with the sweet, yeasty flavor of a New York pie, come from the poolish.

While Blachman-Gentile says he can't reveal the brick-and-mortar location just yet, there's one he's "very hopeful" about getting.

Follow Jules on Instagram for their next pop-up appearances. Reservations are more than recommended at this point, via Resy, and note that Jules will be at Buddy the next four Sundays (7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/25), and at Loquat Bakery for three Fridays in August (8/2, 8/9, and 8/23).

Popular Detroit-style pizza outfit Joyride Pizza is expanding once again, and will be opening a new location soon right next to San Francisco's Ferry Building.

Joyride Pizza, which only opened its first location in San Francisco three years ago, is getting set to open its seventh location at Pier 1 — in what was formerly what co-owner Jesse Jacobs calls "the Starbucks with the best view in San Francisco."

The space is across a plaza from Gott's in the Ferry Building, and next door La Mar, and it will be an all-day location serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as Eater reports today.

"This is an iconic San Francisco building," says Jacobs, speaking to Eater. "Now we get to continue that history fueling folks in the Bay."

In the mornings, there will be breakfast pizzas, as well as bacon and eggs and Andytown Coffee. And then the all-day menu will serve Joyride's deep-dish, rectangular, Detroit-style pies in an array of meaty, vegetarian, and vegan options. Unlike some competitors around town in the Detroit pizza game, Joyride offers classics like pepperoni as well as creatively topped signature pies like the Green Goddess (with arugula, ricotta, pesto, black olives, and red onion), and the Ocean Beach (with clams, tomatoes, capers, and lemon). There's also a Buffalo chicken pizza featuring Frank's Red Hot sauce.

The new location will also get a couple of new pizzas, we're told, including a mushroom and sausage pie. And a Greek salad will be joining the Caesar and antipasto salads already on the menu at other Joyride locations.

At the new Pier 1 location, Eater tells us there will be "bougie" tater tots, treated like Beglian frites with an array of sauces.

There will also be buffalo milk soft-serve with a variety of topping options.

And it sounds like there will be a full bar on board, with Negronis, spritzes, and more, along with a selection of natural wines. (We can probably expect to find some Woods selections on the menu, given Joyride's partnership with them and the location at Woods' Lower Haight taproom.)

Joyride's planned spring opening was one of several openings highlighted in a Chronicle piece today about the revival of the Embarcadero and downtown waterfront in general. Also coming down the pike is the reopening of Don Ramon's in Four Embarcadero Center, and Bon Delire, the French cafe and Champagne bar we learned about back in November, from Sens owner Kais Bouzidi, which is coming to the former Hard Water space at Pier 3.

Once open, Joyride will be open daily from 8 am to midnight.

Related: The Best Detroit-Style Square Pizzas In San Francisco, Ranked

News broke Tuesday that chef Charlie Hallowell, who has kept himself out of the news for the past five years, is planning to open a new restaurant in Oakland's Laurel neighborhood — an offshoot of the 19-year-old Pizzaiolo. Former employees who accused him of an array of bad behavior and harassment are already speaking out.

Hallowell, 50, has maintained his ownership of Pizzaiolo, but he sold off two of his restaurants to employees six years ago — the former Boot & Shoe Service and Penrose — which have been turned into different restaurants. That was in the wake of a 2017 #MeToo scandal, one of several to erupt in the Bay Area restaurant world during the height of #MeToo revelations around the country.

Dozens of female employees told stories of egregious and inappropriate behavior by Hallowell while on the job, including commentary and groping — the initial stories came from 17 women, but after the first were published, over 30 ultimately came forward with similar tales. A subsequent Chronicle piece in 2018 suggested that Hallowell had been aware for years that his behavior had offended employees, and that multiple women had quit because of it.

Hallowell immediately agreed to step away from the operation of his restaurants. In October 2018 he put forth a 12-point plan for his return to work, which included the too-cute-by-alot suggestion of a dunk tank in back of Pizzaiolo where employees could punish him if need be. All that led to more outcry, he then sold the two restaurants — and later opened another, Western Pacific, in Berkeley, which has since closed.

In October 2019, he was again seeking to sound more contrite, speaking to NPR about the "searing, soul-searching work he's been doing, with the help of his therapist, a social worker, an array of women advisers and a men's group." But that coincided with the promotion of the new Berkeley business.

"It was like a mule kick," Hallowell said of the scandal breaking, two years after. "Like I had my head pretty far up my ass, and I didn't even realize until I got hit over the head with it."

Now, Oaklandside caught wind of Hallowell's latest expansion effort, an unnamed new restaurant at 3724 MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland's Laurel neighborhood — currently the home of World Ground Cafe. The building has been purchased by Hallowell and business partner Donna Insalaco — the female managing partner Hallowell promoted as part of the 12-point plan, who theoretically has the power to fire him.

Knowing that this news might trigger more reminders of the many allegations against him, Hallowell tells Oaklandside, "I’m not perfect, but I believe so much in people’s capacity to change. And I’ve really changed. I’ve worked hard to try to make amends to people who were willing to let me try to do that."

Hallowell adds, "I’ve gone through years of therapy and working in a spiritual community."

This may not be good enough for some of those former employees and accusers, who are already talking to the Chronicle.

"I don’t think he should be able to open and operate restaurants," says Madeline Janning, a restaurant PR person who helped the new owners of the Boot & Shoe and replacement restaurant, Sister. Janning adds that she lives in the neighborhood of the new restaurant, and says, "The thought of driving past his establishment kind of makes me sick."

"I don’t wish him harm,” says former employee Sara Mizner. "But I think it’s clear he shouldn’t be in a position of power. He shouldn’t be anyone’s boss."

As the Chronicle discusses, all this raises the question about whether people should be considered irredeemable after scandals like this, and whether they should be allowed to continue their careers or operate businesses. Critics and diners are free to boycott those businesses, but it has seemed like fans of Pizzaiolo have been able to move past the allegations and continue eating the pizza — though Hallowell's subsequent business ventures haven't had such longevity.

The new restaurant, which Hallowell confirms will be modeled after Pizzaiolo, is still probably many months if not at least a year off from opening, which gives Hallowell more time to address his PR problems. World Ground Cafe still needs to find a new location where it's looking downsize, and the space will need to be renovated.

The plan is to bring in the current executive chef at Pizzaiolo to oversee it, Anthony Lee.

"We want it to be pretty down-home, not fancy, with delicious food," Hallowell tells Oaklandside. "We want to serve that community."

A neighboring business owner, Andrew Vennari of Sequoia Diner, tells Oaklandside, "I stand with the people who were negatively impacted by him. I would ask those people. It is up to them to decide if Hallowell has been able to get redemption and done enough work to remedy."

Previously: New Chronicle Food Critic Will Not Be Reviewing Charlie Hallowell Restaurants

One of San Francisco's best pizza spots, Little Star on Divisadero, is shutting its doors at the end of the year. And the owner blames delivery apps.

Little Star Pizza, which has been making excellent, cornmeal-crusted, deep-dish pizzas at 846 Divisadero since 2004, is closing for good next month. And even though the Valencia Street location will remain open, this is a tragedy for pizza-loving San Franciscans and everyone in the NoPa/Western Addition neighborhood who made regular visits there.

Owner Brian Sadigursky posted the news to Instagram on Sunday, which was the 19th anniversary of the original Little Star location.

"With a heavy heart on this anniversary day, we announce that LS Divisadero will be closing at the end of this year," Sadigursky wrote. "It has been a marvelous run, and an honor to have been a part of the Western Addition/Nopa/Alamo Square neighborhood. A tremendous thanks to all the lovely people that have passed through our doors and supported us!"

While the post does not give a reason for the closure, the Chronicle notes that Sadigursky has for a couple years now been railing against the "parasitic" nature of third-party delivery apps. In June, the Little Star Divis Instagram account posted a Washington Post breakdown showing how, when a customer spends $28 on a delivery order through an app, the restaurant is likely only getting $10 to $14 of that cash.

"As a consumer, if you value locally owned businesses, order directly from them and don’t allow DoorDash, UberEats, or Google to skim off them with their commissions," the post said. "These companies will inevitably put a lot of small restaurants out of business."

While they were at one point connected businesses, Little Star Divisadero is under different ownership from the Valencia location, the Albany location, and the affiliated locations of The Star in Oakland and Portland. John Guhl owns the Valencia location and the others, and he and Sadigursky parted ways as business partners in 2013.

If you can believe it, there was a time when there wasn't a ton of great pizza in San Francisco, and Little Star was, along with Paxti's, among the first to bring Chicago-style pies to the city.

And Little Star Divisadero was among the last of the city's pizza restaurants to sign on to app delivery — a few years ago, if you wanted Little Star on an app, it only came from the Valencia location, and the Divis location still made you call in by phone for pickup only.

For families with kids in the NoPa/Western Addition 'hood, this means the loss of one of the few businesses where eating out with kids was common and easy.

Meanwhile, many restaurateurs around the city have decried what's been a terrible year for them, business-wise — either because fewer people are eating out after the pandemic, or because of other factors impacting the industry like depressed tourism, and less foot traffic and fewer business dinners downtown.

For fans of Little Star, you may as well pay a goodbye visit to the Divisadero location in the next six weeks. Order the Brass Monkey (unless you're vegetarian).

SF Italian restaurant mini-chain Fiorella has its sights on a new location, and the pasta and pizza will be coming to a former pizza spot in Noe Valley that's been closed for over a year.

Fiorella, whose first location opened in the Richmond District (2339 Clement Street) in early 2016, dubs itself "your neighborhood Italian restaurant," and offers salads, a concise menu of pastas, and 9 to 10 pizzas at each of its locations. The restaurant previously expanded to 2238 Polk Street, and more recently opened an Inner Sunset location as 1240 Ninth Avenue.

Now, Fiorella is planning to open next year in the former Paxti's space at 4042 24th Street.

WhatNowSF caught the liquor license activity on the space last week, and a rep for the restaurant, Lisa Nourse, confirms that the team is aiming for a spring opening.

Noe Valley's lively restaurant scene already includes a couple of Italian and pizza spots, like the 50-year-old Haystack Pizza, Bernal Heights Pizzeria, and Bacco Italian Ristorante.

But Fiorella focuses on dine-in service and high-quality ingredients, as well as traditional wood-fired pizza.

Their offerings expanded to brunch at the Polk Street location, and the Sunset location features a semi-hidden rooftop cocktail bar, Bar Nonnina.

A longtime Italian stalwart in North Beach is calling it quits, a legendary Japanese yakitori shop is coming to Japantown, and more news from this week in the Bay Area food scene.

A longtime Italian stalwart in North Beach, North Beach Restaurant (1512 Stockton Street), is planning to close by the end of the year unless the owners can find a buyer to take it over. The Chronicle broke the news this week that Leo Petroni, the son of one of the original owners, plans to close the 50+-year-old, white-tablecloth spot by year-end unless someone wants to "carry our traditions forward."

Edomasa, a famed Tokyo yakitori shop that got its start as a cart in 1924, is being revived in SF's Japantown. The grilled chicken skewer specialist shop will open inside the Japantown mall (1581 Webster Street Ste. 270) next week, on October 18, as the Chronicle tells us. Unlike the original Edomasa, and unlike popular Berkeley yakitori place Ippuku, Edomasa will not be serving a signature dish of raw chicken.

A new daytime pop-up is coming from Ukranian chef Igor Teplitsky the team behind the Borsch Mobile food truck, called Iggy's Place. It will feature sandwiches, salads, housemade pirozhi, and of course, borsch, and it's opening next week (sometime between October 17 and 19) at Cassava's wine bar (3519 Balboa Street).

The wood-paneled outpost of Equator Coffee in the LinkedIn building in SoMa (222 Second Street) has reopened for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. As Eater reports, Equator Coffee CEO JP Lachance said he and his team have been "seeing the lines forming again" downtown. "We’re reading the tea leaves, all these signs, and now’s the time [to reopen]," Lachance said.

San Francisco is losing one of its Michelin-starred restaurants, as Avery (1552 Fillmore Street) is closing for good on November 4. Chef Rodney Wages recently fell in love with Edinburgh, Scotland, and he'll be relocating there, opening Avery Edinburgh in 2024, as Eater reports. Fans and those who want a last shot at sampling Wages's food should try to snag a res in the next couple weeks. The restaurant took its name from American painter Milton Avery, and the current menu takes its inspiration from "Incoming Tide," one of the artist's paintings from 1936.

Mission District Cuban sandwich spot Media Noche is also calling it quits after six years. As the Chronicle reports, its last day is October 28, and the owners say that business has been way down recently, even worse than at the start of the pandemic.

There is now weekend brunch being served on another SF rooftop: Rise Over Run, the rooftop bar/restaurant at the LINE hotel on mid-Market (entrance at 33 Turk Street). As Tablehopper tells us, offerings include scallion bacon scones, chilaquiles, and fried chicken, as well as fun cocktails.

And SFGate reported this week on the trend among a few Bay Area brunch spots of posting warnings to guests who drink too many bottomless mimosas and then need to puke. Kitchen Story in Oakland (and presumably the one in the Castro) has a notice in the bathroom that anybody who vomits has to pay a $50 cleanup fee — and apparently this happens right on the table sometimes too. The Marina's Home Plate has a similar policy with a $50 fee. One solution I'd suggest: Stop serving bottomless mimosas.

In some fun news, for National Pizza Month, WesBurger 'N' More is collaborating with Capo's and Tony's Pizza Napoletana on a pizza burger (at WesBurger) and a burger pizza (at Capo's and Tony's), and both look quite delicious.

Top photo: The WesBurger pizza at Capo's and Tony's, via Instagram