Bacchus Management Group, which has a history of attracting loyal followings to its restaurants as well as Michelin stars, has plans for three new businesses in Potrero Hill, including an Italian trattoria and a new burger joint.

The team behind longtime stalwart hits Spruce and The Village Pub, as well as the more recently Michelin-starred Selby's in Redwood City, are readying to open three new spots in the base of Mason on Mariposa, a new luxe apartment complex that sits across from the historic Anchor Brewing Company headquarters. As the Chronicle first reported, the three concepts are an old-school doughnut shop, a burger-focused diner and takeout spot, and the more sit-down-oriented, "modern take on the classic trattoria," La Connessa.

An announcement from Bacchus suggests that the bar at La Connessa will feature "vintage Italian liqueurs" — which sounds like old bottles of Campari and other amari, as well as a wide selection of Italian wine.

And the restaurant will be reasonably sized with 86 seats (see rendering below), and a menu focused on traditional Italian fare. The location is 1695 Mariposa Street, at the corner of Carolina Street, across the street from Jackson Playground.

Next door will be Louie's Original (1685 Mariposa), which will be a counter-service deal with a narrow dining room with just 17 table seats and 12 counter seats. The menu will be centered on Spruce's ever-popular English muffin burger, but it sounds like there will be other burger options as well as a fried-chicken sandwich, veggie options, frozen custard, and milkshakes.

And Bacchus's executive pastry chef Janina O’Leary is behind the concept for Magic Donuts & Coffee (1675 Mariposa), which will feature O'Leary's old-timey cake doughnuts, crullers, and brioche doughnuts, as well as Bacchus's own roasted coffee. Intriguingly, the doughnut menu will apparently include both savory and sweet varieties.

The timeframe for the opening of these three businesses, at this point, is just "next year," but we'll update you as we learn more.

As the Chronicle notes, Bacchus hasn't much been in expansion mode since having to close The Saratoga in SF during the pandemic, and Palo Alto's Mayfield Bakery & Cafe. But things are coming alive again all over, and so is the restaurant-opening schedule in SF, even though there's not a ton on the docket so far for this fall.

A dish from Spruce chef de cuisine John Madriaga only labeled as "warm burrata" with naan was easily the highlight of the Friday grand tasting at this year's sold-out Eat Drink SF — though it really deserves to be called what it is on the Spruce menu, which is a burrata doughnut.

Madriaga and his crew were manning three friers at the event, producing hundreds of these fried naan creations stuffed with gooey burrata cheese, and served with a single slice of peach and a curry dipping sauce.

Below, you can see what it looked like in its original shape, before biting into it — which Madriaga encouraged, saying "Eat it like a jelly doughnut."

They were so good, in fact, that the Spruce booth sold out of them by 9 p.m., one hour after the general admission ticket-holders arrived, and an hour before the end of the event.

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association says it sold about 2000 tickets to this year's event, which spanned three days at the Fort Mason Center festival pavilion — and more VIP tickets than ever before, at about 600.

Previously: Food Festival Season Arrives: A Look At All That You Can Be Eating And Drinking This Summer

In some, President Obama's Bay Area visit caused, as KRON4 reports, extreme, perhaps troubling excitement. Even cable cars halted in their tracks, according to the Chronicle. Okay, that was for security reasons, but Obama was the cause. Matier and Ross excitedly reported on the President's change of hotel for this visit, from the InterContinental to the Fairmont. And yes, he and the likes of Elon Musk dined at Spruce, which SFist noted earlier.

More central to his trip, the President, who has of late been fielding interviews from newer media outlets like Vox and Buzzfeed, convened with Kara Swicher of Re/code to discuss cyber warfare, the White House’s relationship with Silicon Valley tech giants, and obviously, the Apple Watch. Kara Swisher is the wife of Megan Smith, who is chief technology officer in the Obama Administration. The interview took place at Stanford, the site of the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection.

"I’ve only got two years left, but two years is a long time," Obama said in a speech Friday to Bay Area donors, per the Chronicle. He added that, "two years is also the time in which we’re going to be setting the stage for the next presidential election and the next 10 years of American policy."

As I'm sure you heard, even if you weren't stuck in any traffic as a result, President Obama was just in town for his 20th visit to the Bay Area. He stayed at the Fairmont Hotel this time, and following that "intimate" Democratic fundraising dinner at a home on Russian Hill which may or may not have sold out, Obama had a second dinner Friday night with a dozen or so tech heavyweights in the private Laurel Room at Spruce.

As Inside Scoop reports, we know Elon Musk and Marc Benioff were both in attendance for the two-and-a-half-hour dinner, along with about a dozen others including White House staff.

As the Chron notes, the food at Spruce "isn’t outrageously expensive, by presidential standards," however they fail to note, as Inside Scoop did, that that private dining room has a $3000 minimum.

Also, CBS 5 got an old codger from the neighborhood on the record complaining about the fact that glasses of wine are going for $12 at Spruce. "And I can go to Trader Joe's and get three bottles of wine for the same price," he adds.

It's Halloween week, you guys! Speaking of, you know what never tastes as good as it sounds? Caramel apples. The caramel-to-apple ratio is way off. Plus, you're left with a browning apple wad at the end. A lackluster experience. (Deadspin's Drew Macgary has a wonderful schpeel on the caramel apple's disadvantages, by the way.) Point being? Stick to fun-size Snickers. You'll live a happier life if you do.

Let's begin...

- Do you like to dress up for Halloween and then eat food served to you from an automobile? Who doesn't. So head over to Truck or Treat: Halloween StrEat Food Party (SOMA) for pumpkin sangria, scary movies, a costume contest, a slew of food trucks with Halloween specials, DJ DOMO and DJ Rufio spinning EMD, spooky tunes & party grooves, and more. (Note: This is SF's only [official] nighttime outdoor Halloween costume bash.) Fun for the whole family. RSVP here.
428 11th Street (at Division)

- Spruce is as good enough reason to check out Laurel Heights. Items like beignets with fruit preserves and crème anglaise, blintzes, farro porridge, early girl tomato soup, pain perdu, and the Spruce burgerSpruce make it worth the visit. They also have really, really nice bathrooms. Can't beat that.
3640 Sacramento (at Locust); 415-931-5100

- Important burger news involving KronnerBurger, Umami Burger, and Smash Burger. Get on it

- La Urbana (Western Addition), the high-end mexican food joint on Divisadero, just opened their garage, christening it El Garaje Urbano (not to be confused with the glorious Garaje on Third Street in SOMA) , open from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Beer and fancy taqueria fare awaits.
661 Divisadero (at Grove); 415-440-4500

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, Tyler Florence manning the decks at The Cavalier. Behold...

Today's culinary cocktail tour of SF takes us to the far reaches of the Presidio (and Brock's favorite restaurant) Spruce, where bar manager Brandon Clements has created a dual-sided cocktail menu that highlights several classics -- The Aviation, Blood & Sand, The Last Word -- and a number of delicious house concoctions like the Violet Beauregard (Beefeater 24 gin, blueberries, lemongrass, lemon, soda, violet, lavender) and the eponymous drink, The Spruce Goose.

From Brandon:

What originally got my wheels turning can be found in our name, Spruce. With this came my desire to somehow incorporate a hint of evergreen into a cocktail without it overwhelming. I also felt the need to create a sophisticated cocktail with our vodka-drinking, and particularly Grey Goose-drinking clientele. Finally, but not least of which, was my fond childhood memories of visiting the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose (the enormous Howard Hughes flying boat) which were both housed in a port in Long Beach, where my grandparents lived for 40 years.

The Spruce Goose

1 ¼ oz Grey Goose vodka
1/3 oz Clear Creek Douglas Fir eau de vie
½ oz Roger Groult Calvados
¾ oz lemon
splash of fresh orange juice
½ oz maple syrup
1 dash Fee Bros. lemon bitters

Combine all in mixing glass. Fill with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed lemon peel.

It's sure to cause controversy, which Eater SF editor Paolo Lucchesi openly acknowledges, but Eater has just inaugurated The Eater 38, a non-ranked list of the best, most beloved restaurants in the city which they would gladly recommend, with some emphasis given to neighborhood favorites over big destination spots.

Given that preference, it perhaps shouldn't be surprising that established heavyweights like Zagat topper Gary Danko, Michael Mina and Fleur de Lys have been left off the list in favor of several established SF destinations like The Cliff House, La Taqueria and Washington Square Bar & Grill, as well as some newer favorites like Beretta (which we would argue has better cocktails than food), and Spruce. Also absent from the list, we would note, is Eater reader poll favorite La Folie. In any event, Paolo welcomes nominations for this ever-evolving list via email, and will include newer restaurants (over six months old) in the future, as they prove themselves.

The significance of the number 38? It was apparently a random choice, but we think it had something to do with the numbers looking nice graphically beside the capital E (see Eater 38 logo above).