Despite it being a holiday week in a half-empty town, a few things are still happening in the food scene, right down to the wire of New Year's Eve (see also our quick-and-dirty New Year's Eve Guide for some last-minute meal deals). In addition to Burma Love opening sometime tonight or this weekend (we think), here's what else is going on:

The big news is that an opening finally looks to be close for the long-awaited Aziza sequel, which we now know will be called Mourad, after chef-owner Mourad Lahlou. As noted earlier, it's coming to a ground floor space next door to Trou Normand in 140 New Montgomery (a.k.a. Yelp HQ), and Lahlou plans to leave Aziza just as it is in its Richmond location, making the new restaurant something different and a fair bit bigger. Lahlou told Inside Scoop a couple weeks back that the food will be "basically Moroccan food that is modern but has a huge, huge California aspect to it." And the space, designed by local architect Olle Lundberg, should be pretty fantastic, and will seat about 160 people including private dining space. Ulterior Epicure, a.k.a. the globe-trotting food blogger Bonjwing Lee who always seems to be in the right place at the right time, got invited in for a tasting menu preview, and has some lovely photos. Eater notes that the naming thing follows in the tradition of Aziza, which takes its name from Lahlou's mother's first name.

Also just about open is Californios (3115 22nd Street), the tiny but ambitious-sounding Mission Mexican spot from Sons & Daughters alum Val Cantu that we first heard about back in September. Cantu is going to emulate Sons & Daughters prix fixe structure, offering a basic four-course menu for $45, and a longer version for $75, and it looks like they're open to the public as of January 2. Get a reservation here.

Over in the Fillmore, the city has lost one of its only chicken-and-waffle spots, Gussie's Chicken and Waffles, which opened in 2009. It was a spinoff of LA's famed Roscoe's, and as Eater reports, after some problems with flooding in their 1521 Eddy Street space, they're rumored to be relocating to Oakland.

The Castro will be getting a new fro-yo shop called Easy Breezy (4029 18th Street). It's the third location of a business that began in Noe Valley, and as Hoodline tells us they're aiming for a March opening.

Former Jon's Street Eats guy Jon Koserek, who most recently was running a small whole-animal spot in Oakland called Marrow that he shuttered earlier this year, has begun work to rebrand the place as a pizzeria, called Buma's Pizzeria (325 19th Street). As Eater reports, he's launched a Kickstarter campaign, but he's still got $12,000 to raise in the next five days.

Week In Reviews

I already noted Mr. Bauer's surprising, stellar, three-and-a-half-star review of Lazy Bear from last Sunday. For his Thursday update review he swung back to check out Nico, which he loved on his first visits upon its late-2013 opening. He says he had a "pitch-perfect" dinner there recently, and he upgrades the place to three and a half stars, too. Merry Christmas, indeed, to chef-owner Nicolas Delaroque.

 

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