Apart from the ever expanding list of restaurants serving foie gras and consequent death threats to chefs and the sudden closures of Supperclub and The Addition, here's what else has been happening on the food scene.
It's always an amusing aside when an unexpected celebrity makes his or her pilgrimage to our food mecca. And so it was when Eater got wind of Tara Reid's visit to town. Once here, she called Zero Zero the "Best pizza in San Fran," and promptly took off her shirt at Lucky Strike in homage to her performance as Bunny in The Big Lebowski.
Digging into some more serious food headlines, James Shyabout is pulling the plug on Rockridge's Box and Bells after a year in business, says Eater. "Despite our greatest efforts, the concept simply did not resonate with the neighborhood and result in the success necessary to sustain the restaurant," was Shyabout's statement. This frees him up a bit more to focus on the second location of Hawker Fare in the Mission, which SFist noted back in November, in the former Amber Dhara space on Valencia.
As was presaged in the fall, Cuban spot Caña has closed, reports to Inside Scoop. That frees up a big, storied space that once housed Gordon's House of Fine Eats followed by Circolo, so we'll be sure to check back on what's next there. Oh, and don't call this one a closure: Daniel Patterson's Haven in Oakland is rebooting, but don't expect wild changes there, because those were reported and Patterson wasn't having it.
As far as openings, we've got the intel on Trestle, a new restaurant fromt he Fat Angel/Stones Throw team headed to Jackson Square for your reasonable prix fixe fix. And baseball and beer fans can look forward to a new pop-up biergarten called The Yard beside AT&T Park.
Back when SFist reported on the closure of Union Square's two-decades-old Grand Café, we knew that the space would be occupied by a new concept, and now we're told by Inside Scoop to expect BDK Restaurant & Bar. However, that big back room that was Grand Cafés main dining area won't be in play, because it's going to be a ballroom, serving its original function from way back when.
This summer in the Mission, says Inside scoop, we'll see Myriad Gastropub in the old Nombe space, whose closure we reported on last month.
The brunching classes can rejoice: Marlowe will now be open for weekend brunch, says Tablehopper, where you can get your fix of French toast soldiers with vanilla bean crème anglaise and caramel dipping sauce. Inside Scoop also has snapshots from Burma Love's infancy on Valencia, in case you haven't swung by yet. And over in the Dogpatch, Tablehopper has word on the opening of Neighbor Bakehouse where croissants are to be a mainstay.
The Week In Reviews
Michael Bauer wound up back at Gitane, the 2008-opened restaurant where he found that new chef Jason Tuley has "smoothed out the ride," after lots of staff changes. Standouts were appetizers like oven-roasted octopus and Morcilla sausage. The tally: 2.5 stars.
Anna Roth was let-down by the expensive Crystal Jade Jiang Nan. The huge space was, by her standards, "reserved and corporate." Roth notes expenses at every turn, from dishes to the $14 million the space took to build, and doesn't have much to say in the restaurant's favor except that the views are dramatic.