This week was a little light on big food news, apart from the opening of Dirty Water and Anthony Bourdain popping up in town and chowing down on some oysters and prime rib. But let's go through the smaller items, shall we?
Thomas Keller Group alum Eric Lilavois looks to be opening a fast-casual concept that may be called Little Gem in newly constructed space in the base of a new condo building at 400 Grove Street in Hayes Valley (at the corner of Gough). As Hoodline gleans from a liquor license application, and a recent trademark filing, the former head sommelier of Keller's New York outpost Per Se (and later its director of operations) may be looking to launch more than one location of this concept, which has not yet been publicly described. Stay tuned for more, and you can expect it probably isn't opening this year.
Fine and Rare, the seafood-centric concept from the duo of Scott Peterson and Ted Wilson that's had a stall at The Hall on Market Street since its opening, will be moving into the space that once was home to Stars Cafe, adjacent to the new Empire Room at 555 Golden Gate Avenue. The space hasn't been in use in several years as the larger space next door went through a couple of short-lived incarnations, but now it will see some new life as soon as a few weeks from now, in July, as Inside Scoop reports.
The “fully automated” FiDi cafe called Eatsa, which we told you about a couple weeks ago, is now slated to open in July at Rincon Center (121 Spear Street) with "zero wait times" and no live servers. The Business Times has some more details about the healthy lunch spot, a new fangled automat where orders are placed on iPads and your $7 quinoa-based meal can then be retrieved from a cubby.
Mission Street jazz venue Savanna Jazz looks to be gone for good, as Capp Street Crap reports. The cozy jazz venue, wine bar had popular tango nights, and now says that it's hoping to relocate. But the space at 2937 Mission Street looks likely to become (what else) a restaurant.
Chubby Noodle, which is no longer a pop-up inside Amante, has just opened a brick-and-mortar location in North Beach at 1310 Grant (the former Pisto's Tacos), with former Betelnut chef Alex Ong working as a consultant. Hoodline reports on the opening, and they caught up with owner Pete Mrabe last month about the details. This location of Chubby Noodle is going to lean more Japanese with its offerings, unlike the Marina location, which is more Chinese.
Eater brings word that Brazilian steakhouse chain Fogo de Chao, which recently went public, has filed a liquor license app for the former Chevy's space adjacent to Yerba Buena and the Moscone Center. Expect big sabers of grilled meat circling the dining room, Espetus style.
An upscale, fairly pricey, tiny new sushi spot has just arrived in SoMa called Omakase. As Inside Scoop reports, it's a project from the owner of Live Sushi with just 14 counter seats, offering omakase menu options at $100, $150, or $200, with fish flown in three times a week from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market.
Also as the Scoop tells us, Annabelle's, the longtime restaurant on 4th Street in the Mosser Hotel, is becoming something called The Keystone with former Station One and Game chef Zack Freitas at the helm.
And finally, for those who remember long-ago restaurant Square One, there's going to be a one-night-only pop-up reincarnation via some former chefs at Perbacco on July 26, in celebration of chef Joyce Goldstein's 80th birthday. Tickets are $250 and can be found here.
Week in Reviews
For his mid-week update review, Michael Bauer returned to Lolinda, and he finds that "the food has found its groove under [chef] Alejandro Morgan," who's been there since the beginning. He also finds the service improved, though he complains about the "icy stare" of the hostess. All told: two and a half stars.
But in his Sunday review we find him raving and totally blown away by the new prix-fixe concept in North Beach, Trestle. He's most excited by the price: $35 for three courses, with the option to add a pasta for $10. And he finds the work of chefs Jason Halverson and Ryan Cerizo "modern" yet "approachable." He gives them three stars across the board, and a "standing ovation."
And at the Weekly, Pete Kane finds himself annoyed with the reincarnation of Millennium across the Bay, saying, " while [chef Eric] Tucker's kitchen has noticeably pulled back on the use of oil, it seems to labor under a paranoid sense that people find vegan food boring or unimaginative, and so one must always pile on more, more, more." And, he writes, "With Ramen Shop right there, one block down, it's a bitter contrast considering how rich things can be with a little restraint."