Earlier this week, Wise Sons Bagel sprang to life via delivery service Caviar, and now we learn via Tablehopper they've set a firm opening date of February 26. Also, Caleb went out and tried that $15 cup of fair-trade Equator coffee and kind of loved it, and we rounded up the city's finest all-season patios for dining. Here's what else has been up.
Dogpatch is getting a new Hawaiian spot borne out of popular brunch pop-up of the same name, 'Aina. As Inside Scoop reports, it's the project of Hawaiian-born chef Jordan Keao and business partner Jason Alonzo, both of whom used to work at La Folie, and the plan is to open first for brunch only, slowing adding happy hour (which they're calling “pau hana") from to 4 to 5:30, and ultimately, dinner. Keao promises, regarding the menu, "everything will stem from something I ate or saw growing up." The first brunch date is still TBA.
Potrero Hill's Dat Spot, the reportedly great rotisserie spot with the terrible name, has abruptly closed after just five months. Eater isn't sure why, but restaurateur Joselyn Bulow (Chez Maman, Papito) is likely not giving up this space, so keep an eye out.
Over in Berkeley, Dominique Crenn's third local restaurant project, Antoinette, opened its doors on Monday inside the Claremont Club & Spa. The menu is French brasserie-inspired, and it's being executed by chef Justin Mauz, who's worked with new Coi chef Matthew Kirkley at Chicago's L2O, and comes to the Bay Area from Joel Robuchon at the Mansion in Las Vegas. Eater's got the whole menu to show you, and it features things like frog's legs en papillote, and a whole roasted duck for two.
Hopefully an apparent fire situation in the building earlier this week will not delay the opening of Brasserie St James, the second location of the Reno-based brewpub that's set debut in the former Abbot's Cellar space on Valencia on February 25. As Inside Scoop shows us, the interior has gotten some more decoration and a more lived-in feel, and the place will now feature a full bar and cocktail program, a small brewing operation in back producing a few SF-exclusive beers (Saison of the Witch, anyone?), as well as a food menu featuring Argentinian-style barbecue, New Orleans-inspired dishes, and a raw bar.
Seven-year-old, culty vegan restaurant Loving Hut has shuttered their North Beach/Chinatown location on Stockton Street, as Hoodline reports. They still have two other culty outposts, in the Inner Sunset and at the Westfield food court.
The one-year-old Market on Market has been an apparent failure in its quest to be a Whole Foods or Bi-Rite equivalent on mid-Market, and now it's undergoing a makeover as more prepared food hall, less market. As the Chron's Paolo Lucchesi explains, there are quite a few reasons why it wasn't working, not the least of which is tech-employed Millennials don't grocery shop or cook, and there can only be one Bi-Rite.
Over in the Mission, four-year-old Thai House 530 has called it quits on Valencia, as Capp Street Crap tells us.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Kauffman tells the story of well loved Portola neighborhood diner Breakfast at Tiffany's (2499 San Bruno Avenue), and how it was saved and revived by a new owner who had planned to open a Northern Chinese noodle spot instead, but decided to give the 'hood back what they wanted.
The big, OG, Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center kicks off once again on March 4, and Eater posted the full new lineup of vendors here.
And after some ownership shakeups and name changes, the former Martin Macks in the Haight has settled on a new identity: HQ. Owner Vivian Walsh tells Hoodline it's because she always referred to the place, jokingly, as "headquarters."
This Week In Reviews
Michael Bauer is making his rounds to update this year's Top 100, and his update review of Flour & Water sister spot Central Kitchen suggests that it will be losing its place on the list this year. First off, he notes the prices have gone up while the quality has not, and the kitchen has a rather heavy hand with salt these days. Also, desserts were "an afterthought," and service isn't great, and "The staff dresses like they came in off the street." All told: two stars.
And Bauer is positively in love with Volta, the new European-by-way-of-Sweden brasserie from Perbacco chef Staffan Terje. He gives the place three stars in his glowing Sunday review, saying that Terje and partner Umberto Gibin have created "a great package with a fully realized interior and a menu that offers something a little different for San Francisco’s already-rich resume of great restaurants." He says the servers, though, "need to chill."
Pete Kane checks out new downtown Brazilian churrasco Fogo de Chão, and he writes, "It's big, it's across the street from the Moscone Center's endlessly refreshed hordes of business travelers, and it's begging to be expensed." Also, he says, it "feels very Vegas-y," but dollar for dollar you could do worse if what you want is a belly full of ribeye.
And this week Petit Crenn got a little love in the Travel section of the New York Times, where Nick Czap finds the room "radiantly warm," and says that the moules marinières steamed in Breton cider "were a kind of perfection."