At the SFist food desk this week, we sent you in the right direction for Negroni Week, made note of the star-studded opening at Ayesha Curry's Michael Mina pop-up, International Smoke, and tipped you off to the opening of Liholiho Yacht Club's surprise new bar-within-a-bar, Louie's Gen-Gen Room. (Eater, by the by, got ahold of the full menu there.) There was also a lot of talk about the new project from Corey Lee, In Situ, a highly ambitious restaurant inside SFMOMA recreating signature dishes from other esteemed chefs. That one's throwing open its doors tomorrow night, FYI. Meanwhile, in the former BDK bar/restaurant space at Geary and Taylor, we learned a bit more about Tratto, a pizza spot arriving in the coming weeks. Oh, and we jumped the gun on highlighting reviews from Michael Bauer, because we couldn't resist the salty, scathing review he had of Tiburon's Guaymas. Finally, did we mention Souvla's open on Divis now? It sure is. Elsewhere, as there tends to be, there was more:
Cowgirl Creamery's Ferry Building spot has reopened, and the biggest change is that while it was closed, Cowgirl, as we had word last month, was bought by a big ol' Swiss dairy company. Inside Scoop writes that the experience at the Ferry Building outpost has been streamlined, making it easier to grab a hunk of cheese on the go.
The site of the former Minako Organic Japanese Restaurant, that quirky and delightful spot which announced its closure in April 2015, is now up for grabs again. Originally, the Chubby Noodle folks had a soup spot planned, but that appears to have fallen through, or such is the word on the street according to Capp Street Crap.
El Capitan, a Caribbean spot on Folsom, is closing permanently. Hoodline had the story, and notes also that sister wine and beer garden slash cafe Carafe will close with it. Both are about a year old. Carafe, you may remember, was the pivot project from Radius, which closed after five years in the spot in February 2015.
The Outer Sunset is getting a savory Chinese crepe spot in Tai Chi Jianbing, which opens, according to Hoodline, as a pop-up inside Osaka Imai on Noriega. "“People in China eat jianbing every day,”co-founder Cheng Hu tells them. “As more Chinese people have come to the Bay Area, they say they really miss it.”
SoMa's 43-year-old short-order cantonese joint B&M Mei Sing is closing, perhaps just for a vacation, but Hoodline indicates it might be more permanent. "Our kitchen staff will be on a vacation hiatus for the next few months to contemplate the future of either reopening or retiring," reads a note. "It has been our pleasure in serving you all these years and we will see what the future holds after our vacation."
The owner of Tender Loving Food, a take-out spot that arrived in the TL in March for Burmese dishes $9 or less, is already planning another endeavor in the area. Hoodline has it that William Lue will begin raising funds for a restaurant on Larkin specializing in food from Burma's Shan State, an area bordered by China and Thailand.
Cocktails will improve at Ye Olde Hut in Rockridge, it seems, with a few music industry players taking over the lodge-like joint to make it a craft cocktail den. As Inside Scoop writes, the space in the sought-after Oakland neighborhood was once a pro-Prohibition/temperance group: the Rockridge Improvement Club, from which this bar will take its name. This sounds like one to watch!
The World's 50 Best Restaurant list, which actually counts the 100 best restaurants as it would appear, has released numbers 51 through 100 of its ranks. Those included, as Inside Scoop made note: #67. The Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena; 8#3. Manresa, Los Gatos; #85. The French Laundry, Yountville; #90. Benu, San Francisco. Ta-da!
Thank whoever your patron saint is, because St. Francis Fountain is serving dinner again, per Mission Mission. That's just Friday through Sunday at the moment.
David Bazirgan, a highly respected cook around these parts who has been running the show at Dirty Habit, the Fifth Floor replacement, is moving back to his native Boston for family reasons. Inside Scoop had the bittersweet news: No replacement for him has yet been named.
Much better to hear is that Kevin Diedrich, who was working at BDK before that all sort of went to shit and whose talents have been tasted all around the city, has his new bar post opening next week. That's Pacific Cocktail Haven, Inside Scoop says. This was all in the works, in phases it seems, as of December, when Cantina, the same spot on Sutter, was sold to Andy Chun and Jan Wiginton of Schroeder's and the Press Club.
Speaking of BDK, which was previously a Kimpton property, Eater had word that George Morrone of Fish & Farm will head up that hotel chain's efforts nationally, starting right here with Scala. "I’m going to take it personally to try to put a stamp on it to make it be reckoned with here in San Francisco," he said Kimpton is familiar territory for Morrone, who served as executive chef at the aforementioned Fifth Floor from '98 to '00.
Chris Cosentino of Cockscomb and Incanto has in store a St. Helena opening on a hotel property. He's calling it Acacia House, Eater reports. Duh, wine will be a thing here, and, as Cosentino tells it, so will "the prevailing seasonal sensibility of California's wine country."
Tawla, that Eastern Mediterranean spot we wrote up a bit in May, has opened, and with that, Eater has a longer on what went into the whole thing from Azhar Hashem, a former tech exec with no formal restaurant experience, and Joseph Magidow of Locanda and Delfina. Hashem also talked to Mission Local, saying that “as techies, we can do a lot better by the communities we are in,” suggesting she'd like to give back by creating community through food.
Starting on June 21, chef David Nayfeld and pastry chef Angela Pinkerton, roommates and business partners who met at Eleven Madison Park, are making ends meet before the debut of their planned Nopa restaurant Che Fico with a rotating, semi-permanent pop-up called Mission D&A in the old Roosevelt Tamale Parlor. That, they explain in more detail to Eater here, and they also talk the importance of pop-ups more generally here.
Just as soon as Terra Cotta Warrior landed on the Eater 38, that publication reveals it has closed for "innovations." As Inside Scoop recalls, it was focused on the food of Shaanxi province. Honestly it sounds like nobody knows what's happening here, and new management sounds likely.
The barfolk behind Divisadero's Horsefeather are already looking down the road to Downtown Oakland for a new venture, as they tell Eater and Inside Scoop. These cats, who are Justin Lew and Ian Scalzo, left the group known as Future Bars for Horsefeather, and have pinned down the Kerry’s Office Supplies space at 1800 Franklin Street. “It was a project we were working on in parallel to Horsefeather," Lew told Eater. "A good opportunity came up, and it’s a really rad location, so we decided to go for it.”
Isabella Caudillo, a La Cocina incubator alum, is hitting the big time with a brick-and-mortar in Bernal: El Buen Comer. Scope the menu here from Inside Scoop, the focus of which is inexpensive briased prix fixe meals called comida corrida.
"Austrian après-ski & Heuriger (wine tavern) meets German beer hall meets Alto Adige salumeria:" That's how Jay Esopenko, who along with business/life partner Melissa Gugni, sees the The Salzburg which the two will open in North Beach in the former Cinecitta spot. Hoodline reports the news, mentioning that so far to their name they've got Union Larder, a decorated wine shop, and Little Vine, an artisan grocery.
Last, but not least: The Bay Area's first Dunkin Donuts, a hot 'n buzzy opening if there ever was one, is scheduled for the 22nd in Walnut Creek per Eater. Will there be a line??? Time will tell,
This Week In Reviews:
Mister Bauer headed to Mister Jiu's for his Sunday review this week, and it's somewhat mixed but mostly positive. "After four visits it was clear the chef still faces challenges in crafting a menu that successfully walks the line between tradition and innovation, and as much as I appreciate the intent, the results don’t always follow," or so Bauer says. He loves the space, and the best dish so far is steamed Alaskan halibut. There's no question Jew's team is crazy talented, but, says Bauer, "the kitchen is still struggling to distinguish itself and to introduce a bright new face to Chinatown." Two-and-a-half stars.
Anna Roth in the Chron explores The Den, the Craftsman and Wolves spot in the Bayview by their commissary kitchen that she says "feels almost like the CAW cafeteria, a place for the staff to hang out on breaks from the commissary kitchen, where they’re busy making pastries as well as the sweet goods, like matcha milk jam, cacao nib granola, passion fruit curd and other items sold in the shops and online." There's also a cool pay-it-forward post-it note system to lend someone who needs it a slice of pizza.
Pete Kane for the Weekly hit up 3rd Cousin in Bernal on Cortland. He's a fan of what's happening, for the most part, thanks to chef Greg Lutes, though he does nitpick a number of menu items. All told, good for a date, says Kane, and "it's great to see a higher-end restaurant put down roots here."