This week saw the possible permanent closure of Bon Marché on mid-Market, the opening of Mission/Bernal beer spot Old Devil Moon, and news of the renaming of Marina restaurant Spaghetti Bros. to Maybeck's. Here's what else has been going on in the food scene.
Eater has an update on Namu Gaji's expansion to Divisadero, Namu Stonepot, which we first heard about last fall. The small, 21-seat spot (the former Jay's Cheesesteak) is slated for a late fall opening, with a focus on takeout, ramen, Korean fried chicken, and of course, stonepot dishes. "It’s sort of like a deli, but done our way," says David Lee, one of the three Lee brothers behind Namu Gaji and the upcoming Dogpatch spot, Namu Noodle, due next summer. Also, apparently, the Lees are at work on a project in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Big news over in West Oakland as we learn that The Dock at Linden Street is closing to make way for a new concept from chef James Syhabout and former Linden Street Brewery guy Adam Lamoreaux. As the Chronicle reports, the pair are aiming for an early 2017 opening for a new, unnamed casual spot that will occupy the combined footprint of both The Dock and Linden Street's Beer Shed next door, as Linden Street Brewery is bowing out of the space. Meanwhile, the Beer Shed will remain open during the renovation serving beer and a limited menu. Lamoreaux parted ways with Linden Street Brewery, however he's going to be continuing to brew beer under a new name at this space.
Remember that pretentious grocery store Foodhall that opened in June in the former space of an actually cheap, thoroughly-Mission-ish grocery store at the corner of 16th and Valencia? SF Mag now excoriates the place, saying, "in its current soft-opening stage, at least, the place feels less like a grocery store than like a museum exhibit about a very particular kind of grocery store."
As we'd heard was happening earlier, Radish has now closed in the Mission, according to Capp Street Crap. We learned back in July that the building was up for sale, and the owner had decided to close up shop.
Also nearby, Grub (758 Valencia) has closed, as Mission Local reports. Despite a reportedly booming brunch business, the place shuttered suddenly last week after similarly closing and then reopening last year.
Mission Local also reports that the former Jocelyn’s Bakery spot at 3566 20th Street (at Lexington) is becoming a new ice cream shop called Garden Creamery. Proprietor Erin Lang makes both vegan sorbets and organic ice cream, and this is a first brick-and-mortar location for the five-year-old business.
Over in the Castro, the space that's starting to feel kind of cursed at 3970 17th Street, next to the Chevron and facing the F-Market stop, is going to be turning over for the second time in two years as Manos Nouveau is set to close within two months. Hoodline has the news, and chef-owner Manuel Montalban says he got an offer he couldn't refuse to sell the business. The place was previously, briefly home to Pica Pica.
Finn Town, chef Ryan Scott's new bar and restaurant at 2251 Market Street that's expected to open in October, is now seeking some final opening funds via IndieGogo, to the tune of $65,000. A $250 donation gets you an invite to a pre-opening party, and a free cookbook.
Also, the neighborhood's notable glut of coffeeshops is finally getting whittled down a bit as Artis Coffee (506 Castro) calls it quits this weekend, per Hoodline. This comes just two weeks after the closing of Eureka! up the street, and less than a year after Artis opened this, its third location. The owner says it's because of rising expenses at its Berkeley and Hayes Valley stores.
A sixth location of La Boulangerie de San Francisco, the bakery formerly known as La Boulange, is headed back to Kearny and Sutter this October, as Inside Scoop reports. This follows on the reopening of five La Boulanges elsewhere in the city, and this location at 222 Sutter was, indeed, formerly a La Boulange as well until the Starbucks buyout forced its closure along with 22 other locations of the chain.
And Volta, the one-year-old Scandinavian/French spinoff of Perbacco over next door to Bloomingdale's, is ceasing weekday lunch service, as Inside Scoop reports.
This Week In Reviews
The Weekly's Pete Kane pays a review visit to Téo Restaurant and Bar (1111 Mission Street at 7th), a new purveyor of regional Chinese cuisine known as Chiu Chow (or Chaoshan or Teochew) at the Good Hotel. Kane's take is "mixed," with props to the taro roll, the crispy sea cucumber, and the in-house marinated goose, though he's less in love with the cream of rice with fish soup. And, he says, steer clear of the house cocktails.
Surprisingly, Michael Bauer sounds totally unfamiliar with the food scene in Sacramento, but he devoted a piece this week to what he considers its ten best restaurants, which include Hawks Public House, beer and sausage spot LowBrau, and longtime Italian mainstay from local celebrity chef Biba Caggiano, Biba.
And he pays a return visit to Navio at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, to which he'd previously given a disastrous one-and-a-half star review in 2013. He's not a whole lot more impressed this time around, with shoddy service, a bottle of wine that was hopelessly delayed, and dishes that are all flawed in some way, including a smoked trout appetizer that "was sabotaged by what tasted like a teaspoon of coarsely ground salt sprinkled on at the last minute." The update: two stars.
For his Sunday review, Bauer heads to Locol in Oakland, and finds the new and healthier fast food concept "promising" but "still finding its way." He loves the burger (dubbed the Cheeseburg) on one visit, but it's undercooked on a second try. The Fried Chickenburg, he notes, is the most popular thing on the menu and "it’s so good it could be served at Alta CA, or one of Patterson’s other casual restaurants, and still be a standout." Service is friendly but they're still working out kinks with certain dishes, and food can come out slowly. But he has high hopes as they expand more places. Two stars.
And SF Mag critic Josh Sens gives his take on new Mission Mediterranean spot Tawla, which he says, "forgoes falafel and hummus for a fascinating if sometimes perplexing tour of the eastern Mediterranean." He loves the labneh and the ful medames, and appreciates "the natural kinship between eastern Mediterranean and California cooking" exhibited on Tawla's menu. But he gets an oversalted sardine dish and a "mealy" octopus, and he gives the place two and a half stars overall.