This week at the SFist food bureau: We had word that restaurateur George Chen's long-delayed China Live would open in January, we took a moment to weigh the pros and cons of a proliferation of fixed-price menus, and we brought news of a new pescatarian-friendly ramen joint, Hinodeya, coming straight from Japan to our Japantown. We also had the scoop on where to enjoy Dungeness crab season and intel on the opening, scheduled for later this month, of Jane's third location, a retail bakery operation at Geary and Steiner. Elsewhere, La Urbana looks to be closed for good, LA is getting a Tartine Manufactory thrice the size of our own, and if you haven't heard the story behind Camino chef Russell Moore's boudin blanc, a Burgundian pork and chicken sausage, you ought to read up, though doing so will pique your hunger. In other food news:
Ryan Scott, a Top Chef alum and Emmy Award-winner, announced this spring he would be taking on the former Barracuda/Mandu space in the Castro with a restaurant called Finn Town, a nod to a former name for the district. Now SFist learns that opens December 2nd. “We wanted to create an upbeat neighborhood atmosphere that visually harkens back to the 1850s when the food was unpretentious and the drinks were strong and satisfying,” Scott says. “Everything at Finn Town will be made in-house from the Fresno hot sauce on our deviled eggs to the English muffins at brunch and of course, every dessert and a daily bread. In addition to full bar offerings and creative cocktails, we will have wine, beer and cider plus three signature house cocktails on tap so your thirst is quenched quickly.” His chef de cuisine is Jason Raffin, and Cheryl Storms of the recently shuttered Pinkie's is onboard as a consulting pastry chef.
Babu Ji is opening next week: We had word of the popular New York Indian restaurant's expansion to Valencia Street in September, and they're ready for their debut, likely on Monday according to an email to SFist. Chef Jessi Singh and his wife and co-owner Jennifer Singh will have lots of the popular items from their East Village location, plus other touches like their “help yourself” beer fridge. In the former Plin space, Babu Ji has 74 seats to work with plus an alcove area they're calling Babu’s Boardroom which seats 16.
Ozumo will shutter its Oakland location this month. “We took the largest space in 2006, 8,000 square feet, expecting the boom times to last,” owner Jeremy Umland told Inside Scoop.“Once the 2008 recession happened, we realized we had bitten off a lot with that space.” The high-profile sushi bar's closure in Oakland won't have a bearing on the San Francisco location, which will remain in business..
Brandon Jew's new-school Chinatown restaurant Mister Jiu’s with its shiny new Michelin star is losing the prix-fixe model and going a la carte, bucking the previously mentioned fixed menu trend. "Part of the decision behind the change is that I wanted people to feel like they could come back for any reason, rather than making it a big commitment, “ Jew told Eater. They report that dishes will be, on the low end, $6 for shrimp chips, and on the high, $110 for whole tea-smoked Liberty farms duck.
Aziza, Mourad Lahlou's Richmond District restaurant for the last 15 years, helped establish him as one of the finest chefs in town, a position from which he launched his higher-end, more centrally-located Mourad. Aziza was closed for what was supposed to be a two month renovation but changes are going to take longer, per Hoodline, perhaps as long as a year overall. "They are looking to do a more in-depth renovation of the site than originally planned," spokesperson Kristine Keefer told Hoodline. "They are in the process of brainstorming on totally re-configuring the dining room and bar." Hope for a late winter/early spring 2017 reopening, then.
The Doctor's Lounge is shuttering in the Excelsior after a 65-year run according to Hoodline. An 82 percent rent increase will close its doors: As co-owner Rochelle McCune puts it, "Business in San Francisco is not for the faint of heart."
The Italian Homemade Company is coming to Hayes Valley to open a third location after success in North Beach first and later Cow Hollow. Hoodline reports that husband-and-wife co-owners Mattia Cosmi and Alice Romagnoli — along with business partner Mirco Tomassini and investors Andrea Iannitti and Carlo Licciardi — are taking a post in the new One Franklin building (at Page). Except sandwiches, dry good, and homemade pastas. This location of The Italian Homemade Company is also applying for a license to serve beer and wine.
Phlox Commons is the new restaurant and bar coming on Saturday to the former Saha space in the Hotel Carlton. Inside scoop explains that the new owner was once the manager at Saha for a decade before that business took off for the greener pastures of Berkeley.
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association held its first-ever "Saucy Awards" Gala, and Eater assures us that the celebrations were kind of fun. Ravi Kapur of Liholiho Yacht Club was named chef of the year, Belinda Leong won pastry chef of the year, but maybe more interesting are the inside-baseball categories, such as Outstanding Industry Service, which was won by Monterey Fish Market.
In other newly created awards news, Eater introduces us to its own "Eater Awards." Bellota was its restaurant of the year, Corey Lee (Benu, In Situ) its chef of the year, and Leo's Oyster Bar its best designed spot of the year. They also bestowed a few more.
After over a year with the lights off Fiddler’s Green is open again — under new management — in Fisherman's wharf. Eater had the intel on the revamp, which may matter most to kitsch-lovers and the usual area tourists.
SF Weekly has an interesting piece on Forage Kitchen, an Uptown Oakland event space, kitchen, and cafe. “Most commercial kitchens are these black boxes where you’re just not allowed in unless you’re renting space, and they certainly don’t let you in if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Rabins explained to the Weekly. “So it’s really intimidating for people. And we really wanted to create a place where people felt comfortable coming into even if they weren’t a hardcore chef for 10 years.” To Help, Forage offers a shortcut — different membership levels to get involved there. “This is the space I wish I had when I was starting out as a food maker,” he says.
At Bar Agricole, Melissa Reitz has left her post as executive chef, handing the duty over to Seth Stowaway. Inside Scoop reports. Owner Thad Vogler says not to expect changes to the concept, or really much of any change at all.
We've got more on prolific restaurateur Adriano Paganini's Mexican restaurant headed to the former Betelnut space, about which we first learned in September. Now we know it's to be called Flores after Luis Flores, Paganini's partner on the project and the chef/partner at Uno Dos Tacos, also from Paganini. It's opening the weekend of November 25th and Eater snagged the menu, too.
The former Big Slice Pizza at 1535 Haight Street between Clayton and Ashbury is about to get an upgrade: Tony Gemignani, probably the biggest-name in Bay Area pizza, is opening a Slice House there, as Hoodline is hip to.
Next to WesBurger 'n' More on Mission Street, owner Wes Rowe reveals that he's created a teensie, 15-person standing-room-only punch bar called The Den. Eater had a photo and the news, and it looks super cute/kitschy and fun. That's open December 2, and punches are all low-ABV, seemingly because they don't have a full liquor license.
This Week in Reviews
Revival, the barely five-month-old restaurant at Applewood in Guerneville, is already closed, and, sort of tragically, the Chronicle's Michael Bauer reveals he was about to publish a review of it and give it three stars. "It’s too bad because the restaurant added a sophisticated dimension to the West County dining scene," he writes, glowing of Ben Spiegel's cuisine that "His food — some from the revived gardens on the estate and others foraged nearby — brought a fresh voice to Sonoma County with such dishes as lingcod from Bodega Bay, steamed in fig leaves and presented on a bed of beans with dollops of cucumber raita; or trout enhanced with wild seaweed, cabbage, rutabaga and beurre blanc."
The Chronicle's drinks writer Esther Mobley took a spin through the "cocktail omakase" menu at Roka Akor. "How has no one else done this yet?" she ponders. "The idea combines every buzzy concept available to San Francisco dining establishments: curated, bespoke, narrative-driven, Japanese." In the end: "You can drink more impressively composed cocktails elsewhere in San Francisco," she concludes, but "You’d be hard-pressed to find a better show. Whether story and showmanship are enough for you, I suppose, depends on what you want when you pay $55 for a drinking experience."
Overlooking the criminal acts that have been done to the interior of the Elite Cafe — who would dare to paint those beautiful wooden booths? why, God! — Bauer took a shine to the new New Orleans fare at the revamped spot. Chris Borges, a New Orleans native, seems to know what he's doing, and Bauer liked nearly everything from his fried okra to his meetinghouse biscuits. One qualm: "While the food seems like it’s quickly found its groove," Bauer writes that "the service is still erratic... On one visit the staff seemed trained and professional; waiters automatically brought utensils for the share plates, refilled the water and cleared plates." Two-and-a-half stars.
Tablehopper likes Tawla, where "You can come here with your vegetarian friend and your gluten-free friend and your lamb-loving pal, and everyone will be happy at the table together." While "the space is a tricky one" the servers are outstandingly kind. One recommendation: the "unbearably delicious" eggplant maqluba.
The Weekly's Pete Kane took another pass at Hamlet, the Noe neighborhood spot that's gone cocktails first, food second, rather than the other way round as it started. He likes the change. He also had some recommendations for the revamped Plaj, of which he's a fan.
