Summer often means a slowdown in food news, but this steamy week proved to be an exception: Goat Hill Pizza shut down for the summer, Young Fava started delivering, Pliny the Elder was dethroned, Alice Waters had some Deep Thoughts about Amazon's Whole Foods buy, Farina might have finally given up the ghost, a rooftop bar has a hefty barrier to entry, Dosa is expanding into Oakland, and Robin will soon be serving sushi in Hayes Valley. And that's not the half of it! Behold:

Petit Marlowe (234 Townsend) opened to the public Friday in South Beach near the ballpark, serving oysters, sandwiches, salads, and snacks along with a well curated wine and Champagne menu. As owner Anna Weinberg put it, "We wanted to give people in the neighborhood someplace to go that wasn't a ballpark restaurant."

In terms of openings, we have a few more: Milkbomb (1717 17th Street), of ice-cream stuffed doughnut fame, has opened in Potrero Hill. Hoodline says they're already garnering rave Yelp reviews, for what that's worth.

Over in the Financial District, we're already seeing a second location of Sababa, Inside Scoop reports. Guy Eshel and Matt Semmelhack opened the first iteration of their Israeli fast-casual last year, and things are apparently going well enough that a second spot, at 554 Commercial Street, was warranted.

Via press release, we learn that Foreign Cinema and Laszlo (2534 Mission Street) will be offering two Pride-themed cocktails this weekend, with the proceeds headed to the National Center for Lesbian Rights on Saturday and to Lyric on Sunday. So order a "Lady Chablis" (dry white wine, elderflower liqueur, fresh fruits of the day) or a "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (Absolut Elyx, butterfly pea flower, lavender syrup, sparkling lemonade) for a good cause. They'll also be projecting Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Milk in the restaurant.

Shuttered since a fire last year, The Palace (3047 Mission Street) is rising from the ashes as Francisca’s. Capp Street Crap has the scoop, writing that owner/chef Manny Torres Gimenez says they'll be serving their "farm to table...Californian cuisine" for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They're softly open now.

Alfred's Steakhouse (659 Merchant Street) has reopened following a two-alarm fire this past April. Eater says that "During the closure, Daniel Patterson Group took the opportunity to work on the menu, specifically adding more starters and snacks to the bar, a pasta program, and an expanded offering of seasonal cocktails."

As of last night, the San Francisco Brewery Co. was set to open a Ghirardelli Square beer garden, Hoodline reports. Expect five craft and seasonal beers going for from between $7-9. Inside Scoop says that while they'll only serve "chips, nuts, trail mix" to eat, guests can also order food from Waxman's and The Pub and bring it back to the space.

Looking to the future, J. Kenji López-Alt, described by Inside Scoop as a "renowned food scientist," will be opening a German beer hall in San Mateo called Wursthall. Eater reports that he's working with Adam Simpson and Tyson Mao, who own nearby craft beer/wine bar Grape and Grain. They hope to open by year's end.

I know that the whole "cursed space" thing is a myth, but 3347 Fillmore Street has been about a zillion doomed restaurants over the years. First-time restaurateurs Chen-Chen Huo and Jason Brown hope to break the cycle with a build-your-own mac and cheese place called Mac'd, and are shooting for an opening next month, per Inside Scoop.

The Big Apple Discount market has stood vacant at 1650 Polk since The Market decided against opening a second location of their glorified food court/grocery store concept there. Now it's slated to become the home of The Bazaar, Eater reports, "an Asian-Inspired Night Market and Grocery." "Half of the space will be dedicated to groceries, and the other half will have eight vendors, including a small bar," Hoodline writes, with the vendor portion of the space open until as late/early as 4 a.m.

This Week In Reviews

Let's start with the new kid on the block: Eater has hired a San Francisco restaurant critic, which the New York Times thought was news. It's Rachel Levin, a longtime writer covering the local and national food scene... which makes her admission that she hadn't heard the (well-reported, by her own outlet) news that restaurateur Adriano Paganini was the man behind A Mano when she went to review it all the more perplexing. After 12 paragraphs, Levin gets to the food, which was apparently mostly served lukewarm. She describes the eating experience as "so-so," but damns the place with one (out of a possible four) star.

Over at SF Weekly, Pete Kane visited Reem’s, a Fruitvale Arab bakery perhaps best known for controversy over its mural of Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh. Kane gives high marks to Reem's warm service, and raves over their cheese man’oushe and their Pali Cal (a "sumac-spiced chicken wrap"). "Even apolitical types will find plenty to love at Reem’s," he says.

San Francisco Magazine's Josh Sens went to Khai, the newest venture from Ana Mandara founder Khai Duong. The Design Center-adjacent place is "a stripped-down, prix fixe pop-up," Sens writes, out of Bonjour Patisserie (if this sounds familiar, it's because Kane reviewed it last month). Sens (like Kane) was blown away by the food, especially the "flaky, pan-fried butterfish with dill and scallions, finished in a feisty turmeric-tinted sauce of galangal and garlic." He was less thrilled with the wine pairings, which he says are "comically cut-rate." 2.5 stars

For his midweek missive, the SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer visited the Walnut Creek Yacht Club, which with its "one note theme" (yacht club) is "pleasantly locked in the '90s." But their fresh fish gets the Mikey-B thumbs up, and their "fish and chips are some of the best around." 2.5 stars.

Staying east, Bauer chose Pompette for his Sunday review. He says the Berkeley restaurant, which occupies the former Cafe Rouge space, "feels a bit like a gym," and that on his first visit the entire experience was "amateurish." Things had turned around by his second, and by his third the place was really humming, with a great chicken leg with lentils and an avocado salad so pretty he wanted to frame it. 2.5 stars.