Over the last holiday week things were somewhat quiet in the food world, but not entirely silent. We just heard the good news that Julius' Castle will be coming to life again, Mister Jiu's is getting underway with renovations on its upstairs banquet hall space, and we heard the unsurprising news that Millennials eat out a lot. Here's the rest of what's been going on:

State Bird Provisions is going to be briefly closed next month for a refurbishing, as Tablehopper reports. The ever-popular restaurant will shutter August 21 an then reopen after Labor Day, so take note if you were planning to get in line to jockey for a table — you might be waiting longer than you thought.

Russian Hill's Belcampo has closed its restaurant for a revamp. The butcher shop at 1998 Polk Street remains open, as Inside Scoop reports, but come August 1 the restaurant will reopen with a streamlined menu and a bigger focus on burgers and charcuterie.

Sapporo Ramen Izakaya has opened at 420 Judah Street in the Inner Sunset, in the former Alice Chinese Bistro space. As Hoodline tells us, they're serving various small plates including karaage (fried) chicken, and ramen, including what they're calling "Millionaire tonkotsu."

Local bar star Jennifer Colliau is turning a former art gallery at 1780 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, across from the Fox, into Here's How, her first solo bar project. Still serving as The Interval's beverage director, Colliau hasn't designed menu yet but she knows the physical menus will be made of wood and will include recipes and quotes like the 1941 cocktail book from which the bar takes its name. As Inside Scoop says, "it's safe to assume the drink menu will be a gem." Look for Here's How to open in the next year.

That Mountain View-based robot-powered pizza startup we learned about last year, Zume Pizza, is now ready to expand to San Francisco. As Eater reports, the company has already expanded its reach to Palo Alto, and after SF they plan to expand beyond the Bay Area.

Trick Dog has done their semi-annual menu changeup, and this time, as SF Weekly reports, the theme is a "demented" children's book called "Rhymes With Trick Dog." Drinks include the Picnic Snog (Ritz cracker-infused Don Q. Anejo and Banks 5 rums, Amaro Montenegro, marash chili, lime, hors d’oeuvres) and the Bolshevik Blog (cream cheese-washed Fords gin, Pimm’s, Tio Pepe fino sherry, everything bagel, Kubler absinthe, and smoked sea salt).

Almanac Beer Co., which last year opened its first taproom on 24th Street in San Francisco, will be opening a full brewery and taproom on the former naval air base in Alameda, near the St. George Spirits and Hangar One tasting rooms. The location is 651 West Tower Avenue, as Inside Scoop reports, and they'll be sharing a 50,000-square-foot space with the new Admiral Malting project from Dave McLean of Magnolia Brewing and Ron Silberstein of ThirstyBear. The space will feature a 1200-square-foot patio/beer garden where beer will be sold fresh, and the team hopes to have the taproom up and running by fall.

Mobile operation Frozen Kuhsterd is taking over a long vacant space at Haight and Scott, in the Lower Haight, to open their first brick-and-mortar location. Hoodline explains that they posted a teaser about the opening to Facebook, but no opening date has been announced.

In the Upper Haight, The Alembic has hired a new executive chef in Rachel Aronow, formerly of 3rd Cousin and Luma. As Eater tells us, she'll be unveiling a new menu next month, "maintain[ing] an emphasis on meat and small plates, [and] keeping favorite dishes like jerk-spiced duck hearts, fried chicken, and bone marrow."

And finally, in Palo Alto, Nobu has opened its first Bay Area location at Larry Ellison's Epiphany Hotel. As Eater reports, the restaurant features a "cozy" dining room, and serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and room service.

This Week In Reviews

The Weekly's Pete Kane gave us his thoughts on A Mano, comparing it (favorably) to Olive Garden and saying that it is "merely good," but also questioning why the menu is "limited almost entirely to pizza and pasta, especially when the best item by far was a short rib?"

Kane also drops in on brand new downtown gay bar Ginger's Trois, in the basement of the building that once housed the original Ginger's Trois that closed a decade ago to make room for Rickhouse. As he writes of the space, "It’s big and windowless like pre-Compton’s Riot gay spaces, and you can imagine all manner of decadence transpiring in there once the smoothest talker on staff paid off the local sergeant on the beat."

Kane also checked in on RT Rotisserie, saying that the new fast-casual spinoff of Rich Table is "value-driven yet chef-driven." He loves the chicken and many aspects of the place, but he says the RT Salad "rocked my world."

Michael Bauer gave us his thoughts on Hazel, the new Southern comfort food spot that replaced Cadence on mid-Market. He says that chef Casey Hatwig, formerly of Lark Creek Restaurant Group, "understands American comfort food," and has crafted a menu that aims to please, with good fried chicken, blacked catfish, and some tater tot nachos. He's also pleased with the prices, and all told it gets two and a half stars.

Bauer also counts himself a fan of Glena's, chef Michael Gaines' (Central Kitchen, Kin Khao) new taco and margarita spot in Dogpatch. Bauer loves the El Guapo Ensalada, the al pastor taco, and the "winning boldness" of the fried chicken torta. And he says the cocktails are winners too. The verdict: two and a half stars.