A couple of significant reopenings happened across town this week, and a replacement restaurant for shuttered, Michelin-starred Marlena has made its debut in Bernal Heights.
The former Marlena space on Precita Park in Bernal Heights has reopened as Foliage, as Tablehopper reports. Marlena had earned a Michelin star under former chefs Serena Chow Fisher and David Fisher, before the couple departed to open something new in Japantown — tentatively called 7 Adams. Now, owner Stephane Roulland is reopening with chef Mo Béjar at the helm, serving a "seasonal four-course menu [that] demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and transparency." See more on their Resy page.
As reported earlier, the once Michelin-starred Lord Stanley at Polk Street and Broadway reopened this week once again as Lord Stanley, only the menu is more bistro-esque, with some personal touches from chef de cuisine Nathan Matkowsky. Matkowsky has worked in the kitchen there since the restaurant opened in 2015, and he did his own pop-up earlier this year as part of their Turntable series. There are both a la carte and tasting-menu options — the latter will run you $165, with $80 extra for wine pairings — and you can see all the menus here.
Over in the Castro, two long-darkened spaces came alive this week. First, there was the long-awaited reopening of the bar Badlands on 18th Street. And also, softly open as of earlier this week is The Rustic, which takes over the space that was the longtime home of Chow on Church Street near Market — and briefly, then, Cook Shoppe. As Hoodline reports, The Rustic is a venture from Chez Panisse alum Zoti Ali Turap, and it's got an approachable Cal-Italian menu featuring handmade pastas and wood-fired pizzas — as well as a wood-fired steak frites.
Tablehopper also had news of the opening of Que Viet Vietnamese Grill & Pho, which just opened in the former Machiya at 570 4th Street in SoMa. Lunch offerings include bánh mì, pho, noodle bowls and rice plates with your choice of grilled meat, and the dinner menu is a bit more expansive.
In closure news, underground "supper club" Lyon & Swan, which opened beneath Eco Terreno's tasting room in Jackson Square last year, has closed. As Eater reports, there may be something else in the works for the space, but it's unclear what.
Up in Sonoma, off the town square, over on the more suburban Arnold Drive, Valley Swim Club has just opened its doors. It sounds like a fun and approachable seafood shack, with New England-style fried clams and the like, from the team behind the popular Valley Bar + Bottle on the square. The Chronicle has some details, which include other menu items like a dippable shrimp aquachile with shrimp chips, and pescadillas, which are like fried enclosed tacos with fish inside.
The Chronicle's Janelle Bitker filed a mini-review of Holbrook House, which just opened last month at One Sansome. Bitker is, like everyone on TikTok, charmed by the Martini and Champagne call switches and the tableside cart service, but her fries were soggy. We'll have to see for ourselves if the rest of the food is as good as the design.
And Associate Restaurant Critic Cesar Hernandez filed a review of Dalida, the new Mediterranean restaurant from the former chefs of Noosh that opened in June in the former Commissary space in the Presidio. Hernandez says he "fell in love" with the place. "It has all the excitement associated with restaurants in an area trafficked by tourists, except the food is memorable, impactful and full of romantic tenderness," he writes.
All previous Week in Food posts.
Photo: Steven Bracco/Hoodline