A new pop-up comes to The Midway in Dogpatch, and new bars are in the works or opening on Polk Street, in the Castro, and in the Osito-adjacent space that was briefly just The Bar at Osito.
There is a new three-night-a-week dinner pop-up at Dogpatch nightspot The Midway (900 Marin Street), and it's called Sister Mother Crone. It features a hearty, Midwestern-inspired menu from chef Ollie Walleck, who is now executive chef on the Midway's culinary team. The restaurant is in the club's VIP space, and as Tablehopper tells us, the food is pretty good and well priced, with a half-chicken entree called Seduction Chicken going for $24, and other items including French onion soup, pulled pork rillettes, and a sliced steak for $34. You can find reservations here, and the pop-up serves Thursday to Saturday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
A new bar is opening tonight on Polk Street in Nob Hill, called Polkcha (pronounced "pocha", 1750 Polk Street), that's inspired by street markets in Asia. It has the same three owners as Trade Routes, the bar that resided in that space until last year, but was quietly shut down for a renovation. Owners Ryan McCargar, Chen-Chen Huo, and Jay Ryoo tell Eater that they took cocktail inspiration from Gwangjang Market in Seoul, Kuromon in Osaka, and Divisoria Market in Manila, utilizing plenty of Asian ingredients.
Barely a month after announcing that the Liliana space attached to Osito was becoming The Bar at Osito, chef-owner Seth Stowaway is shutting it down. While there will now be some of the same a la carte options offered there offered in Osito, Stowaway says running two separate restaurants became too distracting. A new proprietor for the bar area is now being sought, and Eater reports it will reopen as something new as soon as next month.
There is a new Palestinian food spot on Divisadero called Habibi Falafel (1734 Divis at Bush), featuring hummus bowls, mezze, kebabs, sandwiches, and more. As Tablehopper reports, it takes over the former Pasta Bros. space, and it's currently operating at somewhat limited hours — 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
A longtime bartender and manager at popular Castro bar Hi Tops is hoping to reverse the curse in the once-bustling space that, over a decade ago, was home to Bagdad Cafe. As Hoodline first reported Thursday, the flatiron-shaped restaurant space at 16th and Market streets has been a half dozen things in the last ten years, and it will soon be reborn as Bar 49, helmed by Colm O'Brien of Hi Tops fame. It will be a beer and wine bar with a concise menu of snacks and bar food, O'Brien says, the focus being more than 49 wines and beers, with 12 beers on tap. As O'Brien says, "From experience, a lot of people in the Castro drink a lot of beer and wine."
Also, as Hoodline reported earlier this week, the new bar headed for the former Harvey's corner space at 18th and Castro, scheduled to open later this year, will be called Pink Swallow. The implications of that imagery are up to your imagination.
As noted earlier on SFist, SF Beer Week kicks off today with an opening gala at Pier 35 — for which tickets may still be available — and events going on throughout this weekend and next. Find more deets here.
And up in Sonoma, the former EDGE restaurant (139 E. Napa Street) off the square, run by the owners of Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards & Winery, is reopening under a new name and chef with Michelin star ambitions. The new concept is called Enclos, and as the Chronicle reports, it's "positioned to become the city's fanciest restaurant," with most of the Michelin-type attention in Sonoma County usually focused further north, like at Cyrus in Geyserville. The chef is Brian Limoges, who was recently a sous chef at Atelier Crenn, and come spring Enclos will be offering an "engaging seasonally inspired tasting menu."
Photo: A meringue dessert at Sister Mother Crone