Ciaorigato opens its doors in the Tenderloin, Toy Boat comes back to life in the Richmond, and a Michelin-starred husband-and-wife team resurfaces with a new spot in Menlo Park, all in This Week in Food.
Ciaorigato is now softly open at the Hotel Bijou (111 Mason Street). As we first heard back in February, it's a new project fusing the flavors of Italy and Japan (hence the name) from the team behind Italian-Mexican fusion spot Modi at the Transit Center, owner Dario Nicotra and executive chef Marco Avila, who also own Acquolina in North Beach. The menu features sushi rolls with Italian touches, like one featuring tuna, pesto, and tempura zucchini, and pizzas and pastas with Japanese ingredients, like the Ciaorigatoni, featuring an eight-hour Bolognese sauce accented with shitake mushrooms; and an okonomiyaki-inspired four-cheese pizza. They're also having a grand opening party on June 18 that you can RSVP to here.
Popular Inner Richmond ice cream destination Toy Boat (401 Clement) returns as of today, June 13, and opening weekend hours will be noon to 10 pm. The shop, now run by Jane the Bakery, temporarily closed last fall for retrofitting work, and will now be open Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 10 pm.
As SFist reported earlier this week, Nopa Fish is now open at the Ferry Building, offering an all-day fresh fish counter selling restaurant-quality seafood, as well as a brief menu of craveable sandwiches and snacks like Gulf shrimp arancini and a smoked albacore tuna melt.
In some exciting cocktail bar news, the former Benjamin Cooper space on Mason Street off Geary (in the Hotel G but with its own unmarked entrance), has just come alive as The Valley Club. More on that here.
Popular Alameda barbecue spot Fikscue has opened an outpost in San Francisco as of Thursday, at the Chase Center's Thrive City complex. As the Chronicle reports, the Indonesian-inflected menu includes halal smoked brisket, "dino" ribs, beef rendang, and soto padang soup.
Tablehopper brings word that the new English muffin specialist Leadbetter's Bake Shop has softly opened in the Castro, at 554 Castro Street (the former Castro Fountain). The opening menu features nine flavors of English muffins, including olive, apricot-ginger, and roasted onion, and multiple sandwich options including a breakfast sandwich, a mushroom melt, and a nostalgic toaster-oven pizza. It will be open this weekend from 9 am to 1 pm.
The big news from the Peninsula is the opening of Yeobo, Darling, the new a la carte Taiwanese-meets-Korean restaurant in Menlo Park from the husband-and-wife team behind Michelin-starred Maum in Palo Alto and Bǎo Bèi in Los Altos. The menu features inventive creations like a scallion croissant, and a take on Taiwanese lu rou, minced pork with soy gravy, served lasagna-style with chrysanthemum pasta sheets, béchamel sauce, and cheese. The restaurant opens tonight, and will be open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday.
Chronicle Restaurant Critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan has a review this week of Northern China BBQ (294 9th Street), which she says is a great, convivial place to enjoy skewered, beautifully grilled meats and vegetarian options in the style of Jilin in Northern China, where chef-owner ZhiChao He is from. She recommends most of the meat options, as well as the tofu skin, the tofu-like duck blood (!), and the large format iron pot sliced beef for a group.
And Associate Critic Cesar Hernandez heads to the Russian River to review Lightwave Coffee & Kitchen in Monte Rio, a small cafe adjacent to a skatepark featuring Levantine, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Moroccan influences on its breakfast and lunch dishes, like a shakshuka that's served with an herb salad and homemade pita; and a version of the Iraqi-Israeli pita sandwich, called sabich.
Top image courtesy of Yeobo, Darling by Chad Santo Tomas
