A new spot called NOVA from Bar 49's owner is coming to the Castro, Clementina makes its debut in the Richmond, and Hamburguesa Bar gets a review, all in This Week in Food.

Even though spring has not officially sprung, the weather is decidedly springlike in SF and will continue to be the next few days. And the restaurant openings keep coming at a brisk clip.

Tonight is the soft opening of JouJou (65 Division Street), the new French brasserie in the Design District from the Lazy Bear team, with aspirations to becoming SF's answer to New York's Balthazar. The interior looks pretty cool, and I look forward to bringing you an update on the food soon. Reservations can be made here, with the grand opening technically on March 17. The bar fully opens on Wednesday, March 11.

Down in Jackson Square, Loveski Deli, the bagelry, coffeeshop, deli and more from Meadowood chef Christopher Kostow, made its debut on Wednesday at 499 Jackson Street, in the former Postscript Coffee space. They will continue serving Postscript Coffee, but now FiDi denizens can grab a bagel that the Chronicle food team recently deemed the best bagel in all of the Bay Area, topped with the shmear of your choice, or made into a pastrami, egg and cheese. They are also serving teriyaki bowls, chicken Caesar wraps, pastry, grab-and-go sandwiches, and more.

We had some major Castro news this week, which is the upcoming revitalization of the two-story space that used to be home to Eureka Restaurant & Lounge at 4063 18th Street. Eureka shut its doors after 12 years in business almost a full year before the pandemic hit, in July 2019, and the space has some significant layout issues — namely a kitchen you had to walk through to get between the front and rear dining areas on the ground floor. Bar 49 owner Colm O'Brien is now planning to fully revamp the space as NOVA, as Hoodline was first to report. O'Brien says he's planning to convert the upstairs into more of a lounge, with couches, and a cocktail focus, and reconfigure the downstairs and patio space in back for dining. The food will include favorites from Bar 49 — likely things like the fish and chips, bangers and mash, and burger — and seasonal entrees. Look for an opening later this year.

Clementina, the new gluten-free, celiac-safe Italian restaurant from the couple behind Montesacro Pinseria, is having its ribbon-cutting next weekend, with reservations open to the public later this month. The restaurant takes over the space that had been Gianluca Legrottaglie and Viviana Devoto's Bettola at 343 Clement Street, and is inspired by their gluten-free pop-up Alice — itself spawned by their daughter's celiac disease. They are promising a menu of comforting and modern Italian food without compromise, but made entirely without gluten. Find reservations here.

We had news this week about the reopening of The Big Four at the Huntington Hotel. The 104-year-old hotel and its 50-year-old, moody and wood-paneled restaurant on Nob Hill have been closed since the pandemic, and have gotten a full renovation, with the restaurant designed by local design star Ken Fulk. It comes back, with its steaks and chicken pot pie, starting March 17. Reservations are here.

Asian brunch restaurant Tur is opening April at 1 West Portal Avenue. As the Chronicle reports, it's a new venture from the owners of well-loved neighborhood Thai restaurant Khao Tiew, and will feature dishes like Thai-style congee, seasonal salads, and duck confit, though the menu is still in the works.

Sadly, Saluhall, the IKEA-affiliated food hall on mid-Market, has lost another vendor, and that's Cheezy’s Artisan Pizza, which was operating in the large open-air space on the ground level. It was being run by award-winning pizza maker David Jacobson and his partner Raluca Romero, and they tell KRON4 this week that it's because their business license is being revoked. This leaves only three vendors in operation at the food hall — Curry Up Now, Smish Smash, and Izzy & Wooks — and four vacancies to be filled. We learned in November that Ingka Centres, the mall arm of IKEA, was parting ways with the initial operator of Saluhall, and was looking to hire a new operator.

And up in Cotati, there's news that a group of women owners have taken over the historic 8 Ball tavern (8 Charles Street). As the Press Democrat reports, a trio of new owners, Julie LaMalfa Black, Jenafer Keys, and Audrey De Vere Hunt took over the 89-year-old bar in January, declaring that now, "The girls are calling the shots." There are plans to bring in food trucks Thursday through Sunday, to help support local food businesses. And the grand reopening is tomorrow, Saturday, March 7, starting at noon.

Chronicle associate critic Cesar Hernandez offers a brief review this week of Hamburguesa Bar, the new burger spot in a stylized dive bar-type atmosphere at 78 Second Street in downtown SF. They offer $8 smashburgers with cheese spread and pickled jalapenos — that's the signature hamburguesa — which can be washed down with a $3 Natty Light. Hernandez doesn't rave about the duck-fat fries, and calls the thicker tavern burgers "uneven," but he's a fan of the $14 triple-smashburger called the Hatch Chile, which he calls "triumphant."

Top image: Photo by Steven Bracco/Hoodline