The new Presidio Tunnel Tops food hall gets ready for opening, the new replacement for Cafe Flore in the Castro is softly open, and a former Mina Group chef opens a small new Japanese spot in SoMa, all in This Week in Food.

There's an update on the long-awaited food hall project next to the Presidio Tunnel Tops park, which is being called The Mess Hall, and it's now set to open in June. As the Chronicle reports today, tenants will include Korean restaurant Boda, a seafood spot called Dayboat Seafood, and a sandwich and burger purveyor called Breadwinner. There will also be a cafe and market featuring coffee from Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters. Former chef and partner in The Mess Hall Nate Leonard tells the Chronicle that the aim was to provide more casual dining options in the Presidio than the nearby Dalida and Colibri offer. Evening cocktails will be available, and all the restaurants will be serviced by the same central kitchen, rather than via separate kiosks. And do note that Momofuku alum Peter Serpico is a partner and consulting chef in the business, and Boda will feature his Korean fried chicken and mandu.

Parasol at Flore has opened in the former Cafe Flore / Fisch & Flore space in the Castro. As Hoodline reports, it is a soft opening, currently just offering morning coffee and pastries from 9 am to 2 pm, with expanded hours coming soon. As we learned in January, the new operator is Jacob Paronyan, who also owns Cow Hollow wine bar Roaming Goat, which specializes in Armenian and Georgian wines. Parasol is also expected to feature these wines along with Mediterranean small plates and kebabs.

Tablehopper brings us the word on new SoMa Japanese spot Dining Yamamoto, which softly opened last week. It's the first solo restaurant project of former Mina Group chef Yukinori Yamamoto, and it takes over the former Joint Venture Kitchen at 167 11th Street. The restaurant features nigiri sushi and maki rolls, as well as donburi bowls, and chef Yama-san will be offering an omakase menu at dinner as well.

Marina burger spot Causwells is expanding down the Peninula, with a new location opening this week in Menlo Park's Springline development — also home to Che Fico  Parco Menlo, Burma Love, and sushi spot Robin. As Eater reports, the new location features some New Orleans-inspired items from chef-owner Adam Rosenblum, who spent time cooking in New Orleans. These include a breakfast jambalaya, fried chicken, and a new baked oyster dish, as well as a Sazerac on the cocktail menu.

We got the full list of finalists this week for the 2026 James Beard Awards, and while it wasn't a total shut-out for the Bay Area, we were snubbed in several major cateories. For the big awards, chef Michael Tusk of Quince is nominated for Outstanding Chef; Harrison Cheney of Sons & Daughters and Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu of Oakland's Sun Moon Studio are nominated in the Best Chef: California category; and Copra and Ettan owners Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar are nominated in the Outstanding Restaurateur category.

And the first half of the Chronicle's updated Top 100 dropped earlier this week, which is coming out while primary critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan is out on maternity leave. The full list will land on Monday, and from the looks of it, it will once again be arbitrarily ranked and bizarrely curated, with a lot of apples-to-oranges juxtapositions of fine dining spots and taco stands. Two-Michelin-star Lazy Bear lands at #100 while new entry Patio Filipino in San Bruno (3.5 stars on Yelp) ranks several notches higher. Ernest and Saison just made the cut this year because the critics hadn't even dined there last year and they finally made it there... ugh don't get me started.