This Week In Food: More Fancy Takeout Sushi, Please

A new sushi takeout spot comes to the Fillmore, Tacos El Patron also debuts in the Fillmore, the Greek Food Festival is coming up, and more in This Week in Food.

We're coming up on fall opening season, but the only near-term, big-name opening news we've had was last week's item about Sergeant Ma, which will debut September 9 in China Basin.

San Francisco's long-running and much loved Greek Food Festival is coming up, September 18-20, at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral as 245 Valencia Street. Expect freshly prepared gyros, spanakopita, moussaka, gemista (stuffed peppers), and desserts, each day starting at 11 am, and admission is free.

In the Fillmore/Japantown, the space at 1552 Fillmore Street that had briefly been home to high-end sushi takeout spot Aji Kiji, which relocated downtown last year, is now home to a new sushi takeout spot with similarly lovely looking sushi boxes, called Yoeechee. It was still advertising as being softly open this past week, with operating hours Tuesday to Sunday 11 am to 6 pm — and it's not clear if they're selling out as fast as their predecessor was. A seven-piece nigiri box that also comes with the house signature roll is going for $33, with a 10-piece "omakase" box going for $53. Orders can be placed on Toast.

Also in the Fillmore, a couple blocks down, Tacos El Patron has opened its doors at the cursed space at 1325 Fillmore, which has been home in recent years to multiple businesses including Nia Soul Cafe and Scott's Chowder House. We first heard about the opening last month, with owner Alberto Pineda promising an expanded menu compared to his other locations. And, indeed, the two-page menu features eight tacos guisados, four Mexico-city-style tacos de disco (street tacos made on the round, concave pan called the disco), as well as regular street tacos, burritos, alambres, tortes, enchiladas, and a breakfast menu. It's now open 10 am to 10 pm daily.

Sydna Ellen Konstin, a third-generation owner of John's Grill in Union Square, died earlier this summer while on a trip in Greece, as we learned from the Chronicle this week. Konstin, who was 41, attended Tamalpais High School in Marin and later graduated from the University of San Francisco, and was named after her grandmother, the wife of Gus Konstin, who bought John's Grill in the late 1960s. The reported cause of death was heart failure.

Perle Bar, the one-year-old casual Vietnamese spot from chef Rob Lam of SF's Lily in Oakland's Montclair Village, has closed. As Oaklandside/Nosh reports, the restaurant that had previously been Lam's California-French Perle for about seven years, is no more.

Eater's Diane de Guzman has an early review of Saam, the buzzy new SoMa Thai spot with Michelin cred from Bangkok chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn that opened in late July. She recommends the tuna za jin starter, featuring raw tuna atop tomato and a green coriander sauce; as well as the gaeng kua clams from the curry section; and the pad ped ped, a duck dish with young coconut. And she recommends asking if they have sato, an ancient type of wine made from sticky rice that is rarely seen in the States, in stock when you're there.

And Chronicle critic Cesar Hernandez recommends strip-mall sushi spot Tancho in Castro Valley, where he calls out the value-friendly $95 omakase offering, with some especially great hirame (olive flounder).