The finalists for this year's "Oscars of the food world" are now out, and while things are trending upward for Bay Area nominees, many of the "long-listed" semi-finalists from the local region were shut out.

It's been a familiar pattern of the last couple of years that the Bay Area can't catch a break at the James Beard Awards, though this year's slate of semi-finalists suggested things might be turning around.

Granted, making the cut between the so-called "long list" and the actual list of finalists or nominees is challenging given that some categories, like Best New Restaurant, had 30 semifinalists this year, for only 10 finalist slots. California got only one nod (Ki in Los Angeles), and so did New York (Lei), and we know the nominating committee is trying to be more geographically diverse these days. But this meant that Hayes Valley's Happy Crane is not on the list of finalists.

There are no Bay Area nominees this year for Emerging Chef or Outstanding Restaurant (Steve Joo of Oakland's Joodooboo was in the former category as a semifinalist, and Foreign Cinema was long-listed in the latter). But in the Outstanding Chef category is former Best Chef: West winner Michael Tusk of Quince, now one of five nominees in this prestigious category.

Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar also made the cut in the Outstanding Restaurateur category for their Bay Area restaurant group Cal-India Collective (Ettan, Copra, Eylan and Little Blue Door).

SoCal took three slots and the Bay has two in the Best Chef: California category, with Harrison Cheney of Sons & Daughters and Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu of Oakland's Sun Moon Studio getting nods.

Longstanding Tiki stalwart Smuggler's Cove got a nod in the Outstanding Bar category, and Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Haven is nominated for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.

House of Prime Rib was, sadly, shut out of the Outstanding Hospitality category.

And we learn today that Los Angeles celebrity chef Nancy Silverton will be getting this year's Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year's James Beard Awards ceremony is being held Monday, June 15, 2026 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

See the rest of the restaurant and chef nominees from around the country here.

A new izakaya lands near Union Square, the Castro gets a new Northern Thai restaurant, and the Chronicle's Cesar Hernandez gives his review of RT Bistro, all in This Week in Food.

A new Japanese izakaya called TBD has moved into the former Akikos space at 431 Bush Street. Eater reports that it's a collaboration between Ray Lee of Akikos — which has now moved to 430 Folsom Street — and Tommy Cleary of the erstwhile Divisadero spot Hina Yakitori. Expect Hokkaido scallop crudos, tsukune, and chicken karaage, but you'll also find yakitori style "medium-rare" chicken bits, sans skewers, and more. It doesn't look like they take reservations as of now, but the Instagram is here. And maybe there's a restaurant name that is still TBD?

A new Northern Thai restaurant has just opened in the Castro called Ka Kai. The restaurant, being run by alums of Farmhouse Kitchen and its affiliated restaurants, just debuted last week in the former Thai Chef space at 4133 18th Street. Hoodline had the news of the (technically soft) opening, and you can peek at the menu here. It includes Northern Thai dishes like mu thod and ka paw duck, all served in handmade bowls imported from Thailand's Lampang Province.

Tablehopper brings word that there is a new chef and a revamped menu at Izzy's Steaks & Chops in the Marina, which just reopened last year in its newly renovated digs. Chef Cory Armenta, formerly of Left Bank Brasseries and LB Steak, has updated the starters for spring, with a dish of asparagus and sauce gribiche, and crispy artichokes with preserved lemon aioli. Steak options remain the same, but there is a new seasonal vegetarian entree: artichokes en barigoule, with spring vegetables, sundried tomato, and vegetable consommé.

Ms. Tablehopper also raves about Falafelland, a new Yemeni-style falafel spot in the Tenderloin at 265 Golden Gate Avenue (at Hyde). In addition to some great sounding falafel made with a signature recipe involving avocado and blueberries, there are meating lamb lavash wraps and more.

Five Bay Area restaurants were added to the Michelin Guide as of this week, several months ahead of the California guide's full update reveal this summer — which will include the new star and Bib Gourmand ratings. The new additions are Restaurant Naides, Le Cigale, Dingles Public House, and Wolfsbane, all in SF, and in Menlo Park, Yeobo, Darling.

The Chronicle has word that popular Berkeley brewery and taproom Trumer Pils is going to be shutting down at the end of May. The US operations of the Pilsner brand, which originated in Germany, have been acquired by Firestone Walker Brewing Company, and will be relocating to Firestone's headquarters in Paso Robles.

Also closing in SoMa is Black Hammer Brewing Company, whose last day will be April 3. Broke-Ass Stuart was first to the news, with owners owners Jim "Hammer" Furman and Kevin Jackey launched their brewery first at Burning Man 11 years ago, and they've called themselves the world's only "Burner brewery." They'll be having a Playa-style sendoff party at their headquarters tonight (March 27) at 7pm. They already shut down their Castro outpost, Wilkommen, last year.

This week in reviews, Chronicle Associate Critic Cesar Hernandez brings us his take on RT Bistro, where he raves about the long off-menu burger from Rich Table, which he calls "easily one of the finest burgers in the city, worth every cent of its $30 price tag." He's also a fan of the kampachi crudo, the sweet potato tempura (which is excellent!), and the dry-aged steak, sans the prune-Armagnac sauce. He calls the pastas "largely unremarkable," but he enjoys all of Sarah Rich's desserts, which he says, "continue to stun."

Top image: The Dungeness crab 'Thermidor' at RT Bistro. Photo by Jay Barmann/SFist

The Michelin Guide has just revealed its midyear additions, giving some hints about which new Bay Area restaurants are already on the radars of inspectors and up for potential star ratings.

This week's announcement is not about Michelin stars — we won't have the updated star counts and new star additions until the full California Michelin Guide is updated sometime this summer. (They've been a bit erratic the past few years, with guide updates landing in mid-July in 2023, early August in 2024, and mid-June last year, and pre-pandemic the Bay Area guide updates used to come in October.)

As the Michelin organization explains in a blog post, "While our distinctions — Stars and Bib Gourmands — are only revealed at the annual ceremony, new restaurants are added to the Selection twice a year."

And one of those rounds for California came on Wednesday.

The new San Francisco additions are Wolfsbane, Restaurant Naides, Dingles Public House, and Le Cigale — and both Wolfsbane and Dingles Public House were on SFist's Best New Restaurants of 2025 list as well. (Restaurant Naides, which opened in the former Sons & Daughters space on Bush Street serving contemporary takes on Filipino food, has only been open since mid-December, and just got a rave from the Chronicle.)

Additionally, the much-talked-about Yeobo, Darling in Menlo Park will be added to this year's Michelin Guide as well.

Of Wolfsbane, the inspectors say, "Partners Chef Rupert Blease and wife Carrie, who runs the front of house, make their much-anticipated return to fine dining with this stylish Dogpatch enclave. The indulgent multicourse tasting menu shows no shortage of creative flair... Pristine local products are prepared with precision, enhanced by finely tuned sauces balancing richness and brightness."

Of Restaurant Naides, they say, "Named after Chef Patrick Gabon's mother, there's no mistaking this jewel box operation as anything other than a labor of love... ulling together Californian ingredients (including foraged herbs and flowers), traditional flavors and bold creativity, the dishes are as pleasing to look at as they are to eat."

And of Dingles, they say, "Beer-battered fish and chips, paired with classic mushy peas and curry sauce, hits its mark, as does a spot-on Scotch egg, with its jammy yolk and crunchy, panko-crusted exterior, and Welsh rarebit makes a concession to the States with Jasper Hill Farm cheddar from Vermont."

Related: The 10 Best New San Francisco Restaurants of 2025

Top image: A dish at Restaurant Naides, photo by Sena Johnson

A former dishwasher at the French Laundry in Yountville has filed a lawsuit on behalf of 50 other employees alleging that the restaurant routinely violates state law around mandatory break times and resting facilities, and that it also failed to pay the minimum wage or overtime.

The lawsuit was filed last week, on March 19, by the Glendale-based Koul Law Firm, as the Press Democrat was first to report. The named plaintiff is Elena Flores Beteta, who the suit says worked as a dishwasher at the French Laundry from 2022 to 2025. The suit names the French Laundry Restaurant Corporation and Thomas Keller Restaurant Group as defendants, but Keller himself is not personally named.

Beteta alleges that that the restaurant failed to pay overtime wages that were owed to her, and she was "required to work off the clock, [and] work through meal and rest periods" without compensation. The suit also contends that the restaurant does not provide breakroom facilities as required by law, and that bathroom facilities for employees are a 10-minute walk away in a storage facility that was consistently filthy.

The Chronicle also reports on the details of the suit, which include claims that employees were required to perform tasks, such as mopping floors, after they had clocked out for the night. And it suggests that meal times were consistently abbreviated by required tasks like taking out trash, or standing in line at the time clock.

The French Laundry issued a statement saying, "We value our employees and maintain a respectful, professional, and inclusive workplace. We are committed to complying with all applicable employment laws and regulations, and we maintain policies and practices designed to promote fairness and compliance across our organization."

This is not the first time that Keller's restaurant group has been sued over alleged labor violations. In 2016, they were sued for pregnancy discrimination when an employee at Keller's New York restaurant Per Se — which serves nearly the same menu as the French Laundry — claimed she was denied a transfer to the Napa restaurant after it had initially been offered to her, after managers discovered she was pregnant. While the restaurant was cleared of wrongdoing in court, the suit was later settled in 2019, per the Chronicle.

Keller's Las Vegas restaurant Bouchon Las Vegas was also hit with a sexual harassment claim three years ago, involving managers there.

A spokesperson for his restaurant group responded to his suit with a statement:

French Laundry is fully compliant with all California employment laws and this is the first person in 48 years to pursue legal action against The French Laundry about time and attendance or meal breaks. This frivolous, attention seeking filing is based on inaccurate, baseless information, including falsely claiming to represent other staff in a desperate effort to feed this false narrative. We are confident that we will prevail on the merits.

This latest class-action suit is reminiscent of two lawsuits in recent years involving alleged labor violations at San Francisco's House of Prime Rib. Those suits contended, among other things, that employees there were denied breaks of any kind, forced to perform tasks while off the clock, and forced to sign waivers forgoing meal breaks.

Over a decade ago, SF dim sum destination Yank Sing agreed to pay $4 million in back wages to employees over similar violations. In 2020, current and former employees of Burma Superstar won a $1.3 million class-action settlement, also over similar labor violations.

In recent weeks, Keller has been in local headlines over a planned affordable housing development in Yountville — with the tone of the headlines suggesting that he is among those fighting against affordable housing in the town, full stop. But Keller and others are arguing that the developer failed to do enough community outreach on the unit mix for the project, which is primarily studios and one-bedrooms — and he says his employees primarily want family housing with more bedrooms.

As of last week, per SFGate, the town of Yountville has put a pause on the development, after receiving enough signatures to put a referendum on an upcoming ballot that will put the zoning issue to voters.

This post has been updated with a statement from the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group.

Maybe it's indicative of larger troubles and maybe it's just a sign of a simple mistake or miscommunication that, unluckily, was caught on camera and went viral. But Hamburger Project in the Mission couldn't catch a break this past weekend.

With the headline "Raw hamburger left in the sun on the sidewalk. Ewww! Double Ewww!!", a Reddit post appeared on Sunday with the photo below, snapped by Redditor BubblegumCircus, showing many pounds of ground beef in plastic tubes left on the hot sidewalk along with a huge tub of mayonnaise, outside Hamburger Project at 598 Guerrero Street.

The Reddit post has garnered over 3,000 downvotes and over 500 comments, including "Hamburger Science Project," and "Eating there is gonna land you in the Mayo Clinic."

And, the original poster commented, "This was outside for an hour, then later meat was gone and mayo was inside on counter. Not sure where the meat is."

This second location of Hamburger Project opened last August, after the team behind Ju-Ni and the former sushi offshoot at this space, Handroll Project, decided to pivot concepts. And that pivot came eight months after a viral incident in which executive chef and partner Geoffrey Lee got into an online kerfuffle with a female influencer that was seen as bullying, and was forced to step away from all three businesses.

Now, the restaurant is facing another, albeit sillier scandal that they are trying to clear up on social media.

In a statement on Instagram, the restaurant say, "We are aware of a photo circulating that shows ground beef left outside our restaurant on Guerrero Street. This was the result of a delivery driver leaving the product unattended after being unable to access the restaurant — something we would never authorize or accept."

They add, "When our team arrived at the restaurant and found the product outside, it was immediately discarded as it was obviously compromised by being on the ground, without proper temperature control."

"We take food safety extremely seriously and have already updated our delivery procedures to ensure this does not happen again," the team says.

An additional slide on the Instagram post includes the communication from the delivery driver that came with a photo of the order left on the sidewalk, "Hiiii," it says, "I don't have time."

Someone, either an employee or the delivery person, clearly screwed up here, but has the PR damage already been done? The story has subsequently been picked up by KRON4 and the Chronicle.

Del Popolo announces it's closing, Esme sets an opening timeframe on Divis, and Grand Lake Kitchen comes to Noe Valley, all in This Week in Food.

Possibly the biggest food news of the week is that top-notch Nob Hill pizza spot Del Popolo is closing its doors after 12 years on Bush Street. Owner and pizzaiolo Jon Darsky, an alum of Flour + Water, posted the news on Instagram, explaining that he was closing in order to focus on his burgeoning Del Popolo frozen pizza business.  "Months of reflection haven’t lessened my ambivalence, but ultimately it feels like the right decision and the right path," Darsky says. "Changing the way people think about frozen pizza is a mission I believe in, and I’m eager to continue building on what we’ve already accomplished." Fans of Del Popolo's great Neapolitan pies have until May 8 to head back there.

We have an update this week on Esme, the new French-inspired bistro concept coming to the former Ragazza space at 311 Divisadero. Chef-owner Susan Dunn, a co-owner of Pearl 6101 in the Richmond, tells the Chronicle that she is aiming for a May opening, and she hopes to keep prices reasonable, with entrees priced between $22 and $32. "I want to channel the spirit of French cuisine using local ingredients,” Dunn tells the paper. “I want to bring the sense of ease and warmth you get from the bistro, with food that feels equally refined and comforting."

Oakland's Grand Lake Kitchen has taken over the former Mr. Digby's space in SF's Noe Valley (1199 Church Street). Tablehopper reports that the place, a third location for the business, is now softly open for brunch and dinner starting this weekend, and they'll be closed Mondays and Tuesdays for a couple weeks, with seven-day service, 9 am to 9 pm, beginning April 1. Check out the menus here.

Mission Local reports that a Michoacan-style carnitas restaurant is headed for a space at 3222 22nd Street, the former Gabriella’s Pizza. It's called Carnitas El Rincon, and it's a chain with 21 locations across California and Nevada. The restaurant will serve tacos, burritos, combos, and carnitas by the pound.

And just a few doors away, a Taiwanese-style fried chicken spot called Zhengxin Chicken Steak is opening at 3230 22nd Street, per Mission Local. This is a second location in the Bay Area for Zhengxin, whose menu includes fried chicken by the piece, chicken sandwiches, milk teas, skewers, rice combos, sesame balls, and scallion pancakes.

Over in the Marina, Tablehopper reports on the opening of Lobalita, a new Mexican cantina in the former Tipsy Pig space (2231 Chestnut Street), from the original team of Stryker Scales, Nate Valentine, and Jamal Blake-Williams, who are also behind new neighborhood favorite Bar Darling. The trio also previously had two Mexican spots, Mamacita and Padrecito, both now closed, so this is sort of a return to form. Lobalita features cocktails (all $14), as well as a full menu of Mexican small plates, tostadas, and enchiladas.

The Chronicle had word that popular Cantonese restaurant Taishan Cuisine, which still has a location in Chinatown, has shut down its one-year-old second location in Ingleside, at 1125 Ocean Avenue. Taishan is a noted Chronicle favorite, and it is one of the only restaurants in Chinatown that still serves late-night diners, until 3 am.

The Chronicle's Mario Cortez has some special praise for a homestyle burrito pop-up known for its Sonoran-style tortillas called Xulo, which is now popping up every Saturday from 10 am to 1pm at Morrell’s Bread in Berkeley.

And Associate Critic Cesar Hernandez filed his review of Bar Panisse, and he's mostly a fan. He writes that he was "blown away" by the "elemental simplicity" of a garden salad from chef Amelia Telč, and he liked a scallop crudo and some sheep’s milk ricotta dumplings in mushroom broth as well. But he was "underwhelmed" by several dishes, including a "ruddy lamb porterhouse" that was "small and bland." Still, he adds, the place is constantly busy these days, and it "has the raucous energy of a Paris wine bar."

A hot pot restaurant in Cupertino that, true to its Silicon Valley location, uses a humanoid robot to take orders from customers and also features it dancing in the dining room, lost control of that robot and it started making a serious mess.

The video of the robot that won't stop dancing, and that needed three staffers to restrain it while one repeatedly tried to shut it off via an app, has gone viral and even made it on NBC News — where a talking head expressed concern over the ordeal. And this all happened at Haidilao, a hot pot restaurant in Cupertino.

The comedy is enhanced by the robot wearing a Zootopia 2 bib that says, "I'm Good!" on it.

Here's the full clip below

And here is NBC's alarmed coverage...

Haidilao gave a statement to NBC, by way of explanation, saying that this robot is "part of a pilot set-up," and "In this case, the robot was brought closer to a dining table at a guest's request, which is not its typical operating setting."

They add, "The limited space affected its movement during the performance. We remain committed to providing a safe and enjoyable experience for our guests."

"This Bay Area scene is just another reminder that technological leaps come with headaches," says NBC's Jesse Kirsch.

A correspondent goes on to add that a research paper last year predicts that there will be 3 billion humanoid robots out in the world by 2060, and two thirds of these will be in people's homes.

If you haven't been following Sam Smith's endearingly "piggy" Instagram account devoted to his food consumption around the Bay Area, you're missing out. And as Smith was getting ready to leave town this week, they posted one last video on the roof of the Castro Theatre.

The account, @samserved, found the singer enjoying wings at San Tung and at Pier 23 Cafe, cured meats at Molinari Delicatessen, sashimi at Castro gem Eiji, and brunch at Shoreline Coffee Shop in Mill Valey.

Now that Smith's five-week residency at the Castro Theatre has just wrapped, they called on fans to recommend the best smashburger in the Bay, and the answer they received was Lovely's, which has locations in Cole Valley and in Oakland.

In the video below, shot on top of the Castro marquee, we see Smith laying out a bevy of delights from Lovely's, including several hot dogs, chili cheese fries, and apparently every burger on the menu.

Smith declares the Chili Willie both "rude," for the name, and "too spicy." But they adore the Drive-Thru burger with American cheese on a sesame bun, calling it "a 10 out of 10 burger."

Most of the bounty of food, Smith says, was going to their team. But the chili cheese fries? "That's not going to my team. That's mine."

Fat Cat SF gets a brick-and-mortar wine bar space in the Mission, Rize Up Sourdough readies a SoMa cafe, and night markets return in Cole Valley and the Castro, all in This Week In Food.

A new wine bar is headed to the Mission District, and that is Fat Cat SF, from Jessica Bell of Fat Cat Wine Club. Bell briefly had her pop-up at the Castro's Fisch & Flore last fall, but now Tablehopper reports that Bell is moving into a permanent space at 3215 Mission Street, the former Outer Orbit, near where Valencia and Mission meet in La Lengua. Food at the wine bar will come courtesy of Claws of Mantis, the Vietnamese pop-up from chef Kevin Tang, and both are hoping to be open by early or mid-April.

Andytown Coffee Roasters is getting ready to open a new FiDi location at 66 Kearny Street. Tablehopper alerted us to an Instagram post from the Andytown crew, and it appears the opening will be soon, but we do not have an opening date.

Tablehopper also had word that another local coffee player, Ritual Coffee Roasters, is opening up in the FiDi — seems like a trend? Ritual is taking over the former Torrefazione Italia cafe space at 255 California Street. That opening date is also TBA.

The Chronicle had news that Rize Up Bakery, the business of baker and ube sourdough maven Azikiwee Anderson, will be opening a cafe this summer at its production facility at 1160 Howard Street. Anderson said he plans to serve grilled cheese sandwiches, salads, soups, and coffee, with customers' choice of bread. And you'll be able to buy whole loaves as well.

Bernal Heights cake specialist Black Jet Bakery is expanding to the Outer Sunset with Black Jet Luncheonette, coming to the small space at Judah and 46th Avenue that was previously home to Damn Fine Coffee, and before that, Trouble Coffee. As Mission Local reports, the new location will feature Black Jet's signature breakfast sandwich, and its coffee cake, as well a rotating menu of sandwiches. They're aiming to open by June.

The kiosk on the Powell side of Union Square that is currently home to b. patisserie may have a new tenant next year. The Chronicle reports on a request for proposals that went out from the Rec & Parks Department for the 900-square-foot cafe space, with a lease beginning in February 2027, which suggests that b. patisserie does not plan to stay beyond their current lease. A new tenant could sign a lease for up to nine years, the department said. Across the park, we await the new Super Duper that is set to arrive later this year.

And do be aware that the night market Cole Valley Nights returns next week, on Thursday, March 19, and the Castro Night Market starts a new season, after going on hiatus at Haloween, on Friday March 20. Both events happen with the help of the Civic Joy Fund and local merchants associations, and they are "eturning due to popular demand after the huge surge in popularity of night markets last year," according to a release.

Top image: Rize Up Bakery's ube sourdough via Instagram

Some bad news for NoPa residents who rely on the Lucky supermarket for their groceries: The store is closing later this year because it is not financial viable, parent company Save Mart says.

Workers at the Lucky supermarket at 1750 Fulton Street (at Masonic) were given notice this week that the store will be closing permanently on September 11. The Chronicle had the news Thursday, and it's more bad news for the grocery landscape in San Francisco generally, following last year's closure of the Fillmore Safeway store, which was an anchor in that neighborhood.

This also represents the loss of one of the city's least expensive grocery options, in a city where the same 12 items can vary wildly in price — and cost twice as much whether you're shopping at Trader Joe's or Bi-Rite. The Chronicle's most recent survey of grocery prices around the city found Lucky to be second only to Trader Joe's in selling the least expensive options for a dozen basic products, including extra-virgin olive oil, ground beef, eggs, rice, and coffee.

After the Fulton Street Lucky store closes, that will leave only one other Lucky location in the city, at 1515 Sloat Boulevard.

An executive at Save Mart Supermarkets informed the 48 employees at the store that it had become financially unviable.

"Closing a store is not a decision we take lightly, but this store has had performance issues for an extended period of time," said Phil Keene, senior director of communications and government affairs for Save Mart, per the Chronicle. "We have worked to enhance and remodel the location, but it has not shown the sales and profit needed to continue operations."

Safeway similarly cited financial viability issues, and shoplifting woes, in closing its Webster Street store last year. Members of the community and the Board of Supervisors tried to push back to keep the store open, given that it was a lifeline for elderly residents of the Fillmore and Japantown, in particular, to no avail.

The Fulton Street Lucky location, at the shopping center known as Fulton Market, was formerly an Albertsons (the parent company of Safeway) until 2014. This brand change happened after Save Mart Supermarkets acquired a group of Albertsons stores in Northern California.

Given that there is no redevelopment plan for the Fulton Street property that we're aware of — as there is with the Fillmore Safeway site — it seems possible that another chain may want to take over this store once Lucky closes.

Just up Masonic Avenue a few blocks, Asian-Canadian grocery chain T&T Supermarkets is opening a big new location soon in the former Best Buy, at the Target-anchored City Center complex. As of last spring, T&T said it was aiming for a "winter 2026" opening, but we have not had an update since.

SF's favorite pricy gourmet grocer, Bi-Rite, is set to become a four-location enterprise with news that they have snagged a new space on California Street in the Outer Richmond.

The newest Bi-Rite is set to open — maybe later this year, maybe next year — in the former 60o1 California Market, at 6001 California Street (at 22nd Avenue), as the SF Standard was first to report. Reps for Bi-Rite have not yet confirmed the news or announced a potential opening date. [Update: SFGate says the deal is not actually fully inked, and there are still "contingencies" that need to be resolved.]

The historic grocery building, which was once home to Appel & Dietrich Fine Food Market — whose neon sign still graces the corner of the facade — is in keeping with the vintage aesthetic of Bi-Rite's other three locations, all of which occupy historic, standalone neighborhood retail stores. The original on 18th Street, which had the name Bi-Rite previously, provided the branding aesthetic for what's now a mini-chain of stores.

Marketing materials for the building note that it has 3,481 square feet on the main floor, and a basement level with another 3,375 square feet. That should help with Bi-Rite's storage needs, which are partly solved at its other locations through the leasing of nearby garages and the like. There is also a 645-square-foot mezzanine.

The store is in something of a gourmet cluster of businesses in the Central/Outer Richmond, just a block away from the much loved Pearl 6101 and Pizzetta 211, and also sits near Violet's, Fiorella, and Angelina's Deli Cafe.

This expansion news comes after Bi-Rite's latest addition, the Polk Street store, which opened in August 2024 in the former home of Real Food Co. Bi-Rite's first expansion to Divisadero happened in early 2013.

As we await a timeframe for the opening from the Bi-Rite team, it should be noted that these store openings have tended not to happen quickly. The Divisadero store was announced and buzzed over for a full three years before it made it open, and it was a full two years between the announcement of the Polk Street store and when it finally opened.

Bi-Rite owner Sam Mogannam took over the original Bi-Rite on 18th Street in 1998, and the block very quickly took on its foodinista status with the openings of Delfina that same year, and Tartine Bakery in 2002. Bi-Rite Creamery came along with its separate storefront in 2006, just down the street.

Many locals love the store for its excellent, locally sourced, organic produce, its wine and cheese selection, and its wide array of pre-made and grab-and-go entrees and salads. But as the Chronicle found in its most recent survey of grocery prices, Bi-Rite comes out on top among local stores for the cost of purchasing 12 specific items — with Trader Joe's prices being about half of Bi-Rite's, for those same items.

"Today, most Americans buy their groceries at Walmart and most of that food comes from a handful of multinational corporations," Mogannam wrote in Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food. "In contrast, our Market is in the middle of a densely populated neighborhood. We have no parking lot, but the foot traffic on our block is high. Those factors have made it possible for us to be the kind of store where people want to and can shop daily and can run into their neighbors at the same time."

Previously: Third Bi-Rite Location In Russian Hill Readies For Opening Next Week

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

As we were getting periodic news in recent months about the reopening of the 104-year-old Huntington Hotel, the big question for those of us who won't be booking thousand-dollar rooms there has been when the moody restaurant and lounge known as The Big Four would be back open.

And now we have an answer: March 17. The Huntington Hotel reopened on March 1, and had an official neon sign re-lighting last week. A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Monday night, with Mayor Daniel Lurie doing the honors. And the restaurant will follow in a little less than two weeks, coming back with a redesign by Ken Fulk, and all of its old, wood-paneled, noir-ish charm.

Much like the renovations at the historic Westin St. Francis and the grand rebirth of Michael Mina's Bourbon Steak last fall, this reopening marks another, indisputably positive sign for San Francisco's rebound.

The Huntington Hotel, which was purchased out of foreclosure in 2023, has been reinvented as a luxury property by Flynn Properties — whose portfolio of hotels includes the Carneros Resort & Spa in Napa, and the Solage, also in Napa. The Huntington's Nob Hill Spa is also back open, and reservations for treatments can be found here.

The building began as an apartment building in 1922, and converted into a hotel in 1924, at the height of the Roaring Twenties. It's named for one of the noted Big Four robber barons of the late 19th Century, Collis Potter Huntington, who along with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins funded the Central Pacific Railroad — the western portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad that terminated in Oakland. The original Huntington Mansion stood across the street, where Huntington Park — a gift of Collis's widow Arabella to the city — now stands.

All of the Big Four had mansions here on the top of what was formerly called California Hill, and all of them burned to the ground in the 1906 post-earthquake fire. The only mansion that remains, the former James C. Flood mansion, survived the fire and now serves as the Pacific-Union Club.

When it reopens, The Big Four restaurant will be led by new Executive Chef David Intonato (Appelation Healdsburg, Gardenia in San Jose), with Matthew de Quillien serving as general manager. de Quillien previously worked at Daniel Boulud's New York properties, before moving to manage Soho House in London.

The Big Four menu features the signature chicken pot pie that remained on the menu for much of its 50 years, before the restaurant closed in 2020. There is also The Big Four Louie Wedge salad, which can come with either Dungeness crab or Royal Red shrimp; and a tableside preparation of steak tartare served with roasted bone marrow. There are also steaks, naturally, and a take on cioppino, featuring Dungeness crab legs, clams, kampachi tuna, and mussels, and will reference an old Big Four menu that called it simply "San Francisco seafood stew."

Cocktails will include ice-cold martinis and Vespers, a Huntington Negroni, and local creations like the Cable Car (rum, lemon, and bitters).

A second bar has been added in a space off the lobby, called Arabella's, and that will feature its own cocktail menu.

A few more photos are below. Reservations for The Big Four (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are now available here.

The Big Four - 1075 California Street - Opening March 17

The hotly anticipated opening of Loveski Deli, with its much lauded bagels and other deli fare, came Wednesday in San Francisco's Jackson Square, marking the first foray into SF by Napa-based chef Christopher Kostow.

It was only just in late January that we first learned that Christopher Kostow and his four-year-old bagel operation, Loveski Deli, was coming to San Francisco. And opening day is already here. The Chronicle had the news Wednesday, with Kostow telling the paper that he hopes people will see Loveski as "a lot more than a bagel shop" and not your average "Jew-ish" deli.

Also, he adds, that being in the vibrant hub of Jackson Square, with its mix of tech startups, creatives, financial firms, and VCs, not to mention antique and antiquarian book shops, forces this Loveski location to be adaptable to the demands of the neighborhood. It will also double as a coffee shop — and the speed of the opening seems to have been helped by the fact that they took over the former Postscript Cafe, and kept much of the cafe staff intact.

This is the third location of Loveski Deli, after the original opened in 2022 in Napa's Oxbow Public Market, and a second debuted at the Marin County Mart in Larkspur in the fall of 2023.

Loveski's bagels, made in a Montreal-esque style and boiled in honey, come in eight flavors, including a gluten-free seeded everything option. You won't find any wild jalapeno-cheddar bagels here, but there is a bagel coated in Jacobson salt, poppy seed and sesame seed options, and cinnamon-raisin, as well as the "famous yeast" bagel.

Sandwich options on the Napa menu include those served on bagels and on other bread, including Japanese-style egg salad on milk bread, pastrami on soft rye, a Reuben and a tuna melt both on griddled rye, and a braised brisket sandwich on a crunchy roll. Grab-and-go salad and sandwich options will be more of a focus at the SF location, including the egg salad sando, and likely the turkey and cheddar sandwich made at the other locations. A vegetarian chickpea salad sandwich may also be on offer, as it is at the other locations.

Unique cream cheese spreads include miso-vegetable and yellow chive and fermented onion, and there is a vegan spread option too.

There are also roasted salmon and chicken teriyaki bowls at this location, along with a chicken Caesar wrap, and a new breakfast burrito made with pastrami, a smashed latke, and green onion.

There's no word on whether the after-4pm Thai fried chicken from the Napa location will be making it down here — maybe that would require a fryer and vent hood?

Loveski Deli is now open daily at 499 Jackson Street (at Montgomery) from 7 am to 7 pm.

SF awaits the openings of Maria Isabel and JouJou, We Be Sushi closes, and the Chronicle's Top 100 is getting its annual update very soon, all in This Week In Food.

We're coming up on a significant week in terms of restaurant openings as we emerge from the depths of winter — and as we're getting some seriously spring-like weather again. First, on Tuesday, March 3, Maria Isabel opens in Presidio Heights, at 500 Presidio Avenue, from the couple behind Dalida in the Presidio. As we reported this week, the restaurant is a celebration of chef Laura Ozyilmaz's Mexican heritage, both her mother's side from Guerrero and her father's from Sinaloa, with plenty of modern California style thrown in. Reservations can be found here, but things are looking pretty booked up already through March.

Next Friday (March 6) comes the debut of JouJou, the new French brasserie concept from the Lazy Bear team of chef David Barzelay and Colleen Booth. As previously reported, it's set to be a stylish affair with prenty of old-school and new-school French touches, and a bar area that hopes to become a bustling evening scene. Those reservations are now live here.

Tablehopper had an update last week on the coming reopening of The Slanted Door in its long-ago original digs at 584 Valencia Street. Over a year out, as we are now, from the untimely death of chef-founder Charles Phan, The Slanted Door Group says the project is still in the works, but we are likely about another year from seeing it open. So that means early 2027.

A few doors over, the ever-popular, 30-year-old We Be Sushi (538 Valencia) has closed as of earlier this month. Mission Local brought the sad news, with 76-year-old chef-owner Andy Tonozuka saying, "I felt so much relief once I decided to retire."

The eagerly anticipated opening of Café Bolita, the first brick-and-mortar venture for chef Emmanuel Galvan of Bolita Masa fame, softly opened this week in the former Standard Fare space at Eighth and Carleton streets in West Berkeley. As the Chronicle reports, the restaurant is open with a limited takeout menu and limited hours, but service will become more full by late March. For now, fans can stop by for mushroom quesadillas with heirloom blue masa tortillas, and braised chard tamales with carrot-flavored masa.

In East Bay chain restaurant news, North Italia, the Italian restaurant chain owned by The Cheesecake Factory, is opening a new location on March 25 in Walnut Creek. The restaurant allegedly "doesn't feel like a chain restaurant" according to one SoCal critic, and features an open kitchen and pasta made daily in-house. And, at lunch, there are sliders made with garlic knots as the bread, so that's fun.

In celebrity dining news, Sam Smith has launched a food account on Instagram called @SamServed, and the Grammy winner, in the midst of a Castro Theatre residency, has been eating their way across town — including stops at the Castro's Eiji, stalwart Noe Valley spot Firefly for fried chicken, and Molinari Delicatessen in North Beach. Somebody tell Smith to read SFist for some newer recs!

Olympic superstar Alysa Liu had a welcome-home dinner Tuesday night in Alameda, at Italian restaurant Trabocco, as the Chronicle reports. And NBA superstar Steph Curry stopped in for a bite at KoJa Kitchen's food truck at SPARK Social earlier this week.

And, despite critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan being on maternity leave, we now know that the Chronicle will be updating the Top 100 nonetheless, with the big reveal coming on April 6. Like last year, they're having a party for the honored restaurants, and tickets are available to purchase, with Chronicle subscribers getting a discount.

Top image: Photo via We Be Sushi