bacar: Wine director Debbie Zachareas and executive chef Arnold Eric Wong have left this vino-inspired South of Market restaurant, which they co-founded, citing irreconcilable disagreements with their other partners. In the meantime, chef de cuisine Adam Timney will steer the kitchen while sommelier Ehren Jennings takes on the wine program. Zachareas can now be found at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant (1 Ferry Building), which she co-owns. Wong, who recently sold his other restaurant, Eos, will continue to run his bakery business.
Bistro 1689: Eric Kuhne is taking over for opening chef Scott Drozd, who recently resigned from this Noe Valley nabe spot; the menu is not expected to substantially change.
Bushi-tei: This Japantown restaurant has introduced Sunday brunch and a new late-night, small-plates menu.
Cafe La Haye: Norman Owens (formerly of Canlis in Seattle as well as Michael Mina) has taken over the stoves from founding chef John McReynolds at this Liluputian Sonoma spot, where he continues to follow McReynolds' culinary vision. Saul Gropman, the other founding partner, is still running the front of the house.
Cool Café: Diners at the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University can now kick back with specialty martinis, in addition to organic beers and local wines. Though the cocktails are available during the cafe's regular daytime hours, things really heat up on Thursday nights from 5 to 8 PM, when dinner is served.
Cortez: Has closed temporarily so that emergency renovations could be done to the building. Management anticipates that it will reopen by the end of this month, but watch this space for details.
Drake's Beach Café: This funky seaside coffee shop overlooking Drake's Bay in Inverness (1 Drakes Beach Rd.) is expanding its special evening dinners to Saturday nights beginning March 17th. Currently, it serves a reservations-only Friday night prix fixe dinner from 6–8 PM. For more details and reservations, call 415-669-1297.
Farallon: Billed as offering the largest selection of fresh oysters in the Bay Area, the new oyster bar at this elaborately designed Downtown seafooder features "sea urchin" barstools and several Chesapeake Bay varieties that are exclusive to the restaurant.
Frjtz Fries: Munching Missionites will soon be frjking out over those addictive Belgian fries – a new location at 590 Valencia Street will open by early April.
Koi Palace: A scaled-down branch of this venerated Chinese seafood restaurant has opened at Thunder Valley Casino (1200 Athens Ave., Lincoln). Folks in the East Bay bedroom community of Dublin are also getting lucky – a third outpost, to be named Koi Garden, is set to debut in the yet-to-be-completed Ulferts Center (4288 Dublin Blvd.) later this summer, where it will be accompanied by a casual noodle and Chinese barbecue joint to be named Just Koi.
Kuleto's: Downtown's Villa Florence Hotel has been sold though it will continue to operate this trattoria and wine bar, now under the tutelage of original chef Bob Helstrom. However, the new management intends to give the restaurant a major face-lift in coming months. Stay tuned for more details.
La Toque: Ken Frank's Rutherford restaurant is the first West Coast venue to serve cult-status Akaushi beef, noted not only for its high quality but also for its higher concentrations of monounsaturated fat.
Left Bank: The Left Bank brasseries throughout the Bay Area (with outposts in Larkspur, Menlo Park, Pleasant Hill, San Mateo and San Jose) are featuring a culinary promotion that spotlights France's different regional cuisines throughout the year. When guests order the current month's "plat and fromage de le region," available à la carte or together as part of a $26 prix fixe, they'll receive a stamp for that region in a passport. After accumulating six different regional stamps from six different months, diners become eligible to enter a drawing for a chance to win prizes like private wine dinners and trips for two to Paris. During the month of March, the highlighted region is Normandie. Complete promotion rules and future featured regions are available online at www.leftbank.com.
Levende: Next month, the pioneer of the "Sunday Boogie Brunch" will open a second locale in a historic brick building in old Oakland (827 Washington St.), where it will serve both lunch and dinner.
Medicine Eatstation: Downtown's austere Japanese Shojin-style restaurant temporarily closed last month and will reopen on March 12th as a smaller, more casual weekday-lunch-only spot serving some signature items but also noodle and rice dishes that cater to the grab-and-go lunch clientele. In the fall, the main dining room will reopen as Medicine-Ryori, a fine-dining spot that will feature sit-down "high-level Japanese cuisine in an artistic setting."
Michael Mina: This month, Chris L'Hommedieu (formerly the executive sous-chef of NYC's Per Se and, prior to that, the sous-chef at Aqua) takes over as Michael Mina's chef de cuisine, overseeing the day-to-day operations at his eponymous restaurant in the Westin St. Francis.
Mixt Greens: Worker bees will have another outpost for fast yet healthy dining when this innovative lunch joint opens a second locale at 475 Sansome Street in May.
Ozumo: Baseball-player-turned-restaurateur Jeremy Umland plans to cross the Bay Bridge to open another outpost of his high-end Japanese sushi and robata restaurant in the tony Broadway Grand, a new luxury condo complex to be built at the corner of Broadway and Grand Avenue in the Lake Merritt District sometime in the spring of 2008.
Sparrow: Mike Yakura, last cooking at Sutra and the now shuttered Aura, has taken over the kitchen at this out-of-the-way Nob Hill spot, replacing opening chef Terry Lynch. His new menu reflects his signature Cal-Asian cooking style.