New Restaurants
New Nightspots
| Name |
Address |
City |
Phone |
| Crash |
34 Mason St. |
San Francisco |
877-342-7274 |
| DaDa |
86 Second St. |
San Francisco |
415-357-1367 |
Coming Soon
Alembic
Slated for a summer opening, this Haight Street restaurant and bar (1725 Haight St.), from the folks behind nearby Magnolia Pub, will showcase beers, wines, sakes and spirits from boutique producers complemented by an all-American small-plates menu with a similarly seasonal, local focus (e.g. an artisanal cheese and charcuterie sampler).
Burgers and Half Bottles
Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller's fleeting, homespun New American prix fixery opening in September in the former Wine Garden space (6476 Washington St.; 707-944-2487), will transform into this permanent burger joint sometime in 2007. Complementing the patties will be fries, shakes and, of course, half bottles of California wine.
Fillmore Jazz Heritage Center
A slew of restaurants are tied to the spring 2007 opening of the Fillmore Jazz Heritage Center at the corner of Eddy and Fillmore streets in the Upper Fillmore district. The anchor tenant will be a second outpost of Yoshi's – in addition to a 400-seat jazz music club, chef Shotaro Kamio, who made waves at Ozumo, will prepare modern Japanese cuisine in an 180-seat dining room, with an additional 150-seat lounge. Also opening inside the center is Blue Mirror Restaurant and Lounge, which will present elevated Southern fare (think hushpuppies and fried chicken) by chef-owner David Lawrence, who spent years at the Carnelian Room. Across the street, Joseph Manzare (Globe, Tres Agaves, etc.) will get in on the act with Fillmo' Betta Restaurant and Lounge (1520 Eddy St.), a late-night jazz lounge serving BBQ and other Southern comfort food à la NYC's Blue Smoke.
Mercury
Cocktails and Asian tapas will be on offer at this hip nightspot from Mecca and Betelnut Pejiu Wu alum; it's opening near Cow Hollow (1434 Lombard St.) in late summer/early fall.
Oxbow Market
Up in Napa, plans are in place to open this gourmet emporium of restaurants and food vendors modeled after San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace. The project, to be located across from COPIA along the Napa River in Downtown Napa, is slated to open in fall 2007 with at least 30 tenants, including four sit-down restaurants. Notably, Donna Scala and Scott Warner of Napa's Bistro Don Giovanni have signed on to open La Frasca, a 200-seat riverside enoteca serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Presidio
The Next Restaurant Row? A spate of exciting new eateries, many of them by well-established restaurateurs, are in the works to feed the projected 1,500-strong workforce generated by the arrival of Lucasfilm, which opened in June. This fall, Chez Spencer's Laurent Katgely will open La Terrace, a French bistro (215 Lincoln Ave.) featuring a wood-burning oven and a dining room, bar and patio designed by Michael Brannan (Cortez), all with views of the bay. At Presidio Social Club, the designer behind Slanted Door will transform the century-old Building 563 into a large, convivial all-day spot featuring American food with a twist, plus a full bar and a patio, to open by the end of the year. Also debuting this fall will be Pres a Vis, an offshoot of Walnut Creek's Va de Vi, which will serve globally inspired small plates in Building C of the Letterman Digital Arts Center, near the corner of Chestnut and Lyon streets.
Spanish Fly
This Spanish tapas and wine bar is scheduled to debut in August at 3300 Geary Blvd., where it will replace Straits Cafe (reopening this fall in swankier digs in the forthcoming Westfield Centre; see below). Straits owner Chris Yeo and his culinary director Barney Brown will oversee the new joint.
Westfield San Francisco Centre
Fine dining in a mall setting seems counterintuitive in a cosmopolitan city like San Francisco, but when this upscale shopping complex (835 Market St.) opens next month, Downtown diners will have a host of boldface restaurants to choose from. Notables include Straits Cafe, to be the only remaining city link of Chris Yeo's stylish Singaporean chain; Lark Creek Steak, a chophouse and seafooder from Bradley Ogden and Lark Creek Restaurant Group; 'wichcraft, an offshoot of Tom Colicchio's NYC eat-in/take-out sandwich cafe; Zazil, an upscale Mexican seafooder from the folks behind Colibrí Mexican Bistro; and Out the Door, another branch of the Vietnamese gourmet take-out shop from Charles Phan, which stocks meal kits for signature Slanted Door items such as "shaking beef." The complex will also house a fancy food court with 15 fast-food venues serving on china, plus a mega Food Emporium run by Bristol Farms.
Also Coming Soon
Perry Butler, who earlier this year snapped up Prego, the longtime Cow Hollow Italian at 2000 Union St., has temporarily closed that venue, and plans to reopen it as a French brasserie. Butler is working with the Bacchus Management Group, also behind The Village Pub, Pizza Antica and the forthcoming Cal-Med restaurant Spruce (3640 Sacramento St.).
Good Deals and Other News
This petite East Bay trattoria is expanding ever so slightly, adding a wine bar and about 10 more seats. It will close after Labor Day and reopen in October with a few more items on its menu.
Is now serving weekend brunch and lunch, including new savory items and Indian fusion dishes such as egg dosas.
Epicurious Garden
North Berkeley's recently opened gallery of gourmet take-out shops and specialty retailers (1509-1513 Shattuck Ave.) offers a fine assortment of food to be enjoyed chez vous. Noteworthy tenants include Kirala 2, which serves sushi and bento boxes; Socca Oven, an offshoot of the popular Provençal eatery Gregoire; Imperial Tea Court, a branch of the famed Chinatown purveyor; Soop, which specializes in handmade soups, stews, chowders and chilis; and Taste, featuring fusion-style rotisserie chicken, clay-oven-baked breads and a wine tasting bar. In addition, there are outposts of Dom Petroff Caviar (a sister company of Petrossian Caviar), local gelateria Cia Gelato and the chocolatier Alegio. The brick building also features a courtyard garden and an on-site culinary school. Open Monday–Saturday from 11 AM–9 PM and Sunday from 11 AM–7 PM.
This Russian Hill Med has introduced "Kid's Night" on Sundays from 5–8 PM, when kids under 10 can choose items such as a Shirley Temple ($1.50) and mac 'n' cheese ($4) or pizza ($5) from the "Little Luella" menu while their folks hit the harder stuff (e.g. Coca Cola pork shoulder).
Founding chef Keith Luce has resigned from this Napa chophouse. A replacement has yet to be named, though no major changes to the menu are expected.
Is now serving weekend lunch.
Zaré
Chef Hoss has introduced "Friends of the Valley" nights: on Sundays and Mondays, a special $29 three-course prix fixe menu is offered in addition to the regular menu. Meanwhile, the bar lineup now includes burgers and Cosmos.
Recent Closings