New Restaurants
New Nightspots
| Name |
Address |
City |
Phone |
| Annie's Social Club |
917 Folsom St. |
San Francisco |
415-974-1585 |
| Shine |
1337 Mission St. |
San Francisco |
415-255-1337 |
Coming Soon
Cafe Grillades
This Hayes Valley offshoot of San Bruno's Crepes du Monde will serve French savory and sweet crêpes, panini and North African halal dinners (till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays) when it opens later this month at 501 Hayes Street.
Farmer Brown
Affordable soul food with a healthy Californian sensibility will be the bill of fare at this forthcoming restaurant attached to Downtown's Hotel Metropolis (25 Mason St.) and run by former Blue Jay Cafe owner Jay Foster. The menu will showcase produce from Bay Area African-American farmers thanks to its partnership with Mo' Better Foods, a local organization that works with black farmers in Northern California to get their produce into markets, restaurants and other organizations in predominantly black Bay Area neighborhoods. It also hopes to train and employ interested youth from the nearby area. Expected to open in a few months, the restaurant will initially serve dinner and Sunday jazz brunch and a lounge will feature DJs and occasional live music.
Kookez Café
Opening this month in the Noe Valley space that formerly held Miss Millie's (4123 24th St.) is this New American cafe that hopes to maintain its predecessor's famed brunch and homey cooking; expect the original Miss Millie's to soon resurface at 5912 College Avenue in Oakland's Rockridge district.
Modern Tea
Forget Boston – a tea party is brewing in San Francisco's Hayes Valley. This forthcoming cafe and retail store, slated to open soon at 602 Hayes Street, will serve a wide selection of organic and fair-trade teas, as well as a smattering of soups, salads and savory dishes.
NoPa
Denizens of the neighborhood known as North of the Panhandle will have a new place to call their own come April, when a triumvirate of Chow alumni opens this affordable restaurant at 560 Divisadero Street. Chef Laurence Jossel (formerly of Chow and Chez Nous) will orchestrate what he calls "urban rustic wood-fired cuisine" – local, seasonal, organic fare prepared in the kitchen's wood-fired grill, rotisserie and pizza ovens and served until 1 AM nightly. There will also be mezzanine seating overlooking the open kitchen, a 14-seat communal table and a concrete-topped bar, which will mix juiced-to-order cocktails.
Swanky Steakhouse
The Rat Pack will meet the Castro's buff six-pack set at this retro steakhouse from the folks behind Lime and Sneaky Tiki that's slated to open later this spring (2251 Market St.). Let's just hope this throwback eatery fares better than its predecessor, Repastoria Satyricon, itself an attempt at throwback Italian cuisine.
Also Coming Soon
Alumni of The Village Pub in Woodside are launching a yet-to-be-named New American restaurant in a soon-to-be-built shopping center in Granite Bay, a tony suburb of Sacramento (the center will also house a branch of Pizza Antica). The space will boast an 800-sq.-ft. deck overlooking a large pond; a fall opening is planned.
Good Deals and Other News
This SoMa restaurant (at 68 Fourth St.) reopened on Valentine's Day with a brand-new kitchen, dining room and toque. Chef Matthew Lee, former chef de cuisine at Poggio, has updated the French menu with a Californian influence, and now has a rotisserie and pizza oven in his arsenal of cooking equipment.
Pascal Rigo's bread business is rapidly expanding. Come May, he plans to open three more boulangeries serving pastries, panini, savories and soups (akin to those served on Polk and Cole streets) at 543 Columbus Avenue in North Beach, 500 Hayes Street in Hayes Valley and 125 Strawberry Village Drive in Mill Valley.
After a monthlong closure, the chocolate-oriented cafe located at the Scharffen Berger factory (914 Heinz Ave.) will reopen in March with a new menu and decor. The kitchen will be jettisoning its savory dinner selection for a daytime menu (dessert and lunch) focusing primarily on the sweet stuff. Its new hours will be 8 AM–6 PM daily..
Raw-food fans have two more reasons to show gratitude now that this crunchy cafe has opened two new locations – 1336 Ninth Avenue in the Sunset District and 1730 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley; both branches share a phone number at 415-824-4652.
Chez Maman
A third location of Jocelyn Bulow's growing French bistro chain has opened at 802 Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights (415-824-2674), where it offers a menu similar to the other outposts.
Chef Sarah Schafer has introduced a new lunch service tailored to both Financial District diners on the go and those who can linger longer. Quicker menu "Flirtations" include spring rolls and spinach and radicchio salad, while the "Commitment" category features burgers and seared tuna niçoise. In addition, the restaurant has introduced a new evening soiree called "First Thursdays," a series of art installation and cocktail receptions hosted on the first Thursday of every month.
Platanos Cocina Platanos
Now that Platanos is co-owned by small-plate pioneer Pascal Rigo, it should come as no surprise that this Latin-inspired eatery in the Mission has turned to a small-plates format (tweaking its name in the process). As of this month, new chef Jesus Dominguez (ex Chez Nous) will oversee the menu (dishes cost approximately $4–$8), which will still feature a few of the old favorites – including large plates of mole.
- Pinot Blanc
- Tita's hale 'aina
- Wine Garden Food and Wine Bar