These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from a new pie shop to a seductive Venetian Italian destination. Alongside my full restaurant reviews this month — Little Shucker, Matty’s Old Fashioned, where to eat with kids, El Mil Amores, Outside Lands top 7 tastes — these five spots are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve personally vetted and visited each one):
Seductive Venetian-SF Summer: Bar Sprezzatura
Opening November 2022, Bar Sprezzatura is Venetian-Italian inspired with Euro-chic vibes but really its own SF mystique. It was one of my top 14 new restaurants of 2022 for good reason/s. A couple visits later only confirms it’s one of the more exciting, delightful nights out in town right now. It’s the kind of place you could dress up and fit right in with the sleek decor, velvet chairs and international crowd, but you could also go casual and relax with the easy vibe and warm service.
My full review is here, but three visits in this year, I taste the fun chef Joseph Offner and bar greats Carlo Splendorini and Raymundo Delgado are having with seasonal dishes, cocktails and cicchetti (Venetian inspired bites). Offner’s brokaw avocado cicchetti on little toasts is perfected, dotted with Meyer lemon basil and opal basil. When you “upscale it” with Santa Barbara uni and/or Caviar Co. caviar, it’s blissful decadence. Offner tells me he’s now sourcing his sea urchin directly from local CA sources, so we’re getting even fresher, straight-from-the-sea glory.
My beloved CA spot prawns are in season, the lobster of shrimp, silky and sweet. Offner served them blessedly raw with sea beans, coriander flowers, huckleberry purée, Calabrian Chile oil, smoked trout roe and cilantro. All accents were delicate, letting those tender prawns shine. He showcases our unparalleled NorCal heirloom tomatoes simply cut in “steak” slices graced with olive oil, sea salt and a dollop of caviar. Don’t even get me started on Offner’s minestrone. Sheer Italy-worthy comfort.
The newest cocktails on the menu are artful in color and garnishes and utterly crushable, whether Splendorini’s enchanting new spritz and patio cocktail menu on their recently opened outdoor patio, like Tini Pink Bikini Spritz: gin, Select Apertivo, fresh watermelon, Bordiga Centum Herbis Cordial, rosé prosecco, lime, nasil. There are also new drinks on the regular menu, like a lush play on the classic prosciutto and melone dish in cocktail form. Bello e Impossible is a gorgeous new drink combining Germain Robin Brandy, Diplomatico Reserva rum, creme de menthe, a touch of salted caramel ice cream and chinotto soda. It’s not sweet but subtly minty, salty, rich. Patio cocktails showcase seasonal ingredients like tomatoes or watermelon to vibrant degree, never too sweet, but exquisitely balanced and garnished.
Bar Sprz, as it’s known, remains one of our most exciting newcomers and a special evening or lunch, hidden upstairs amongst highrises and fountains. There’s nothing quite like it.
// One Maritime Plaza #100, www.barsprezzatura.com
Savory & Sweet Seasonal Pies: Edith’s Pie, Oakland
Downtown Oakland’s Edith’s Pie was a pop-up for three years from co-owners Mike Raskin and Jeffrey Wright. They opened their sunny brick and mortar café May 3, 2023. It’s a narrow, lofty space with seating upstairs, a takeout counter and even thoughtful-sounding low-ABV cocktails (coffee, wine, beer) crafted by Wright, which I didn’t try, but which call to me with quality local producers like Mommenpop Aperitif Wines. Their pies, however, are worth going out of your way for both in variety and quality.
Key lime pie is one of my all-time favorites. I’ve tried celebrated versions throughout the South. Their version is appropriately tart and vivid. Likewise, their cherry pie is happily tart-sweet in flaky crust. Seasonal pies abound and this summer was heavy on berries and the like. Savory hand pies standout here, especially Japanese chicken and potato curry and a cauliflower, feta, preserved Meyer lemon and Calabrian chili pie. Open all day Wednesday through Saturday, it’s the kind of neighborhood spot I wish was in every neighborhood.
// 412 22nd Street, Oakland; https://edithspie.com
Made from Scratch Thai: Funky Elephant
Berkeley’s Funky Elephant opened at the beginning of 2018, with their second Mission District location opening in SF July 2023. Chef O Supasit Puttikaew and co-owner/wife Nanchaphon Laptanachai cook “non-traditional Thai comfort food,” making curry pastes and sauces from scratch (a rarity in Thai restaurants). Their amped up pad thai “old skool” is a standout, laden with giant Gulf white shrimp, shallots, HODO tofu, egg, tamarind sauce, peanuts, bean sprouts, chilies, garlic chives over Chan noodles.
Saap Ver makes one the best pad Thais in SF, but this version is not far from that realm. Another standout is their fried egg salad (yum kai dao), aka Siamese-style fried eggs. It’s all about the purity of the eggs, lightly fried until golden brown on the edges, laced with fresh herbs, BBQ shrimp, shallots, tomatoes, garlic, Thai chilies and fish sauce. It’s vibrant and tangy. Puttikaew was a former chef de cuisine at Hawker Fare SF, which I just can’t get over losing after nearly a decade. No one did nam khao tod (Laotian riceball salad) or tamarind egg drop curry noodles like them. Funky Elephant does not fill that hole in the Mission, but it’s now on my takeout rotation, a welcome new Thai addition I want to dig deeper into. Glowing pink lights, a disco ball and, yes, funky elephant logo, make it fun to dine-in.
// 1270 Valencia Street, www.funkyelephantthai.com
Taiwan-Style Sticky Rice Rolls: Taiwanese Eats, Redwood City
Heads up: Taiwanese Eats in Redwood City is a ghost kitchen for takeout/delivery only. You can walk into the building and order takeout from a few businesses cooking there. But I feel impelled to tell you about it given its more unusual offering of short, thick Taiwanese sticky rice “burritos” or rolls.
The only minor “complaint” is that the rolls can be a tad dry inside, almost begging for a sauce. But otherwise, the classic pork or especially fun pork floss rolls are filling at $7.99 (that ghost kitchen keeps prices down). Visually, purple sticky rice rolls stands out, loaded with pork floss, pickled radishes (bringing needed bright contrast), youtiao (savory Chinese donut/cruller), fried shallots and a marinated whole egg. Another worthwhile option is a sticky rice roll with swordfish floss emparting a fish-forward lightness. Their housemade black bean soy milk, a traditional soy milk I loved with breakfast in bowls in Taiwan, is made with non-GMO soybeans and black beans. It’s blessedly not sweet, nutty and creamy with plant-based protein and fiber.
// 426 MacArthur Avenue, Redwood City; https://redwoodcityeats.com/s/taiwanese-eats/426-macarthur-ave-redwood-city/a6b697ee-6a8c-4439-a9a4-6f45c3cff2b8
Zanze’s Cheesecake at Little Original Joe’s
Opening December 2020 by owners longtime SF American-Italian restaurant classics, Original Joe’s and Original Joe’s Westlake, Little Original Joe’s is the idyllic kind of old school-yet-modern Italian grocer that feels as if it stepped out of an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I wrote about the shop’s treasures when it opened and am compelled again to applaud OJ’s for bringing back SF’s iconic Zanze’s cheesecake. I was upset when the 1979 bakery closed as founder Sam Zanze retired, a devotee to his fluffy, Japanese cheesecake-style cake that dissolves in the mouth. Zanze honed his recipe with his Croatian father, who trained with German pastry chefs.
Thank goodness OJ owners John and Elena Duggan smartly claimed their longheld relationship with Zanze (their grandfather, Tony Rodin, grew up in Croatia with Sam’s dad — how’s that for a small world?) The Duggans worked with Sam for months to learn his recipe and as of this summer, you can buy a whole 8” cheesecake at Little Original Joe’s for $34 down to the original box, logo and even attached string to delicately cut the cake. I felt all the feels tasting this 42 year old SF legend again. Zanze’s Cheesecake is back, as delicious as ever and preserved, I pray, for decades to come. Looking forward to their upcoming seasonal flavors by the holidays. The cheesecake will soon be on the menus at both Original Joe’s restaurants.
// 393 West Portal Avenue, www.littleoriginaljoes.com