Tag: New American

Hidden Whimsical-Molecular Restaurant (Formerly A Beloved Pop-Up) Opens On A Sleepy Residential Block: Anomaly SF

by  on  in The Latest

The speakeasy trend peaked in the mid-aughts in New York and San Francisco cocktails bars where it first launched in the years prior, just as it was taking off around the country. But the clamor for “secret,” hidden spaces in restaurants and bars has not abated. There remains a thrill in finding a gem behind nondescript doors, a hidden room, a cozy hideaway.

Brand new Anomaly SF, opening January 19, 2023, from chef/owner (and former competitive cyclist) Mike Lanham, feels like just such a space. Read more →

December Eats Checklist: 7 Standouts of the Month

by  on  in The Latest, Top Tastes

These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from Sebastopol (Sonoma County) treasures in Thai and pizza to SF gems in Creole/Cajun, Japanese and elevated bar food. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews of these exceptional spots, these seven are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →

Rosemary & Pine: Playful Neighborhood Comfort from Michelin-Starred Team

by  on  in The Latest

Debuting October 13, 2022, Rosemary and Pine (R&P) opened in the former Skool space on a sleepy block of San Francisco’s Design District, nestled between SoMa, Mission Bay and Potrero Hill. R&P is the latest restaurant from the Omakase Restaurant Group behind the likes of Michelin-starred steakhouse Niku, Michelin-starred sushi spot, Omakase, and Dumpling Time, all three around the corner from R&P. The space is warmer since Skool days, redesigned by Aya Yanagisawa, in neutral tone like a warmer-than-olive green, with a glowing bar and huge asset of a roomy, hidden front patio. Read more →

Tenderheart: Chef & Bar Masters Work Their Magic at The New Line Hotel SF

by  on  in The Latest

The LINE Hotel is an uber-hip line of boutique hotels only in LA, DC, Austin and San Francisco, with the latest sleek LINE Hotel SF opened August 2022 on Market and Turk Streets next to the Warfield. The good news for food and drink lovers is that the hotel also houses restaurants overseen by talented chef Joe Hou and bar master and beverage consultant Danny Louie, who I’ve written about for a good decade, with his unique and oh-so-SF cocktail artistry. Read more →

House Pasta & Caviar to A5 Charcuterie Decadence: SoMa’s New AFICI

by  on  in The Latest

The lofty, industrial space that housed Alexander’s Steakhouse Group’s The Patio pop-up during pandemic, opened as AFICI on September 24, 2022, on a heavily-trafficked stretch of Folsom Street during rush hours in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood.
But AFICI is not a steakhouse, rather it’s a fine dining restaurant with a regularly changing, four-course prix fixe menu shaped by seasonality, full animal utilization, handmade pastas and unique house charcuterie program centered around A5 wagyu beef. Read more →

One Year In: Creative NorCal Japanese Shines at Nisei

by  on  in Top Tastes

On a recent September return to Nisei just past its one year mark, I found a restaurant assuredly gaining its voice, as the team is also working seamlessly with humble ease and assuredness. They also now offer a wine or sake pairing, the wine pairing containing a couple sakes in the mix. Chef David Yoshimura calls their style “California Washoku” (essentially meaning ‘harmony of food,’ it’s Japanese home cooking style balancing color and flavor… Read more →

Purity On the Plate & In the Glass: The New Bar Agricole

by  on  in The Latest

Those of us who have been in dining, cocktails and spirits a long while know the importance of Bar Agricole since it opened in San Francisco’s SoMa district in 2011. Not only was it nominated every year since 2012 for James Beard Outstanding Bar Program in the nation — finally winning in 2019, but founder and bar vet Thad Vogler (who helped open pioneering bars like Bourbon and Branch) wrote an intriguing and definitive book on farmhouse-distilled and naturally sourced spirits, By the Smoke and the Smell: My Search for the Rare and Sublime on the Spirits Trail… Read more →

An Ode to Japanese Wagyu… Sans the Steak: Gozu

by  on  in Top Tastes

Imagine: soba noodles teeming in wagyu foam. Brown butter chawanmushi (savory Japanese custard) layered in fat-washed wagyu dashi. Or wagyu fat-laced salted chocolate chip cookies hot out of the oven.I’m in and am guessing you are, too (unless you don’t eat beef — and if you do minimally, this is the place to do so thanks to the quality and the minimalism). These are just a few of the glories I’ve eaten at Gozu in SoMa from chef Marc Zimmerman and entrepreneur Benjamin Jorgensen since it opened November 2019. Read more →