News for Restaurants in San Francisco April 2017 Archive Search / Openings / Closings / Chef Shuffle / News Bytes / Sign up for our free, monthly newsletter / News Archive Want to know who's doing what in your city? Gayot has the restaurant news you want to read on openings, closings, special events, and more. Learn everything you need to know about the restaurants in San Francisco here. RESTAURANT NEWS Openings Kagawa-Ya Udon Noodle Company, from chef Sean Lim (Kyo-Ya, Palace Hotel), is now open in the mid-Market neighborhood Monday-Friday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The eatery showcases udon in either hot or cold broth, as well as curry, musubi, onigiri and tempura. Beverages include Hawaiian sodas, coffee and tea drinks. The restaurant aims for quick service and competitive pricing. Kagawa-Ya Udon Noodle Company, 1455 Market St., Ste. 3A, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-703-0995.   Fast-casual chain Burger Lounge, with many locations in southern California, has landed in the Bay Area, with a branch open in Walnut Creek and one soon to come in Campbell. Lunch and dinner options include grass-fed burgers as well as high-quality vegetarian selections, salads, and lighter fare for carnivores such as fish, turkey and chicken. Food is meant to be fresh, environmentally conscious and served in a friendly space marked by chic, modern design. Lunch & Dinner daily. Burger Lounge, 2920 Ygnacio Valley Rd., Walnut Creek, CA 94598, 925-433-8958.   Smitten Ice Cream has a new location at 904 Valencia at 20th in the Mission, joining locations in the Marina, Hayes Valley and Pacific Heights neighborhoods. The churned-to-order ice cream chain from local founder Robyn Sue Fisher --- who began operations from a Red Flyer Wagon on a Mission District sidewalk --- boasts eight Bay Area shops and has a Los Angeles storefront coming soon. Open daily. Smitten Ice Cream, 904 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-590-3144.   Lazy Bear chef David Barzelay and bar manager Nicolas Torres will open Flowershop, a more casual bar with à la carte drinks and bar food in summer 2017. The extensive cocktail menu will showcase the same innovation and top-tier seasonal ingredients and spirits as at hot-ticket, prix-fixe Lazy Bear. Bar food will draw inspiration from local classic flavors: broiled oysters; sourdough biscuits with bay laurel butter, ham and honey; uni nachos with avocado and popcorn cotija; Dungeness crab and cheddar fondue with crudités and toast. An intricate tasting menu experience will feature a range of upscale cocktails with paired bites. Flowershop, 753 Alabama St., San Francisco, CA 94110, no phone.   News Bytes Kured Pop-Up at Duende Duende has a weekday pop-up lunchtime event, Kured, happening inside the restaurant's bodega, featuring house-made cured meats from chef Paul Canales. The menu of mostly sandwiches includes crispy, cured pork shoulder and belly with fennel salad; lamb merguez with bread-and-butter pickle relish; and boudin blanc with apple compote and carrot slaw. Please note: the restaurant itself is not open for lunch (and no longer features Sunday brunch). Pop-up hours are Wed.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., inside the bodega at Duende. For more information and the menu visit here. Duende, 468 19th St., Oakland, CA 94612, 510-893-0174.   Atelier Crenn Begins Ticketed Reservations Dominique Crenn's destination restaurant Atelier Crenn has begun ticketed reservations, with a multi-course, prix-fixe tasting menu costing $325 per person, and wine pairings beginning at an additional $175 per person, inclusive of service. To book a ticketed reservation, visit the restaurant's website. Atelier Crenn, 3127 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94123, 415-440-0460.   New Hours for 1300 Fillmore Starting May 1, 2017, 1300 Fillmore will be open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday, with live music on Friday and Saturday nights. The restaurant's famous Sunday gospel brunch service will offer two seatings every Sunday, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. 1300 Fillmore will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays. 1300 on Fillmore, Fillmore Heritage Center, 1300 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115, 415-771-7100.   New SF Soup Company Sister Chain: Ladle & Leaf Longtime fans of the San Francisco Soup Company chain, with locations throughout downtown San Francisco and across the Bay Area, might be surprised to discover a change to some outposts. The company has launched a new enterprise, Ladle & Leaf, and many of the properties --- including inside Crocker Galleria and near U.C. Berkeley --- have been rebranded. (There is also a new Ladle & Leaf stand at AT&T Park, in time for Giants baseball season.) Along with San Francisco Soup Company signature and seasonal soups, Ladle & Leaf properties have an added focus on custom-built salads, sandwiches and healthy, organic fare.   Food Service Robots Hit SF San Francisco has even more new residents lately, but these busy service professionals aren't muscling in on the prime rental market --- they're robots, and they're making salads, serving and even delivering food to hungry locals. Expect Sally the Salad Robot, from Chowbotics, to start making appearances around town to show off her custom salads using fresh, chef-inspired ingredients. Follow Sally on Twitter at #whenSFmetSally. And autonomous driving robot delivery services from Yelp Eat24, DoorDash and PostMates are starting to seem commonplace in areas like the Financial District. Meanwhile, Eatsa's popularity as a human-free restaurant experience continues to thrive, with locations in San Francisco and Berkeley.   New Look, Tenants for Emeryville Public Market Public Market, an urban, indoor food court open since the 1980s near Emeryville's Bay Street, has experienced a renaissance over the past year, with many old tenants receiving bittersweet farewells to make way for newer, hipper food purveyors. Beginning with the much-touted opening of affordable ramen joint Shiba Ramen in early 2016, the food hall is now newly peppered with stalls featuring Cambodian food (Nyum Bai), French macarons (Oui! Oui! Macaron), sushi (We Sushi) and Korean fare (Koja Kitchen), among many others. Carlos Altamirano's Paradita Eatery, highlighting Peruvian street food, opens April 27. Open daily.   Cafe Flore Now Flore One of the Castro's liveliest cafes since 1973, Cafe Flore has been sold and renamed simply Flore --- but the new owners intend to keep things very much the same for the popular space. Daily options include brunch, lunch and dinner, and the charming outdoor patio remains as it was. Flore is also open late nightly. Flore, 2298 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94114, 415-621-8579.   Okane Begins Japanese, Prix-Fixe Brunch Service Joining the scores of hot, new brunch locales in San Francisco is Okane, already popular for its izakaya-style menu of casual Japanese eats and drinks. Now, the restaurant offers a prix-fixe brunch that features dishes inspired by two Japanese traditions: kaiseki, or small, specially curated plates served with Japanese tea service; and onsen, or dishes to accompany a soak at a Japanese spa. Selections skew lighter than American brunches, with flavors that run from classic to adventurous, and comprise salad, miso soup, pickles and rice with different options to choose from, including meat, vegetarian and grilled fish. Prix-fixe prices are $18, $20 or $22 per person, depending on the dishes chosen. Okane, 669 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-865-9788.   Brunch at Flores Flores has started serving weekend brunch, Saturday and Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. Look for Mexican-inspired dishes such as corn pancakes with maple crema; chilaquiles; huevos poblanos (and a special huevos ranchero); and carne asada with refried beans. Flores, 2030 Union St., San Francisco, CA 94123, 415-796-2926.   Chef Shuffle Eve's Waterfront has a new executive chef in Brandon Peacock, who has worked all over the Bay Area at restaurants such as San Francisco's Venticello, Home and Chapeau!, Oakland's Lungomare and Larkspur's Left Bank Brasserie. Chef Peacock has also made a name for himself on TV from appearances on Food Network's “Chopped,” where he was a champion, “Guy's Grocery Games” and NBC's “America's Next Great Restaurant.” Peacock will keep the restaurant's seafood focus. Eve's Waterfront, 15 Embarcadero West, Oakland , CA 94607, 510-817-4477.   State Bird Provisions has a new chef de cuisine. Gaby Maeda is from Kaimuki, Hawaii, and graduated from the California Culinary Academy in 2009. She worked the line at Gary Danko for four years, and has been a sous chef at State Bird since 2014. State Bird Provisions, 1529 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115, 415-795-1272.   Old Bus Tavern has gone through several changes in the past year, and has emerged a far more casual brewpub than when it began. At opening in July 2015, chef Max Snyder (Saison, Coi) crafted inviting, creative California cuisine, but he departed within the year. Chef David Zboray (Mourad) soon took over to implement more seasonal California dishes, but left in February 2017, when Old Bus Tavern management decided to implement a menu of bar bites and fare such as chili. The owners also chose a weekend lunch program over brunch. Old Bus Tavern, 3193 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-843-1938.   Closings Ristobar is temporarily closed for renovations and a retrofit. Check the website for potential reopening details. Ristobar, 2300 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA 94123, 415-923-6464.   Ristorante Umbria, a vivid, Italian mainstay on the corner of 2nd and Howard, will close on May 1, 2017, after 21 years. Like many recent old-timers, the restaurant lost its lease, but according to the spot's Facebook page, owner Giulio Tempesta hopes to open a future restaurant in wine country. Ristorante Umbria, 198 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94105, 415-546-6985.   Open near the Embarcadero since 1978, and known as much for its white-tablecloth corporate lunches as its romantic dinners, French restaurant L'Olivier has closed. L'Olivier, 465 Davis Ct., San Francisco, CA 94111, no phone.   Aziza is temporarily closed for renovations, though fans are hoping to hear good news soon --- the Geary Street haven has been shuttered since May of 2016, and shows no signs of reopening. Meanwhile, chef Mourad Lahlou's newer big-ticket restaurant Mourad remains open. Aziza, 5800 Geary St., San Francisco, CA 94121, 415-752-2222.   CULINARY EVENTS Want to learn to cook? Try new dishes? Meet a foodie friend for fun? Check out our compilation of culinary events in your area. View our calendar of Wine Dinners & Tastings in San Francisco Discover the top restaurants in the San Francisco/Bay Area for various cuisines and categories like sushi, steakhouses, happy hours, romantic dining and even gourmet food trucks. Find the best restaurants in SF here!

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