News for Restaurants in San Francisco February 2015 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 Manresa executive chef/owner David Kinch, head baker Avery Ruzicka and Andrew Burnham partnered to open a brick-and-mortar shop ManresaBread, inspired by the local farmer's market and pop-up retail success of Ruzicka's small-batch breads and pastries. On offer: levain and other classic breads, sticky buns, monkey bread and innovative selections such as kuri squash streusel muffins and polenta sourdough made at a permanent bakery near the retail space. ManresaBread, 276 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos, CA 95030, 408-402-5372.   News Bytes Changes in Potrero For years, Jocelyn Bulow seemingly had a monopoly on casual French elegance on Potrero Hill with his beloved Chez Papa and Chez Maman bistros. With the end of 2014, Chez Papa closed, and now there will be changes to Chez Maman as well. The old location of Chez Papa, still under Bulow ownership, will transform mid-March into a new Chez Maman. The old Chez Maman will then become casual offshoot Chez Maman Rotisserie. Bulow also has a stake in Mexican cuisine, and his Papito Potrero has a new chef in Efren Villalobos (Mamacitas, Mexico DF, Marino, Papito West). (On a side note, Bulow has sold his property Papito West at 425 A Hayes St. in Hayes Valley to general manager David Alexander.)   Hottest Ticket in Town Mission District restaurant Lazy Bear (an anagram of chef David Barzelay's last name) has given State Bird Provisions and other notoriously difficult-to-get-into San Francisco restaurants serious competition since its brick-and-mortar opening in July, 2014. Barzelay was a former lawyer with only brief staging experience when he began his underground dinner parties in 2009. Now, diners purchase nonrefundable tickets for one of two dinner seatings Tues.-Sat., each comprised of 40 guests and each treated as a dinner party --- cocktails are passed before guests are directed to their pre-assigned seats at two 22-foot communal tables. The kitchen is completely open to guests and Barzelay and staff actively interact with diners throughout the experience. Cuisine is modern American and ranges from 12-18 courses. Cost is $110-$150 per person, with optional beverage pairings for an additional $75. Service fee and tax are not included. Tickets are released in advance on a monthly basis; join the restaurant's mailing list for alerts. Dinner Tues.-Sat. Lazy Bear, 3416 19th St., San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-874-9921.   Chinese New Year at Hakkasan Hakkasan will celebrate Chinese New Year and the Year of the Sheep with an optional eight-course New Year's feast offered from February 9-March 1, 2015. Menu items will include traditional dim sum, spicy prawns, stir-fry black pepper rib-eye and grilled Chilean sea bass in honey as well as seafood dishes such as abalone and dry scallop fried rice. A "kumquat wishing tree" will end the meal to sweeten the new year; on February 19, local lion dance troupes will perform around the restaurant, bringing good luck and representing fortune, wisdom and joy. The menu will cost $138.88 per person (in accordance with the Chinese tradition that eight is an auspicious number); à la carte dishes will also be available during the month for $20.88 per item. Hakkasan, One Kearny, 1 Kearny St., San Francisco, CA 94108, 415-829-8148.   New Full Bar at Boxing Room Mardi Gras season got a little more festive this year at Boxing Room, the New Orleans-inspired restaurant from the Absinthe Group located in Hayes Valley. The restaurant boasts a new full bar --- outfitted in vintage New Orleans details such as brass instruments and an old Saints helmet --- and cocktail menu from Absinthe Group's bar operations director Jonny Raglin, and opening bartender Bobby Baker returned after a stint managing six popular local watering holes under Future Bars. Executive chef Justin Simoneaux has expanded the seafood bar (marinated mussels, Louisiana-style barbecued shrimp) and added a sampler called "Taste of the Swamp": turtle soup, fried frogs’ legs and alligator sauce piquant. Boxing Room, 399 Grove St., San Francisco, CA 94102, 415-430-6590.   Chef Shuffle Verbena has undergone a chef shuffle. Sean Baker is no longer with the project, and Ryan Shelton is now executive chef. Shelton's path through Bay Area kitchens includes stints as chef de cuisine at Baume, pastry chef at Chez TJ and executive chef at Le Cigare Volant and Palo Alto Grill. Eric Fenster and Ari Derfel remain co-owners of both Berkeley's Gather, where Charis Wahl is executive chef, and Verbena, keeping the sister relationship between the two restaurants. (Notably, Baker and Gather have also parted ways.) Verbena, 2323 Polk St., San Francisco, CA 94109, 415-441-2323.   Florio on Fillmore Street has a new executive chef in Colin Dewey, most recently executive chef of Zero Zero. Dewey has plenty of French and Italian cooking in his background, having worked at San Francisco's Bix, New York's Del Posto and as Lidia Bastianich's sous chef at Felidia. He spent this winter on a cooking sabbatical, staging in Piemonte, Fruili, Umbria and on the Amalfi Coast. His menu at Florio will focus on the Mediterranean stretch "from Provence to Naples." Florio, 1915 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115, 415-775-4300.   Closings Check back soon for more news. 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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