The Chatterbox

Just so you know, CAUSWELLS in the Marina now has a full liquor license, and lead bartender Ronnie Lopez—along with friend and consultant Elmer Mejicanos—created a new cocktail menu with nine cocktails, offering a little something for everyone, priced $11-$13. 2346 Chestnut St. at Scott. This year,…

Are you in a takeout rut? Time for you to expand your repertoire with some takeout from a couple chefs who are cooking flavors and dishes from home. Those of you who follow me on Instagram have probably seen my pics of the ramen kits from KIRIMACHI over the past…

THE COWGIRL CREAMERY CHEESE SHOP and SIDEKICK CAFE, one of the original tenants in the Ferry Building Marketplace, has announced it’s closing: Sidekick will close on March 27th, and the cheese shop on April 10th. Unfortunately, the pandemic obviously created a sharp decline in foot traffic, and forced them…

It really is the end of an era: there’s an online auction this week of the entire contents of our 157-year-old landmark, the CLIFF HOUSE. The three-day auction is March 11th-13th, and is selling everything from the kitchen contents to vintage Sutro Baths swimsuits to lithographs and signed movie…

There’s a new dim sum takeout spot in the Outer Richmond, DIMDODUC, offering classic dim sum like har gow, pork siu mai, chive dumplings, cheung fun (steamed rice rolls), century egg congee, and sesame balls. Their BBQ pork buns look especially crackly and GBD (golden-brown and delicious). 3398 Balboa…

I swung by the new Mexican spot in the Castro for weekend brunch, SANTERÍA, which opened in the former Finn Town, and they just launched their full menu, which you can check out. You won’t want to miss consultant Samantha Kharma’s and new bar manager Briana Santiago’s…

Well, heck. After 10 years of holding down the corner of Haight and Steiner in the Lower Haight, MAVEN is closing at the end of March (their last service will be Monday March 29th). In a heartfelt post on Facebook, owner Jay Bordeleau shares: “Maven was unable to find a…

Now open in the temporarily closed B-Side at SFJAZZ in Hayes Valley is LAZY SUSAN, a takeout and delivery concept from Salt Partners (Crenn Dining Group, Horsefeather, Humphry Slocombe), with chef Eric Ehler (Fort Point Beer, Mister Jiu’s) behind the menu of Chinese-American takeout classics (think General Tso’s…

I have a few upcoming projects for you, starting with SUSHI HAKKO from the Mins Group (Sushi Hon, Sushi Shio, Tamashisoul, Barnzu, and Sushi Ondo). It will be a contemporary-fine Japanese restaurant, offering omakase (a 14-course chef’s tasting menu for $90: 2 starters, 10 pieces seasonal sushi, middle dish,…

There are some big changes over in the Nopa/Nopalito universe. As NOPA approaches fifteen years (this April!), Laurence Jossel is now the sole owner of the restaurant, while former group partners Jeff Hanak and Allyson Jossel, and Gonzalo Guzman, will remain owners/partners of Nopalito (which is coming up…