The Chatterbox

You ready for a turbo roundup of news briefs? Let’s do this. PICCINO in Dogpatch is reopening Wednesday August 3rd after closing the restaurant for a remodel. They added an additional restroom, expanded the kitchen and walk-in, and installed a new, state-of-the-art (and more efficient) pizza oven. Make your…

A couple new and casual projects are brewing from two higher-end SoMa restaurants, Gozu and Birdsong. Coming in early 2023 from the MZ Dining Group (Ittoryu Gozu) will be YOKAI, a Japanese-inspired, hi-fi bar and restaurant, focused on shareable plates and skewers cooked over binchotan charcoal, like king salmon belly…

During depressing times, it’s nice to have a bunch of dumpling updates, amIrite? First up, Cathay Bi of the wildly popular DUMPLING CLUB subscription service (did you know you can also order them via Pastel!) suddenly announced a pop-up for takeout dumplings at her Mission kitchen last week (she…

The popular CHUY’S FIESTAS on Folsom has opened CHUY’S FIESTAS TAQUERIA II in the former El Tesoro in the Tendernob. They’re serving tacos on handmade tortillas, vampiros, quesabirrias, quesadillas, burritos (including a new California burrito with fries, and a crispy flat-top burrita, which is always the way…

A Lower Haight, Southern seafood staple for 45 years (since 1977!), TWO JACK’S NIK’S PLACE, has sadly closed as of July 14th. Second generation owner Nikki Cooper, who took over 16 years ago, sold the remainder of her lease, but is relocating the staff to the Bayview location…

In the most recent tablehopper issue, I was the first to report on the flurry of one-star reviews for restaurants happening on Google, with scammers threatening to leave bad reviews daily unless the restaurant sends a Google Play card with the value of $75. Google has been mostly unresponsive to…

A few fun events for your radar: Eric Danch from Danch & Granger will be taking over the wine list at The Anchovy Bar on Wednesday August 3rd, pairing classic and one-night only dishes with organic, low-intervention, and native wines from countries like Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and…

It felt strange to have one of San Francisco’s most iconic restaurants temporarily closed for so long (18 months!), with some FXMP pop-up dinners to tide us over, but now it’s official: chef-owner Melissa Perello and her team have swung open the doors to FRANCES the beloved Castro…

The former Locanda location is now home to ANCORA, which means “anchor” in Latin, from owners Andi and Joe Conte of Water2Table, the local hook-and-line and sustainable fish company that services Bay Area restaurants (and now consumers). They were originally going to open as Seven Fishes, but the pandemic had…

There’s some top SF talent now in the kitchen at 20 SPOT in the Mission: chef Alejandro Rodriguez, who was previously the chef de cuisine at Nopa (he was there since the day it opened, in 2006!). He is joined by his wife, Marcella Lew, another Nopa and Nopalito…