Marcia Gagliardi

During my trip to New Zealand, I had the pleasure of making my way through all the appetizers at Clooney in Auckland, a very chic and contemporary restaurant from restaurateur Tony Stewart (he is also behind The Hamptons in Auckland). At the time, he told me he had a pop-up,…

A report by Dana Massey-Todd. As mentioned back in February, pastry chef Sybil Johnson of Aqua and Kokkari is opening her own place in the former Chapeau! location in the Richmond. Her new spot, called HEARTBAKER, is cozy and comfortable, but not too twee; it’s got a darker rock…

A few weeks ago, Eater and Uptown Almanac were discussing the upcoming brick-and-mortar Mission location for the CRÈME BRÛLÉE CART, but didn’t have a lock on the exact address. Crème Brûlée honcho Curtis Kimball has landed a space at 3338 24th Street (between Mission and Valencia), previously Yojoa Express,…

Just last week, I was parked in front of the former Bar Bambino in the Mission, wondering who the next taker was going to be for that chic space. And then boom, a new ABC license hit the wires, announcing MARUYA from Masaki Sasaki and Raymond Feliciano. Sushi hounds will…

Eater reports that there’s a new pint-size Mexican spot on 18th Street, right between Pizzeria Delfina and Tartine. The new place is called LOQUI, and comes from Tartine baker Cameron Wallace and Mexico City native Ari Ampudia. They’re serving a changing menu of Mexican antojitos on Friday and…

A couple of closures and subsequent openings around town. First up to bat: BISTRO UNIQUE has closed in Cow Hollow, and my neighborhood tipster sent along this photo announcing it will become TAMASHISOUL SUSHI BAR. Word on the street is the chef was at Sudachi, but let’s just say…

A press release from the mayor’s office on Friday afternoon reveals some activity in Four Embarcadero Center: international Chinese restaurant chain CRYSTAL JADE has signed a lease on a long-vacant space in the center. Crystal Jade… Nope, it’s not an ad for a spa at the back of…

Get your Southern-fried brunch on at SOUL GROOVE, which is now serving their waffles and chicken on Saturdays and Sundays. They’ve got their fried chicken on waffle sandwiches—including the Conundrum, their classic Chicken Fried Soul sandwich with the addition of an egg—plus more traditional egg platters and…

DANDELION CHOCOLATE is continuing their pop-up chef series (did you catch the fab Three Babes Bakeshop there in May?) with another local chef. This week is all about the bar cookies from Jennifer Kenny Nguyen of Native Baking Company. She’ll be dishing out her peanut butter brownies (damn those…