Marcia Gagliardi

Big news came over the wires this week, with the announcement that chef Ron Siegel is coming to ~MICHAEL MINA~ as executive chef. Siegel is leaving the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco (Parallel 37) after eight years at the property and should be in the Mina kitchen in a few weeks. I…

Last week I had a chance to tour and dine at the new ~FARINA PIZZA & CUCINA ITALIANA~, the latest project from the Farina team at the corner of 18th Street and Valencia. There’s a coffee counter open for service in the morning, along with some baked goods, like…

After 23 years in business, Maharani Restaurant at the corner of Post and Polk closed last October. But the space has a new future (and owners): the crew behind Blur up the street on Polk are going to open BITTERS, BOCK, AND RYE in mid-October. There will be house-brewed beer…

As previously reported on tablehopper, the new restaurant headed to the former Mecca space in the Castro is SHANGHAI, from restaurateur Francis Tsai. They will be opening (softly) August 22nd (that’s tomorrow!). Tsai has brought on chef Leo Gan, formerly of Shanghai 1930, to run the kitchen. The food…

Liquor license activity revealed the upcoming addresses for both the new ~SAISON~ and BRENDA’S ORIGINAL PO’BOYS projects. First, Saison will be opening at 178 Townsend, in the Arc Light Co. building. Scoop confirms the owners, chef Joshua Skenes and sommelier Mark Bright, plan to move into the 4,…

Good news, fans of princess cake and little Italian cookies: 98-year-old VICTORIA PASTRY CO. has completed their move to a new North Beach location, across from Washington Square Park. It just opened over the weekend. Hours for now are Sun-Thu 7am-7pm, and Fri-Sat 7am-8pm (or 9pm—time will tell). 700…