Marcia Gagliardi

Back in July, I wrote about the upcoming MARLENA RESTAURANT opening in the former Hillside Supper Club on Precita Park (read all the details here), and they’re now offering their picnic basket service every Thu-Sun afternoon, starting this Thursday September 17th (just in time for the clearing skies!…

I was so, so sorry to read chef-owner Heena Patel’s post on Instagram that they were temporarily closing BESHARAM in Dogpatch due to alllll the difficulties of running a restaurant right now (please click to read it). Her soulful Gujarati dishes are one of our city’s treasures.…

There have been a bunch of happenings in the East Bay, and I want to give you a quick round-up of updates. Apologies for not personally following up with these owners for deeper stories here—I didn’t have cell service in the mountains this past week (it was…

After Claudio Villani sold ALTOVINO on Nob Hill, new owners (and chef) Nick Kelly and his wife and wine director Calli Martinez Kelly just reopened the restaurant. The modern Italian menu will continue to feature seasonal and local ingredients, along with Kelly’s housemade and stuffed pasta dishes, plus some…

Some changes over at ~PRESIDIO SOCIAL CLUB~: after 14 years of business (and countless cocktails and whole pig roasts) in the Presidio, owner Ray Tang has decided to close the restaurant, and has converted it to Presidio Social Club Exchange. Alongside pastry chef Rene Cruz, they are turning the Exchange…

What the heck, the last couple weeks have been rough—we have some pretty big closures happening, and one of the biggest heartbreaks for many is TON KIANG, which is throwing in the towel after more than 40 years of serving so many faithful regulars their dim sum and Hakka-…