The Chatterbox

Warm up with some tea at these fabulous tea spots around town. First up is the Jing Tea Seminar and Tasting at the ~BRASSERIE S&P~ in the Mandarin Hotel. On Saturday March 2nd, catch a lesson and tasting that covers many varieties of tea and how to prepare…

For those of you looking for some Frenchie food cred, check out this month’s misfit menu at ~GRAND CAFÉ~. The misfit menu is all about highlighting overlooked or just plain weird ingredients, and February is all about snails and frogs, with choices like wine-braised escargot ($14) and frog legs…

If you’re looking for a break from the usual egg- and bacon-heavy brunch options around town, head over to KEN KEN RAMEN. On Sundays, it will be serving Japanese-style brunch “sets,” which include a changing main dish and sides. Some of the options will include items like tamagoyaki (rolled…

Down in Belmont, OFF THE GRID is launching a new market on Monday February 25th. The trucks will roll up to the Caltrain parking lot every Monday from 5pm-9pm and will feature eight rotating trucks, so you can meet all your street food needs. At the first event, check out…

Sometimes, there are offers you can’t refuse. And so it goes for the ~TACOLICIOUS~ team, who will be taking over CAFFE MARIA in North Beach (the restaurant is closed, and the owner, Carlo Nuovo, is retiring). When I spoke with Tacolicious partner Joe Hargrave, he mentioned how excited he…

I never quite expected to hear that Daniel Patterson would be opening his next restaurant in a Chinese restaurant (Iron Wok) next door to the Hot Spot bar (previously 2Lips) on Market Street, but considering he opened his first restaurant ~COI~ on Broadway, I guess he’s not afraid of…

I had a chance to swing by the brand-new THE MILL yesterday, the new collaborative bakery-café project by Four Barrel’s Jeremy Tooker and Josey Baker, he of crazy-good bread fame. It has a buzz of activity with the team furiously getting ready for the soft opening tomorrow, Wednesday February…

Here are some updates on openings around town. After holding some soft-opening hours this past weekend, ~B. PATISSERIE~ is now officially open on California Street. Release the croissants, lemon tarts, and tartines! Now open in the former Sushi Groove South is IZAKAYA HOUSE, with a menu of items ranging from…

I have been sitting on this news for a good long while, but now the story is out: Real Restaurants is closing FOG CITY DINER on March 15th and will be reopening it as FOGCITY later this year with Bruce Hill (who has partnered with “the Bills” on Zero Zero,…

At ~MAVEN~in the Lower Haight, the Scoop reports that chef-partner David Kurtz has resigned; they have promoted chef de cuisine Isaac Miller to executive chef. Sounds like the portion sizes are going to be given a bit of a boost. I have enjoyed the burger, but am looking forward…