what’s cookin’
Howdy, friends. How you doin’ with the time change? As if I didn’t stay up late enough already, and now I have to force myself to try to go to bed an hour earlier. Ha! Been feeling pretty wonky, but I’m loving the longer evening light! Maybe people will start dining out later, like 8pm? Let’s try? Cin cin.
I totally talk about my night owl ways, along with spring getaway ideas, new restaurant openings, my coral office chair, my bestie Basil Racuk’s shop, and even more places and people I love in my recent routine piece for FOUND SF, a fellow local newsletter that curates the many things to love about San Francisco. I hope you enjoy reading it!
I know most of us have been eating popcorn 🍿 while scrolling through all the think pieces coming out about the hideous allegations of the physical and mental abuse by chef René Redzepi of Noma of his staff for years (and I know I’m not the only one looking to see which chefs are leaving heart emoji on his half-assed apology). For the past month, I’ve been reading the numerous testimonies from former employees shared in posts by Noma’s former fermentation lab head, Jason Ignacio White, on his Instagram account (now viewable on a storytelling site), wondering when The New York Times was going to report on it. Sure enough, Julia Moskin, who has been reporting on Noma for years, dropped her bombshell piece this past weekend, after interviewing more than 35 former Noma employees. It seems it’s finally the thing that has firmly knocked away Redzepi’s self-made pedestal, although past employees (and formerly unpaid stages) have been raising the hue and cry that something was really rotten in the state of Denmark for years.
Noma is launching their money-grabbing (reservations were $1,500 per person), four-month residency in Los Angeles today, and with sponsors pulling out (AmEx, Blackbird), and diners canceling reservations, it will be interesting (to say the least) to watch how this continues to unfold/implode. Also: Jason Ignacio White organized a worker solidarity protest today with One Fair Wage outside the pop-up, which will be held tomorrow as well—you can read the demand letter they delivered from Noma employees here.
I would read this piece from Jenn Harris of the L.A. Times and this post from Eater LA; Chris Crowley wrote about Noma’s PR crisis and the reactions in Denmark in yesterday’s Caper newsletter; activist Ashtin Berry calls out Redzepi for being a thug and running Noma like a gang/cult; and The Hollywood Reporter also posited Redzepi was operating like a cult leader. More popcorn, please. (And no more unchecked abuse of power and toxic male ego and violent behavior and appalling exploitation of workers, okay?)
If I had a talk show, I’d be calling Acquerello chef-owner Suzette Gresham for her thoughts on how to run a widely respected, two-Michelin-star, fine-dining establishment with a sense of humanity, pride, and collaboration—while providing her team an exceptional culinary education and experience—for more than three decades.
To end this intro on a high note, it was another fantastic Festa della Donna at A16 on Sunday evening, with a full house of friends in the food and wine industry. Grazie, Shelley Lindgren, and her incredible team for curating such an uplifting night and menu highlighting female-produced wines, products, and the people behind them! No one creates community like she does. Viva la fempire!
Tonight, I’m off to a preview of the new, gluten-free Italian restaurant, Clementina (which I first wrote about last month), opening Thursday March 12th, and I’m happy to see Mazra San Bruno has opened their spiffy, massively updated original location (hours are Tue–Sun 11am–9pm). Opening next week is The Big Four at the Huntington Hotel, and I have a preview for you in today’s column, as well as a vintage The Big 4 menu from 1978 in the archivist. Also: this mahjong lesson at China Live on Sunday (with bites and a cocktail) just came across my desk and sounds like fun.
Cheers!
~Marcia
the chatterbox
Old-School San Francisco Feels More Like Itself With the Return of The Big Four (and Its Chicken Pot Pie)
With the recent ribbon-cutting heralding the reopening of the renovated The Huntington Hotel (thanks to Flynn Properties and Highgate), we now turn our attention to the greatly missed The Big Four restaurant, which is reopening on Tuesday March 17th, after being closed for six years. And it’s all just in time for its 50th anniversary this year (former The Huntington Hotel owners Newton Cope Sr. and his wife Dolly Fritz opened The Big 4 Restaurant in October 1976), although it feels more like it should be its 150th.
The Big Four has been the unofficial drawing room, dining room, and clubhouse for Nob Hill neighbors for decades, as well as anyone who has visited or lived in San Francisco long enough to know it had some of the best old-school SF atmosphere...
The Big Four opens to the public on Tuesday March 17th. Reservations. 1075 California St.
Fat Cat Wine Club Found a Fur-Ever Home in the Mission to Open a Wine Bar (and This Kitten Has Claws...of Mantis!)
A really fun pocket of the Mission is about to add a queer woman–owned wine bar to the mix from Jessica Bell of Fat Cat SF, with Vietnamese bar bites from one of the City’s most-popular and next-level pop-ups (Claws of Mantis). Bell left the tech world during the pandemic to work at a wine bar, which led to her launching the Fat Cat Wine Club three years ago (with cat-themed names, like The Cat Nip, and super-fun pick-up parties). Here’s Lola, the Fat Cat brand ambassador.
Perhaps you saw my blurb last year when Bell was popping up in the temporarily closed Fisch & Flore space in the Castro, serving glasses of wine, bottled beer, and light bites, as well serving as a location for her wine club pickup parties. She was sorry when she had to wrap up her residency there, and has been looking for a location for years.
Thanks to Steven Gerry of Compass, she found her dream wine bar location: the former Outer Orbit in “La Lengua,” just across the street from the Royal Cuckoo, and next door to Taqueria Cancún. Also nearby: El Rio, Mothership, Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack, Blue Plate, the new Chicano Nuevo, Pizzahacker, Cellarmaker, and the Knockout. But with all these great spots, she notes there isn’t really a wine bar in the ’hood. Voilà!
Bell says the space was left in tiptop shape, so all she really had to do was a deep clean and paint (there’s now a lively pink exterior you can’t miss). There will be 49 seats at the U-shaped bar, five big booths, and in the light-filled front area called the Catio, with about eight seats and large windows that open to the street, which is where they will seat live musicians. There will also be the return of drag king bingo, along with other events, and old movies will play on the wall from a projector (movie nights are being discussed).
Bell will be featuring wines every month from her five wine club selects, with a focus on underrepresented producers, varietals, and regions. She will include special pours of interesting, unique, and often highly limited bottlings (so when things run out, that’s it)! There will also be cheap and cheerful house wines, so guests will always find some approachable and affordable options. Bell hopes to steer her clientele to discover wines they really like or even love, and if they’re adventurous and want to explore or learn more, that will be all be available to them as well. She’s excited to host some special winemaker dinners with an educational component (but nothing stuffy)!
Vermouth spritzes, beers, and ciders will be in the house, as well as nonalcoholic options, served in a way that feels inclusive. There will be a small retail section, and guests can purchase bottles to drink in-house. Stand by for a variety of themes and regions, like all queer wines in June, obscure Eastern European wines (hello, Transylvania!), and wines from Mexico. Joining her is the leadership team she had in place at Fisch & Flore, including bar manager Anna Biegalski.
Since she was previously a cheesemonger at Cheese Plus, Bell will be putting together a cheese program, with cheeses to enjoy in-house or to go, along with some light bar snacks. She’s also thinking about future brunch service, coffee, sandwiches, and more.
A sampling of dishes from a Claws of Mantis pop-up with Fat Cat SF. Photos courtesy of Claws of Mantis and Fat Cat SF.
Joining Bell will be chef Kevin Tang of Claws of Mantis, another project that got its start in the pandemic (he was a sous at Nari, and started his Vietnamese pop-up with three cook friends—he has also been an executive sous chef at Mister Jiu’s). Claws of Mantis has been popping up at locations all over the city, including Fisch & Flore (when Fat Cat SF was there), and most recently at Onsen, and now it will have a space to call home.
Tang is about to leave for a month of travel in Vietnam for a culinary learning journey with Red Boat fish sauce, and will be doing a one-week residency in Hanoi—he will assuredly return with lots of inspiration and dishes. Bell says to expect casual small plates of his Vietnamese-Californian dishes that are herbal, fresh, and aromatic—perfect for wine pairing. Recent dishes from Claws pop-ups include charred cabbage, crispy pork jowl, smoked oyster cream, lemongrass salsa macha, rau ram; and hiramasa crudo, ginger nuoc cham, shinko pear, purple perilla, rau ram, mint. The launch date and specifics of his food program in Fat Cat’s kitchen is TBD until he returns (after April 13th). It’s gonna be so delicious.
If kitchen inspections go well, Bell’s hoping to open the wine bar component in early April. Stand by for meow! Initial hours will be Thu 4pm–10pm, Fri–Sat 4pm–12am, Sun–Mon 3pm–9pm. 3215 Mission St. at Fair.
Sequels Include a New Project from Black Jet, Another Bi-Rite Market, Ritual Coffee Coming to FiDi, and More
According to a post from Black Jet Bakery in Bernal, they’re expanding to the Outer Sunset, opening Black Jet Luncheonette in the former DamnFine Coffee space (which was once Trouble Coffee back in the day, where Black Jet would deliver pastries). Coming this late spring/early summer, owner Gillian Shaw Lundgren and baker Max Newman will be offering “all your Black Jet favorites,” plus Dear Francis coffee, and the new addition of made-to-order sandwiches, soups, and (true to Trouble Coffee’s DNA): toast! You can read additional details in this SFGATE piece; stand by for more. 4033 Judah St. at 45th Ave.
Thanks to Vacant to Vibrant, now open is a temporary downtown location of SF’s Polly Ann Ice Cream, an ice cream parlor in the Outer Sunset (at 3138 Noriega Street) since 1955. Known for more than 50 flavors (I love their pistachio almond), I wonder if you can spin their wheel of flavor fortune?! The first 100 customers to come by this Friday March 13th get a free junior scoop. Open 12pm–8pm. 120 Pine St. at Front.
Last month, a tablehopper reader tipped me off to some gossip that Bi-Rite Market was going to open their fourth location in a Richmond District market that has been vacant at the corner of California and 22nd Avenue (it has the vintage Appel & Dietrich Fine Food Market neon blade sign on the corner). The market first opened as Filing & Ingram Grocery in 1905, and the name changed to Appel & Dietrich Fine Food Market when Henry Appel and Clifford Dietrich took over in 1953. It was most recently 6001 California Market, and previously, Super K Market.
I spoke with Bi-Rite Market owner Sam Mogannam in early February about the new project, but since the deal wasn’t quite done, he asked me to give it a month to wait to hear from his team once things were final. Mogannam tells me it still isn’t a done deal, but the SF Standard just shared the news, while SFGATE notes: “that nothing has been finalized at this time while the company reviews ‘contingencies’ that ‘need to be resolved’” (via Patrick Mills, co-CEO of Bi-Rite). Stand by for a timeline (think 2027) and more details once the ink is dry. 6001 California St. at 22nd Ave.
The folks behind Noe Indian Cuisine and Nepa Indian Cuisine have opened Timur Indian Cuisine in the Inner Sunset, offering Nepalese and Indian cuisine, including kathi rolls, and Southern Indian dishes like dosas, Kerala coconut curry, and thali plates. Open daily 10am–11pm. 1386 9th Ave. at Judah St.
This news gave me a fun flashback: when I was working downtown at an ad agency (Goldberg Moser O’Neill) in the mid-’90s, I used to buy my espresso from Torrefazione Italia on the corner of California and Battery—they had wonderful espresso blends, including well-balanced, darker-roast options like the Napoli, which I loved. I had no idea that 20 years ago, Ritual Coffee Roasters founder Eileen Rinaldi used to manage Torrefazione Italia’s Financial District flagship café, until the Seattle-based company was acquired by Starbucks, which was the impetus for her to launch her own coffee company. By 2004, Rinaldi signed the lease for her first café on Valencia Street, and left her last role at Torrefazione Italia in 2005 to fully commit to her vision.
And this October 2026, Ritual Coffee Roasters is opening a new café in that exact same space, and this time, she’s the founder. How about that for a full-circle story? 255Cal is a great building, a Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill modernist classic—I have always admired the curved arches of the base. Stand by for details about the space, design, food program, and opening celebrations! 255 California St.
I also just spotted a post from Outer Sunset’s Andytown Coffee Roasters (currently celebrating 12 years!) that they’re going to be opening a downtown location at 66 Kearny Street, which I don’t recall hearing about. I reached out for more info but haven’t heard back. 66 Kearny St. at Geary.
Get Lucky on St. Patrick’s Day with All These Goodies
Saint Patrick’s Day is coming up Tuesday March 17th, and some local bakeries are celebrating early: this Saturday March 14th is the next Saturbake at Octavia, and pastry chef Melissa Loar is making a corned beef and cabbage croissant, chocolate-Bailey’s pain suisse, and shepherd’s pie galette. Other treats include a Boston cream doughnut (get it—last time, I tried the tiramisù doughnut and it was an absolute custard-filled dream!), sour cream coffee cake, and Banoffee kouign-amann. There are two different pastry boxes you can pre-order ($45), or you can also walk-up and wait in line for individual items until sold out. 10am–1pm. 1701 Octavia St. at Bush (side door).
Noe Valley Bakery always has...
the sugar mama
Oakland Restaurant Week Returns March 12th–22nd, 2026!
Savor the flavor of The Town during Oakland Restaurant Week, March 12th–22nd! This 10-day celebration showcases 100+ participating restaurants that highlight Oakland’s diverse culinary scene. From MICHELIN-recognized dining to beloved neighborhood gems, participating restaurants reflect the city’s rich cultural heritage.
To celebrate, we’re giving away the ultimate foodie package, including:
🍽 $150 gift card to ACRE Kitchen & Bar
🍽 $100 gift card to Bardo Lounge & Supper Club
Make it a delicious night out on The Town — on us.
To enter to win a gift certificate, visit this @tablehopper post on Instagram! You have until Friday March 13th, 2026 (11am PT) to enter.
Don’t miss out—make reservations at oaklandrestaurantweek.org.
GTFOUT
Crooners co-hosts EnSeanTé and Polly Amber Ross sparkled under the disco ball at Stookey’s Blue Room. Photos: © tablehopper.com.
Put Down Your Phone, Get Outta the House, and Go See Some Saucy and Only-in-SF Live Entertainment
I know, Netflix wants you to stay home, but there’s nothing as entertaining as these two shows I want to tell you about. And, it’s important to be together right now, to laugh, and support our local and live entertainers. Last month, I finally made it to Stookey’s Blue Room (next door to Stookey’s Club Moderne) for CROONERS: A Live-Sing Lavender Cabaret, which is held on fourth Sundays (two shows). Every seat was taken (make sure to get your ticket in advance!), and many guests got the memo to gussy up. With everyone’s festive evening attire and the Blue Room’s vintage décor, for a moment, I time-traveled to a queer cabaret club decades ago. Invite a friend (or a date!), and go have a snazzy, jazzy Sunday night!
While host Chester Vanderbox was out of town, glam co-hosts EnSeanTé and Polly Amber Ross captivated us with their banter and ballads (Noël Coward would have been proud), along with a couple special guests (like Cal Cadian) who sang their hearts out accompanied by live piano from Brendan Getzell (his mash-up trio of Lola songs was a gas!).
Out on the town and lookin’ sharp on a Sunday night. Photo: © tablehopper.com.
the starlet
the archivist
Supporting subscribers are enjoying a look at The Big 4’s menu from a San Francisco menu guide from 1978, when the restaurant was just two years old.
Become a supporting subscriber, even for a month, and you’ll truly be living your best SF life. (And I’d do it now, because I can’t wait for you to see what I’m cooking up for tablehopper’s 20th anniversary! 🥂)
