This week’s tablehopper: made in SF. (free)

what’s cookin’

Hello, hopper pals! Yours truly was out on the town every day and night last week, starting with the wonderful programming for the Club 181 Live! event at the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday, honoring the many decades of that longtime club and cabaret on Eddy Street (in 1954, it was the first SF club partially owned by a “female impersonator,” and would you believe it had shows from 2am to 6am?). I learned so much about SF’s queer clubs and characters, from the fabulous Lynne Carter to the Frolic Room to the Jewel Box Revue. I’m going to preorder one of the presenter’s (Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer) upcoming book, San Francisco's Transgender District (Images of America), it comes out this August. And after that banquet of history, then the music program kicked in—here are my pics of chanteuse Veronica Klaus, who was in town for the show. What a special SF night. Thank you to the Tenderloin Museum for organizing this memorable and celebratory evening.

On Thursday, I visited Lobby Bar in the Castro, which is under new ownership and management, and is now catering to an under-served clientele in the Castro—read all about it in today’s lush. (My crew also popped by Mothership to listen to Rafa of El Chato play his fantastic groovy disco party records, he’s there every fourth Thursday.)

On Friday, I took a little field trip to the new Jagalchi Korean food complex at Serramonte Center for lunch and shopping with a friend, here’s my highlight with some tips. On Saturday, I enjoyed tucking into a delicious Eastern European meal with friends at DACHA Kitchen & Bar on Sutter—I’ll share more about our dinner and drinks at this queer-owned restaurant soon. Sunday was an open house party at Side A, which I am so excited about. Read more in today’s column!

I was hoping to cook a recipe from the new and beautiful Mostly French: Recipes from a Kitchen in Provence cookbook by Makenna Held before writing about their upcoming author appearance at Omnivore Books next Wednesday May 7th, but you can see why that didn’t happen (your hopper is gonna hop). Held bought Julia Child’s house in the south of France (La Pitchoune/“La Peetch”) sight unseen in 2015, and opened the world’s first recipe-free cooking school (maybe you saw the seven-part series on Max, La Pitchoune: Cooking in France?). And now, they have released a cookbook (with 150 seasonal recipes!), and I can already tell it’s going to be part of my summer cooking playbook in Tahoe. Go listen to Held speak about Mostly French at Omnivore next Wednesday May 7th at 6:30pm, and check out the rest of the book tour here.

Whoosh, this week’s column really got away from me. There was so much cool SF-ness to write about! It’s time to wrap it up and send this beast.

Thank you for reading.
~Marcia

the chatterbox

San Francisco’s Hottest Modern American Bistro Is Side A

(Ha, I had to get some Stefon in here.) Over the weekend, I had so much fun attending an open house lil’ shindig for Side A, the new hifi vinyl modern American bistro opening in the former Universal Cafe space. I’m so impressed with wife-and-husband team Caroline and Parker Brown for getting this project turned around and open—back in December, when I first wrote about it, they were targeting a March/April opening, and I’ll be damned, they hit it—it’s opening this Thursday May 1st. Miraculous. (That took a lot of work, obviously.) 

It was fantastic to be back in the iconic Universal Cafe space, standing at the industrial modern bar once again, and looking at the smart updates they did to the space for this new era. (Check out my IG highlight for a sneak peek!) The gleaming custom-fabricated DJ booth has its own bar shelf where guests can place their glass of wine while trainspotting, and I dug the acoustic panels made from Sonoma sheep’s wool—they’re a beautiful soundproofing solution. My original piece was deeeeeeep with details, so please, just reread it and don’t miss a beat. The “new-fi” sound system is truly special (read about the Tub’s Audio speakers!), the programming is so intentional, the craftspeople they worked with are amazing, it’s all in there.

This place is gonna be so much fun—honestly, it’s the project I have been most excited about for 2025. The sound was tight, the DJ and restaurant industry crowd was friendly, and I can’t wait to have such a cool spot to hang out at (their counter is gonna be busy with industry folks like when Nopa first opened). It already feels like the creative SF vibe I love.

Some new details include what’s on chef Parker Brown’s American bistro menu—take a look above. I’m heading back in for dinner this week, so stand by for more from me about the whole shebang after my visit. As I mentioned, Brown was previously chef de cuisine at Aphotic and is bringing some of his Midwestern roots to the menu, like Parisian gnocchi with short rib and giardiniera (paying homage to a Chicago beef). They want the menu to be affordable and encourage regular guests, like a true neighborhood bistro.

I also look forward to checking out Paul Chung’s (La Ciccia) mostly Italian wine list. Another addition is they’re collaborating with The Coffee Movement to offer daytime coffee service and housemade doughnuts Mon–Fri 8am–1pm. Love it. We got a taste of Side A’s coffee soft-serve ice cream, and Parker tells me his cousin, who is a chemist and ice cream obsessive, shared his ratios and process for what is extremely creamy and utterly delightful soft-serve—it’s bonkers good, and is gonna power the crowd into the late night. 

Walk-ins welcome, reservations start May 15th via Resy. Dinner Mon, Thu, and Sun 4pm–10pm, Fri–Sat 4pm–12am. 2814 19th St. at Bryant.

KIS Cafe Soft Opens in Hayes Valley Tonight

Last week, I was running some errands and swung by the new KIS Cafe in Hayes Valley, which is soft opening for dinner service tonight (April 29th). Back when I first wrote about it in March, I mentioned it’s from chef Luke Sung of the nearby Domo Sushi (he previously opened Isa Restaurant in the Marina) and Eric Lin.

The menu is rooted in Sung’s classic French culinary background, but has a tapas format—they want guests to be able to enjoy a meal and try a variety of dishes over glasses of wine (or aperitivo-style drinks and vermouths) without feeling like they just hemorrhaged all their dining-out budget for the month on a tasting menu. The duo really want to cultivate a neighborhood restaurant feeling, with guests hanging out in the lounge area or at the group table in the back. 

The menu includes snacky plates like three kinds of bruschetta, including “eggplant gazpacho” (overcooked eggplant, piquillo, kumato tomato, cucumber, EVOO, and Jerez sherry vinegar); chicken liver mousse (with quatre épice, shallots, and Cognac butter); and a romaine and radicchio salad with dill, pine nuts, goat cheese, olives, green onion, and watercress—all of those dishes are $13–$15 each.

Wines by the glass are mostly Old World, with a few New World selections sprinkled in, starting at $13 and capping out at $22 for a white or red Burgundy, or $28 for a glass of Larmandier Champagne. There are also low-ABV and N/A options, like my fave RTD Phony Negroni.

The crisp white interior of the former Petit Crenn was given a warmer and more rustic update from designer Michael Brennan, who added wood (and cork) panels to the walls, banquette seating with wood backs, and wood-topped tables. There’s more of a residential feeling to the restaurant now, with a fireplace in the front lounge area, and some bench seating in the window with low-slung club chairs, plus large Japanese Noguchi-style lantern pendant lamps. There are pops of color from the blue velvet contemporary chairs, painted wall panels, and original pieces of Brennan’s art. Soft opening hours are Mon–Sat 5pm–10pm. 609 Hayes St. at Laguna.

Rich Table Is Expanding Their Footprint in Hayes Valley

Some Casual Openings Around Town 

Breakfast Is Serrrrrved

If I wasn’t going to the Alameda Flea Market this Sunday May 4th, I’d be all over this ¡Mexican Breakfast! class at Cookery Skola (on the second level at Saluhall). You’ll learn how to make chilaquiles verdes, huevos rancheros, molletes, and more—and then you get to eat everything. 11am–2pm. (Check out all their classes, from Burmese food to gnocchi to date night.) 945 Market St.

The recently opened Fifty Vara is now serving brunch, with dishes like braised pork hash (spring and caramelized onions, sunny egg, crispy potatoes, Fresno chiles),“The Sando” (fried egg, sausage, cheddar, arugula, aioli, home fries), French toast (strawberry and rhubarb compote, lemon mascarpone), ricotta doughnuts, and breakfast cocktails. Sat–Sun 10:30am–2:30pm. 1735 Noriega St.

Happy 20th Anniversary to La Cocina, One of San Francisco’s Most Inspiring and Impactful Organizations

This Thursday, I am thrilled to be attending La Cocina’s sold-out 20th anniversary gala. I remember when our city’s beloved business incubator first got started in the Mission—in fact, I wrote one of my early freelance articles about it for Edible San Francisco. Since its founding in 2005, La Cocina has incubated 150 businesses and supports over 500 entrepreneurs annually, providing affordable commercial kitchen space, hands-on training, resources, community, and access to sales opportunities so their businesses can thrive.

In honor of the 20th anniversary, La Cocina is offering a Bake Sale Box, featuring a baker’s dozen of sweet and savory treats from talented La Cocina entrepreneurs and acclaimed Bay Area bakeries and restaurants, like Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, b.patisserie, Black Jet Baking Company, The Baking Endeavor, Abacá, State Bird Provisions, Nopa, and more! Perfect for Mother's Day or a special treat to share with friends and family. Place your order by May 9th, pick up Saturday May 10th between 12pm–2:30pm at La Cocina on Hyde (332 Golden Gate Ave.).

La Cocina also just created a commemorative From Dream to Destination map of La Cocina–incubated businesses across the Bay Area, with must-try signature dishes. Say thanks by dining out (or hire them for catering) and support these incredible businesses. You can always donate, buy a cookbook, or send a gift box! Here’s to 20 years of making the Bay Area more delicious while working to solve problems of equity in business ownership for women, immigrants, and people of color. 🥂

Unfortunate Closures and Upcoming Changes

Sad news out of Oakland: after making it through five years of the toughest business conditions, Mica Talmor has made the hard decision to close her restaurant, Pomella (the last day will be Monday May 26th). The Middle Eastern restaurant and catering company opened right at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, so rough, and Talmor managed to gain many fans of her farm-fresh and flavorful dishes for takeout. Later, they got to experience her warm hospitality when she opened her colorful patio. Sadly, rising ingredient costs, insurance, and labor, combined with a decline in sales, made the business unsustainable. Come by for some last meals, enjoy the patio, and plan on attending a bazaar and farewell party over Memorial Day weekend (details to come). Best wishes to you, Mica! Open daily 11am–8pm until May 26th. 3770 Piedmont Ave., Unit B, Oakland.

Over in the Marina, the Causwells team is closing their low-proof cocktail bar Lilah on May 4th, and opening SUPER MENSCH in its place in July. Now that the team landed a full liquor license, the new all-day restaurant and cocktail bar will be inspired by nostalgia for Jewish delis in New York and New Jersey. I’m thrilled we’ll be getting chef Adam Rosenblum’s deli classics back in our lives, like his house-cured and smoked pastrami, his killer housemade rye Reuben, matzah ball soup, latkes, and chocolate cake. There will also be brunch with challah French toast (made from Rosenblum’s mother’s recipe), matzo granola yogurt parfaits, and housemade bagels and lox. Beverage director Elmer Mejicanos will be doing his cocktail magic with classic NYC deli flavors like celery soda, egg creams, and black and white cookies. 2336 Chestnut St.

the sponsor

LAST CHANCE: Industry Discount for Tickets to This Week’s Reel Taste Film Awards and Dinners

Calling all foodies and film lovers! The Reel Taste Film Awards kicks off later this week with three days of action including screenings, immersive dinners, hands-on classes, and more! Sound like the perfect weekend plan for you? We’ve got a special industry-only discount for you to use for Friday’s and Saturday’s screenings and dinners. See below for details!

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Copia presents the Reel Taste Film Awards in partnership with The Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF). Friday’s event will include a “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” screening and director Q&A, followed by two different interactive dining experiences directly inspired by the film’s location and cuisine.

On Saturday, attendees can enjoy a screening of “Feeding Tomorrow” along with a Q&A session with directors Simon English and Oliver English. After the screening, a dinner will be served highlighting plant-forward, regenerative, and local ingredient-based cuisine.

Thursday, May 1st | SOLD OUT
Friday, May 2nd | “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” Screening + Sushi Tribute Dinner
Saturday, May 3rd | “Feeding Tomorrow” Screening + Plant-Forward Dinner

Screenings begin at 6pm, followed by dinner at 7:30pm.

Ticket Details:
Tickets for May 2 | Tickets for May 3 
👉 Use discount code REEL50 to receive 50% off on up to two tickets of your choice for May 2nd and May 3rd events.

CIA at Copia Ecolab Theater: 500 1st St., Napa

the lush

The Lobby Bar in the Castro Is Now a Lesbian and Transgender History Bar with a New Owner and Team

After opening three years ago in the Hotel Castro from Hi Tops’ Jesse Woodward and Blake Seely, Lobby Bar temporarily closed earlier this year, and then reopened in early February under new owner Grace Huntley. Huntley, a trans woman, is a software executive (Director of Engineering at Code for America) and a board member at OpenHouseSF. During the Castro Street Fair, she swung by Lobby Bar to meet up with a friend for a drink and saw it was for sale and spontaneously put an offer on it. For a while, Huntley had the idea and desire to create a space in the heart of the Castro that is welcoming to the lesbian and trans community, while uplifting their visibility and acknowledging their history. She shared, “I have always felt safe in the Castro, but there wasn’t really a place for me to go.” Until now.

But the new Lobby Bar is not exclusionary—any and all allies are welcome. Huntley said some of the original gay male clientele are strong allies who have continued to patronize the bar and enjoy the diverse crowd, cocktail bar environment, and well-made drinks. I swung by last week to meet Huntley and check out the updated space, and I walked into a space with a fun and mixed crowd of customers, and even ran into some dear friends (a gay male couple) coming by for a nightcap. It totally feels like a house party at the bar.

Huntley loves seeing people connecting and recommending what to get and even enthusiastically sharing sips of their drinks (I was offered a sip!). She wants Lobby Bar to be a place for the community to come together and connect, especially in these dark political times. The Castro has had a few mixed bars and spaces over the years, but now there will be two bars welcoming to the lesbian and trans community in the gayborhood when Rikki’s, a women’s sports bar, opens later this year on Market at Sanchez (Huntley said she likes to think of them as two bookends in the Castro).

The “retroglam” Lobby Bar was designed to offer a higher-end cocktail experience and bar bites in the Castro when it first opened in 2022, but eventually pared down its food menu, and had service issues toward the end. Huntley has brought in new management and staff, and while Lobby Bar is still focused on serving high-level cocktails, the bar is also now full-service. They have a diverse hiring policy, with staff in a uniform of black shirts, jeans, and suspenders who provide table service (when you sit down, they bring you a glass and bottle of cucumber water). The bar not only has 100 percent ADA access, but the team is also there to facilitate full and attentive assistance—Huntley’s daughter uses a wheelchair, so she is sensitive to what ADA access truly means. 

The cocktail program is under the purview of GM Vyvyan, a trans woman whose background includes working in New York in craft beer, and then at a couple Sasha Petraske bars—she fell in love with the cocktails at End of the Century bar in Forest Hill and convinced the team to let her have a slow shift so she could learn the ropes, and she went on to take over the beverage program at Sweetleaf when Richard Boccato left. She credits both bars for teaching her about dilution, balance, and quality ice and ingredients, all elements she is committed to at Lobby Bar, and is currently training some staff members on. They make their own house syrups, infusions, and more, using fresh ingredients, and sourcing spirits and wine from LGBTQIA+ and diverse distillers and makers.

Vyvyan just launched the bar’s new cocktail list, take a look above. There are spins on modern and traditional classics, as well as some tropical drinks—she likes to have a variety of options. I loved the Defibrillator, a twist on a Penicillin, with mezcal, tequila blanco, and sotol instead of Scotch, and the Idol Hands calls back to the tropical drinks she was making in New York. The espresso Martini here is a thing of beauty—it’s a five-day process, with their own cold brew that they make into a liqueur (with rum), and add their own house vanilla syrup to the cocktail. It’s good trouble.

There are N/A options made on the fly until they get the menu finalized—my friend had a fantastic pineapple buck with lime, ginger, soda, and spice, while my pal Heather loved her refreshing drink with grapefruit, strawberry, lime, house vanilla syrup, and cinnamon.

There’s a full kitchen, and a tapas-style menu of bites, with vegan, allergen-safe, and gluten-free items (including pão de queijo waffles drizzled with smoky honey butter). There are four kinds of empanadas that come over fresh every two days from Cafe Buenos Aires, an East Bay business founded by Diana Days, an Argentine trans woman. The Lobby Fries follow Grace’s father’s recipe (steak cut, skin on, rosemary lemon salt), although the lavender honey aioli and Mexican catsup add-ons are her creations—she used to have a food blog, and is very passionate about ingredients and layers of flavor. You’ll also see her touch with the Mayan pot de crème (with chocolate, cayenne, cinnamon, allspice) topped with a housemade citrus whip and strawberry.

Sunday brunch is in the works, and since there’s a grill, Brazilian churrasco (grilled skewers) is also being discussed. (Huntley’s wife is Brazilian, so that’s why you’ll note many Brazilian elements throughout the space.)

There’s acoustic music on Thursdays (last week, there was a Brazilian singer-songwriter performing). It’s a small space, so the bar can only accommodate solo performers. The space was deep cleaned (including the blue chairs), repainted, and refreshed, with new art from around the world, and the broken toilet was finally fixed, too.

About the artwork: it’s all by transgender and lesbian artists around the world (except the scissors piece is by a Brazilian cisgender straight man who never understood why so many women in couples were buying his art), and each piece has a description like a museum so you know more about it.

The most intriguing addition, however, is just next to the bathroom, where there’s an illuminated display case of artifacts and ephemera highlighting lesbian and transgender history, which includes the original soundtrack cassette tape of Beauty in the Beast from electronic composer and trans woman Wendy Carlos (she did the soundtrack for Tron and A Clockwork Orange), a photo of a trans woman and her partner in 1924, a 1910 female therapeutic massager, and a fossilized clam, over a million years old. Waiting to use the bathroom has never been more interesting!

Some new programming will include lesbian speed dating (the winners will get a hotel room upstairs!), and a prix-fixe date night, with rolling tapas, wine, and flowers from the florist across the street. Follow @thelobbybarsf for updates. Hours for now are Wed–Thu 5pm–11pm, Fri 5pm–12am, Sat 4pm–12am, and Sun 2pm–10pm. 4230 18th St. at Castro. 

the archivist