Here are the latest restaurant happenings in the city’s Northside neighborhoods:
COW HOLLOW
Now open is Mamo (3659 Buchanan Street, 415-658-7150), a restaurant blending Colombian, Venezuelan, and Californian cuisines. The South American menu includes small plates, salads, and larger plates like pork shoulder guajillo with arepas, poached white fish, and even a vegan bowl, plus beer and wine. It’s a tiny spot, but looks like it will be a cozy neighborhood joint. Open Tuesday–Thursday 5 p.m.–10 p.m., Friday–Saturday 5 p.m.–11 p.m.
Weekend brunch at the stylish Kaiyo (1838 Union Street, 415-525-4804) sounds like a winner to me, especially with the sunny front patio area. The newly launched brunch menu includes kakuni-braised pork belly hash with Peruvian potato hash, panca, shishito peppers, onion, sunny-side up egg, and uchucuta sauce; karaage chicken and waffles with a sesame and scallion waffle, miso maple butter, poached egg, and seasonal greens; or there’s also a Kaiyo burger. If you like something sweeter, there’s passionfruit-soaked French toast with macha crème Chantilly, fresh berries, mango syrup, and cinnamon. Don’t forget their bar, full of creative and well-executed cocktails. Served Saturday–Sunday 10:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
EMBARCADERO
Release the fried chicken and waffles! Tanya Holland must not be getting much sleep right now, because she just opened Brown Sugar Kitchen (1 Ferry Building, Suite 41, 415-938-8090) in the Ferry Building and in Uptown Oakland, both at once. BSK is now in the former Il Cane Rosso space, serving Holland’s famed buttermilk fried chicken and cornmeal waffles, along with smoked chicken and shrimp gumbo, buttermilk or bacon-scallion-cheddar biscuits, sandwiches, sides, and breakfast (available until 11 a.m.). Soft opening hours will be Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.–6 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Now open for lunch, you can come by Angler (132 The Embarcadero, 415-872-9442) for their trademark Radicchio with Radicchio X.O. dish and more (menu changes daily). Lunch served Thursday–Saturday 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
JACKSON SQUARE
Have you been wanting to check out Verjus (528 Washington Street, 415-944-4600), the chic, new French-inspired restaurant and wine bar from Lindsay and Michael Tusk since I wrote about it in last month’s column? Of course you have. And now it just got easier to score a table at this no-reservations hotspot because they are now open for lunch, and staying open continuously into dinner. Don’t miss the pâté en croûte. Open Tuesday–Wednesday 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m., Thursday–Friday 11:30 a.m.–midnight, Saturday 5 p.m.–late (kitchen closes at 10 p.m.).
RUSSIAN HILL
Chef-owners Carrie and Rupert Blease at Lord Stanley (2065 Polk Street, 415-872-5512) have decided to make their Sunday Supper permanent on last Sundays of each month (four courses for $65), and starting this week, they’ll be offering a $45 special menu every Tuesday through Thursday. It’s a three-course menu, featuring some of their favorite standbys (a recent menu was salt cod beignets with kimchi dip; roasted suckling pig with grilled pineapple, ginger, scallion, and pork jus; and malted sourdough ice cream with apple caramel and sweet apple
granola for dessert). Open Tuesday–Thursday 5:30–10 p.m., Friday–Saturday 5:30–11 p.m.
Some changes are coming to various locations of organic meat company Belcampo: the Russian Hill location (1998 Polk Street, 415-660-5573) will close (as well as their location in Palo Alto’s Town and Country Center), but on the flip side, they will be opening a flagship at the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, and their first commissary kitchen in SoMa, which they will use as a base to prepare and deliver food all over the city. The San Francisco location closes on March 2, and has stopped serving cooked food in the meantime. Stop by to get a goodie bag with ecommerce discounts, complimentary products, and gift cards for use at other Belcampo locations.
Things also look a little up in the air at Allegro Romano (1701 Jones Street) on Russian Hill. A Tablehopper reader sent in a picture of a notice of suspension in the window, and you can’t make any reservations on OpenTable. I’ve reached out to owner Lorenzo Logoreci, and will let you know if I hear back.
