Bon Appetit Names SF Oyster Bar the Best-Designed Restaurant of 2016

Bon Appetit continues to award SF restaurants

As a part of maximizing the traffic on its annual “Best New Restaurants” rollout, Bon Appetit is slowly dribbling out winners. The latest SF awards go to Leo’s Oyster Bar for “Best Designed Restaurant of the Year” and Tacos Cala for one of the three best new tacos of 2016 (for the record, it’s the pork chile verde taco).

Waldorf Astoria is gracing SF with its presence

The iconic Waldorf Astoria is bringing its luxury self to San Francisco, building a 20-floor luxury high-rise hotel in SoMa, Curbed SF reports. There will be several restaurants; details to come. Virgin is also opening its second U.S. hotel in SoMa, and will also have a restaurant. The Astoria aims to open in 2020 or 2021, while Virgin hasn’t date guessed.

El Techo reopens post-fire

Argentinean steakhouse Lolinda suffered a small kitchen fire on Friday night, which spread up to El Techo de Lolinda, shuttering both spots. Now, El Techo has reopened, and Lolinda will reopen soon, Inside Scoop reports.

Homage launches “Twilight Hour”

Homage, the farm-fresh lunch spot in FiDi, is now expanding its repertoire to include all-day service with what it’s calling “Twilight Hour.” The fast casual cafe will be open Monday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. with low-proof cocktails (made by Christopher Longoria of 1760), wines, beer, and large shared platters.

Berkeley’s Premier Cru was an enormous Ponzi scheme

John Fox, owner of Berkeley’s Premier Cru wine outlet, will plead guilty to wire fraud this week, after the government investigated the business as a Ponzi scheme. Now, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison. The company was over $70 million in debt when it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, much of which was tied into wine orders that customers never received. Fox could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $250,000, as well as restitution to the swindled wine customers.

Dry Creek Kitchen has gotten itself a new chef

Chef Scott Romano is now running Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, bringing experience from Charlie Palmer’s other restaurants in New York, LA, and Dallas.

Vallejo women jacked up a Jack in the Box

Several ladies, who we can only assume were very, very hangry, caused a major scene at the Vallejo fast food restaurant on Sunday. According to police, the four women were incensed that their meals weren’t hot enough; when a manager asked them to pull into the parking lot to wait for a new one, they went full-on hunger games, throwing food through the drive-thru window, then entering the restaurant and going on a rampage. They were later caught and arrested, thanks to eagle-eyed employees taking down their license plate as they drove off.