North Beach neighborhood favorite Park Tavern made a triumphant return in mid-May after being mostly closed for the past three years. Owner Anna Weinberg (also behind nearby Tosca Cafe and Leo’s Oyster Bar) enlisted designer pal Ken Fulk to do a big remodel though the space retains as much of its former charm as possible, the Chronicle reports. In the kitchen, chef Marco Cerruti spearheads a menu of “classics, elevated.”

The Marina welcomed a slick new spot for seafood classics with the opening of Popi’s Oysterette on the high-traffic corner of Steiner and Chestnut. Chef Melissa Perfit helms the ship, coming off of stints at Bar Crudo and Sister in Oakland. Open for lunch service to start, the restaurant serves raw bar standards including oysters, mussels, clams, and crab, plus hot dishes like fish and chips, clam chowder, and cioppino. Check the restaurant’s Instagram for updates. 

Coffee fanatics already know the Saint Frank name, but as of February, the game-changing coffee business has entered the bakery scene. Juniper on Polk Street comes from Saint Frank owner Kevin Bohlin, with Andrea Correa of Parallel 37, formerly of Noma and El Bulli, helping to set up the opening menu. The new bakery focuses on all things choux — think Tiramichoux, a take on the Italian dessert; a cinnamon-scented caramel apple choux crowned with thin petals of apple skin; and, on the savory side, a Parmesan anchovy choux capped with an herb salad. Classic pastries including croissants are on the menu, too, as well as top-notch coffee and espresso drinks. 

Bay Area chef Srijith Gopinathan (Ettan, Little Blue Door) re-enters the San Francisco dining scene with the debut of Copra, his latest restaurant with partner Ayesha Thapar. In a lush space bursting with climbing vines and swinging macrame, Gopinathan explores the food traditions of his home state of Kerala in southwestern India. Start with a sharable chutney palette, which allows diners to select four chutneys, before diving into larger plates such as black cod pollichathu, a dish he enjoyed on special occasions back home in India, and Konkan crab curry. 

Chef Mike Lanham has been running his fine dining pop-up Anomaly for years and as of January, he’s giving the restaurant a permanent home. The chef specializes in what he calls “post-modern American cuisine,” which diners can experience via an 11-course tasting menu ($121) with optional fish or caviar supplements. Expect playful plates such as a delicata squash egg custard with Asian pear and filet mignon with beet millefeuille and roasted celery root puree. 

After working as a sous chef at Marlena while shoring up the idea for his own restaurant, chef Jongmoon Choi and the ever-expanding Mins Group opened Suragan in the Tenderloin in December. The fine-dining Korean restaurant serves a 12-course tasting menu ($135) that features dishes inspired by ancient cookbooks. The restaurant is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday with two seatings per evening. 

This much-anticipated restaurant extension of chef Eric Ehler’s pizza pop-up Outta Sight rolled open slowly during the fall, but as of the top of the new year, it is open for expanded hours from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, with delivery available after 5 p.m. On the menu look for floppy slices and excellent whole pies — plus hoagies, wings, salads, and fries expected to be added to the lineup soon.

Four years after its previous location was destroyed in a fire, a beloved San Francisco destination for dim sum has returned. The San Francisco Chronicle has the full story of HK Lounge Bistro’s big comeback. It’s open for lunch and dinner on the ground floor of a resident highrise at 99 Rausch Street in SoMa, and the menu resurfaces many fan-favorite dishes including crispy baked pork buns and steamed har gow. 

The chef duo behind Noe Valley’s Hamano sushi have taken their talents to Divisadero to open Katsuo + Kombu, an udon and katsu shop. It’s a spinoff from the Noe Valley sushi favorite, where chefs Jiro Lin and Takashi Saito began serving handmade udon noodles at the omakase counter, per the Chronicle. Now, they have a dedicated restaurant — and an imported Japanese machine — to power the Fukuoka-style udon menu.  

At long last, the doors are open at Sandy’s, the much-anticipated New Orleans-inspired sandwich shop from Peterson Harter, a native of the Big Easy and a muffuletta expert. Harter started Sandy’s during the pandemic as a pop-up business so the Haight Street shop marks a big jump into a permanent space. To start, the menu includes muffuletta piled high with prosciutto, mortadella, soppressata, provolone, and spicy olive salad, which can be ordered by the quarter- and 1/8th-slice. There’s also a vegetarian version, chocolate chip cookies, and drinks (the nonalcoholic kind).

At long last, chef Chris Yang and partner Marcelle Gonzales Yang put down roots for their formerly itinerant businesses Hen-Zhi and El Chino Grande. Piglet & Co., the couple’s first restaurant, serves “Asian comfort food” out of a moody space that’s inspired by Taiwanese night markets. The tight menu is still in flux but standouts include sweet-savory honey walnut shrimp and pork toast, confited Savoy cabbage, and chashao pork ssam. With a liquor license still in the works, beverage options include tea and sodas for now. Sunday brunch, a multi-course set menu for $45, launched in late February. 

Since announcing plans for a permanent restaurant back in late 2022, chef Dontaye Ball has had fans salivating over Gumbo Social’s big move to the Bayview. Well, the wait is over as of June 3, when the restaurant celebrates its grand opening and debuts a menu of “build-your-own” gumbo, plus soul food favorites including red beans and rice, black-eyed peas, and po’boy sandwiches.