Whether you’re starting your night with an order of Korean fried chicken and a glass of soju or ending your night with a platter of bulgogi tater tots and a cold pint of Dokkaebier, Ilcha aims to meet all your Korean food and beverage needs. The sleek Lombard Street restaurant was formerly a hot pot spot, and there are still a couple bubbling options. But friends Kummi Kim and Hilwin Wong have flipped the focus to casual food and a deep selection of drinks. 

Groundbreaking Bay Area food truck Señor Sisig put it in park at San Francisco’s landmark food hall the Ferry Building in mid-August. Taking over the former Brown Sugar Kitchen space, co-founders Evan Kidera and Gil Payumo started slinging their signature take on the classic Filipino dish — stuffing slow-cooked pork into tortas, wrapping it into burritos, and piling it atop fries. The outpost also offers vegan options, cinnamon-dusted churros, and Señor Sisig’s first cocktail menu starring Southeast Asian flavors like ube, tamarind, and Datu Puti vinegar. 

Head to this new SoMa spot from a team of experienced bar and restaurant industry vets for three different kinds of pizza and a hurricane of tiki cocktails. Owner Lane Ford partnered with Pedro Gonzalaz (formerly Beretta, Delarosa) on the dough program, which includes bready bases for round East Coast pizza, Detroit-style slabs, and slices of thin and crispy Grandma pies. The wine list explores natural options both by the glass and bottle. 

For 14 years Matt Ho’s family restaurant Bodega Bistro served Northern Vietnamese and French dishes in the Tenderloin neighborhood. The restaurant shut down in 2014, but now has been given a second life in a new space on Mason Street. Much of the lunch menu remains the same as before but dinner brings options like banh cuon rice rolls; cha ca, a whole branzino fish served with dill, turmeric, and galangal; and bo tai chanh, which Ho describes as a beef carpaccio. Perhaps the biggest addition is the full bar, with a menu infused with ingredients like pandan, lemongrass, or Vietnamese coffee. 

Bansang is the latest Korean dining hit from the group behind Daeho and two experienced chefs: Ethan Min (Atelier Crenn, Saison) and Jin Lim (Michael Mina, Kinjo, Kabuto). Located on Geary and Fillmore, on the same block at State Bird Provisions, the restaurant offers an upscale menu of Korean small plates such as uni scallop toast, bulgogi salad, and lime soy fried chicken. 

Explore an all-Mexican wine list and a menu of small plates at Cantina Los Mayas, a more upscale restaurant and wine bar from the team behind Taqueria Los Mayas, located just a couple of blocks away on Clement. The Chronicle reports partner Juve Carillo, who oversees the food, leans into Mayan and Yucatecan specialties such as slow-roasted cochinita pibil.

Adriano Paganini, the restaurant mastermind behind hits including Wildseed and Super Duper Burgers, strikes again: In August, Paganini’s Back of House restaurant group opened a new vegan restaurant called Rad Radish in Hayes Valley. It’s meant to be a more casual answer to Wildseed, serving grain bowls, salads, and meat-free sandwiches for either dine-in or to-go. Beverage options include organic wines and low ABV cocktails, which can be sipped in a space splashed with groovy murals.

The robots aren’t just coming, they’ve already arrived. At least, that’s the case at Mezli, San Francisco’s entirely robot-run restaurant, which began spitting out customizable Mediterranean bowls in late August. Technically, it’s more of a vending machine on robot steroids: a team of chefs prepares all ingredients at an off-site kitchen before loading them into what’s essentially a refrigerated shipping container. Then robots combine ingredients to customers’ orders and finish off the cooking process. Head to Spark Social in Mission Bay for a glimpse of the future. 

After years of roaming the streets of San Francisco, Peruvian food truck Lomo Libre parked in a new permanent home in the Inner Sunset this July. In the sunny yellow restaurant, owner and chef Jose Calvo Perez continues to offer modern takes on Peruvian classics — think lomo saltado wrapped up into a burrito, loaded on top of nachos, or tossed among wok-fried noodles. On the beverage side, look for Peruvian lagers, tequila, mezcal, and pisco sours, of course. 

When you consider the pedigree behind Mission Dolores newcomer Handroll Project, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the restaurant’s already drawing hours-long wait times. But snag a seat at one of the two sushi bars and you’ll be treated to a concise list of temaki, or handrolls, envisioned by chef Geoffrey Lee of Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant Ju-Ni. 

The former Flour + Water Pizzeria space on Valencia is now Yellow Moto Pizzeria, courtesy of co-owners David and Allison White. Much of the menu remains the same — with a fresh focus on vegetables and lighter fare. So now you can start your meal with a snap pea antipasti and a bibb lettuce salad before digging into a pepperoni or clam-topped pie. Also new: a full bar pouring a list of seven house drinks from cocktail talents Enrique Sanchez (El Alto) and Donny Henderson. The space also saw a redesign with the goal to make things colorful, casual, and fun. 

In a cozy corner space on 20th and Harrison streets in the Mission, chef Kosuke Tada gives French plates the California cuisine treatment. A weekly four-course set menu might offer white turnips with broccoli rabe or pork loin dressed in blueberry sauce; Tada is keeping things seasonal and told Eater SF in April the menu is intentionally simple: “If I have a nice carrot, I want to serve a nice carrot.” 

Fast-casual Greek restaurant Souvla swung to the Dogpatch with the San Francisco-based chain’s largest restaurant yet. The former Magnolia Brewery space now hosts Souvla’s full menu of lamb sandwiches, chicken-topped salads, and Greek frozen yogurt — plus a new mezze menu including chilled octopus salad; dakos, a traditional salad from Crete; pan-seared saganaki; and dolmades. There’s also an expanded wine list to explore, and it’s entirely full of Greek selections.