San Francisco's dining scene is set for new additions this March, including a French fine-dining spot and a historic hotel restaurant. Among the openings are JouJou, emphasizing seafood classics, and the revived Big Four in Nob Hill. Other debuts feature a Mexican cantina, a gluten-free trattoria, and a bakery with acclaimed pastries.
San Francisco's restaurant landscape will see several notable openings in March, bringing fresh options from established teams in the city's culinary world.
JouJou, the latest venture from David Barzelay of the two-Michelin-starred Lazy Bear, will launch as an à la carte French restaurant focused on seafood. Located at the intersection of SoMa and the Design District, it occupies a 6,000-square-foot space previously home to The Grove, with an enclosed former porch. The menu will include classics such as vichyssoise and trout almondine, along with shellfish towers and caviar, aiming to evoke the style of past favorites like Stars and La Folie.
The Big Four, a historic restaurant and piano bar in the Huntington Hotel on Nob Hill, reopens next week after six years of closure. Known for its dark wood paneling and green leather booths, the space has been redesigned by Ken Fulk. A release describes the new design as blending "the intimacy of an ancestral home with the allure of an iconic, insider space." Details on the menu remain forthcoming.
Lobalita, a Mexican cantina, will fill the former Tipsy Pig location on Chestnut Street, vacant since May. Owners Nate Valentine and Jamal Blake-Williams, who ran Tipsy Pig for 16 years and operate April Jean, Prizefighter, and Bar Darling nearby, plan a neighborhood bar with a full food program.
Clementina, a gluten-free trattoria from Montesacro owners Gianluca Legrottaglie and Viviana Devoto, with chef Giorgio Brunella, offers pizza, Roman-style pinsa flatbreads, meats, fish, risotto, gnocchi, and antipasti. An all-Italian wine list accompanies gluten-free beer, wine-based spritzes, and non-alcoholic options.
Sol Bakery, led by Marisa Williams after a year of acclaimed pop-ups at Neighbor Bakehouse featuring guava tarts and focaccia, opens its first permanent spot off the Panhandle. The team, formerly of Tartine, will serve favorites and new items like oolong custard choux, with beverages from Grand Coffee and Song Tea & Ceramics.