The restaurant & bar issue
Verjus, 7 Adams, secret bars, Side A, Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Sotto Mare, MORE
ABOUT FOUND • Restaurants
Where should you eat right now
At FOUND, we capture the restaurant scene via three primary lenses — short narrative pieces relaying our experiences dining in the field (First Person, First Word & FOUND Table), distilled lists of recommendations (The Nines), and interviews with the city’s movers, shakers, and industry insiders of taste (Routines).
FOUND is fascinated with what’s new, reporting regularly on just-opened spots before the rush. Just as interesting to us: those places that haven’t received their just acclaim, and old favorites that reward return visits. And while we will spend $350 per person for an extraordinary experience, we are equally at home at an exemplary neighborhood bistro.
Across the breadth of our coverage, we’re as focused on the room and the vibe — the way the restaurant makes you feel — as we are the food. We’re also obsessed with the movements and trends shaping the dining scene, from the evolving reservations game (and challenges of getting a table) to the shifting parameters of what constitutes a power lunch. And finally, our coverage reaches beyond the city, into the suburbs and weekend getaway markets (i.e., “surrounds”).
Here now, a sampler of FOUND pieces from the year in restaurants for your late-August enjoyment.
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Natural high
When Michael and Lindsay Tusk (of Quince and Cotogna fame) first opened Verjus in 2019, they introduced the concept of a Parisian-inspired cave à manger to San Francisco, and the natural wine bar was the hottest new restaurant of the year. When the pandemic hit soon after, the Tusks first converted it to a retail space, then shut it down, promising an eventual return when the time was right.
That time has come, as the restaurant’s red door once again swung open last month.
Most of the original details are still in place: the glossy red ceiling shining over the room; the illuminated marquee menu above the open kitchen which shuffles weekly; a wine wall racked with bottles and a library-style rolling ladder. And so many excited diners, all jockeying for a table or standing at the bar, explaining in a bemused way how it seemed that Verjus had never left.
Verjus (round deux) remains deceptively — and paradoxically — casual. Whether or not you like it will hinge on how you feel about squatting on a backless stool while drinking a $20-something glass of outstanding French wine and nibbling on a $10 single oeuf en mayonnaise.
If your back allows it, the rewards are ample. The food is impeccable: a prettily packed pate en croute, sausages stuffed in house, and a simply perfect omelette rolled around creamy boursin. The pain perdu, maybe the best dessert I’ve eaten all year, arrives with crispy edges, a custardy center, and a dark caramel pushed to that delicious brink of burnt sugar. And this time around, writer and bartender Thad Vogler (who founded Bar Agricole) consulted on a new cocktail menu, aptly supplementing that excellent wine list.
There are a couple ways to play a trip to Verjus. Slide in early and settle in for a long happy hour of bubbles, buttered radishes, and any of the above delights. Or lean into the scene and join the crowd on the later side. One new touch in 2.0: a DJ booth in the corner. Either way, it’ll be good to be back. –Becky Duffett
→ Verjus (Jackson Square) • 550 Washington St • Tues–Thurs 4-10p, Fri & Sat 4-11p. • Reserve.
–12/11/2024
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Slice life
TONY GEMIGNANI • chef/pizzaiolo • Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Slice House, Capo’s, Dago Bagel
Neighborhood you live in: Fremont, CA
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I try to start the day with a walk or jog around 430-5a before checking emails and working out. I get a lot of emails, not just for business, but from people all over the world asking questions about recipes and dough. Then I check on the fruit trees, vines, and anything else growing and in season on my property. I usually hit the road by 730a.
What’s on the agenda for today?
I’ll begin with a stop at my bakery, where we make the dough for our North Beach restaurants. I’ll also check on the sourdough bread before making my way to Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. There, I’ll meet with chef Oscar to go over operations and any new recipes I have in mind for the restaurant. After some Zoom calls, it’s time to get behind the line and start on the wood-fired oven where we make Neapolitan pizzas. I also stop at Capo’s, where I meet with my chef and management team before the restaurant opens for dinner. I’ll stay in North Beach until about 7p and finally head home to see my son before he goes to bed.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
In San Francisco, Tadich Grill. It’s an old-school spot that my wife and I love to go to. I always get the octopus salad with an extra slice of garlic bread. My North Beach favorites: Tony Nik’s Cafe and Gino & Carlo’s for cocktails; Sotto Mare for fish, especially the sand dabs; Original Joe’s for cocktails and dinner; Firenze by Night for house-made pasta; Caffe Trieste for my morning espresso or latte; Victoria’s for pastries; and Liguria Bakery for focaccia in the morning.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I have Warriors season tickets, and we love going to Giants games when we can bring my dad, who’s 83, and loves baseball. I’m in a car club called Satan’s Angels, and show cars all over the area, from Nevada City to Santa Rosa. You’ll also find me at the Goodguys Car Show in Pleasanton.
Any weekend getaways?
We like Sausalito, Napa, and Petaluma for day trips. In Petaluma, we’re going to Keller Winery and are staying at Metro Hotel & Cafe, where you can spend the night in an Airstream camper. Strike Zone has sports memorabilia and comic books, and Nostalgia Alley is a cool retro video game store and arcade with OG video games. For food, we like the old-school diner Sax’s Joint and Della Fattoria Cafe.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
A 1941 Cadillac LaSalle.
What store or service do you always recommend?
Davidson & Licht in Walnut Creek for jewelry and watches. They have an amazing staff who are extremely professional and courteous and go out of their way to find what you’re looking for.
Photo: Mark Fiorito/Gamma Nine Photography
–01/29/25
BARS • The Nines
Bars, secret
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of the Bay Area’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundsf.com. For the full archives, click here.
Left Door (Cow Hollow), maximalist bar w/ museum-level art, reserve
Linden Room @ Nightbird (Hayes Valley), 8-seat bar w/ impressive spirit list, top-notch service inside low-profile Linden Street entrance, reserve
Bourbon & Branch Bars (Tenderloin), 4 secret bars inside res-only main bar— the Library (password: books), detective-themed Wilson & Wilson, large-party Russell’s Room, tiny 2-seater through floorboard trap door called Ipswich, reserve
Marianne’s @ The Cavalier (Union Square), res-only salon w/rock ‘n’ roll vibes, tightly edited cocktail list through back-alley pink door, reserve
Green Room @ The Battery (Jackson Square), cocktails behind a secret panel inside late-night, members-only bar Musto, reserve
Remedie Room @ Devil’s Acre (North Beach), underground, apothecary-style space slinging Barbary Coast-era elixirs, reserve
Circa 1905 @ The Barrel Room (FiDi), secluded basement cocktail bar in former bank vault serving old-world-SF cocktails, reserve
Moonglow @ Gold Palm (Oakland, above), martinis, classics, exclusives via back door marked w/ gold crescent moon (intel), reserve
Alter Ego @ Still O.G. (San Jose), destination bar w/ velvety cocktails, old and rare whiskeys, behind soundproof retro-velvet curtain (intel), reserve
–05/30/25
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Flipping out
Side A, a newly opened all-day cafe/listening bar in the Mission, is an assured debut from married first-time restaurateurs Caroline and Parker Brown. They categorize the spot as “Midwestern comfort food.” Speaking as someone who regularly travels to the Midwest, if food like this was the standard, I’d be less eager to come back to SF.
The longish narrow space begins with a record booth, where vinyl collector and DJ Caroline spins some nights, while guests handle the mixer other evenings (with lineups announced via Instagram). On a recent visit, the playlist spooled out like a 1990s Isaac Mizrahi show, all Sylvester, Erasure, and Pet Shop Boys, smoothly remixed.
Bolsters on the chairs and sound absorbers on the walls mean it’s still possible to carry on a conversation, but some diners (who, like us, appeared to be Gen X) were troubled by the way the marble-topped bar and tables — a leftover from the previous tenant, brunch spot Universal Cafe — bounced back the dBs. Never mind that the mixer up front seemed like adequate warning that the sound system would be active.
Drinks are primarily wine, a concise list spearheaded by La Ciccia’s Paul Chung (though beer and a couple of N/A options are on offer). You can grab a glass while you wait to be seated, but there’s no vestibule to linger in, and your host will most likely direct you toward a seat built around a neighbor’s tree. Bar and outdoor seating are walk-in only, with reservations recommended for tables.
Once seated, the Browns’ mention of the Midwest falls into focus. Parker, once chef de cuisine at now-shuttered Aphotic, nods to Chicago beef sandwiches with short rib gnocchi. A “garbage” salad comes covered in pork belly confit, an accurate take on how many in flyover country eat their vegetables. The “cheese fries” appetizer comes stacked ballpark-high, but free of queso sauce: instead, it’s dotted with In-N-Out-level caramelized onions, caviar, and smoked trout roe. Not everything on the menu is a comfort-food send-up. A Minnesota-sized portion of halibut over spigarello was a straightforward table-pleaser. Shrimp in chilli vinaigrette atop Acme pain de mie was an unironic pleasure.
Soft-serve for dessert is a nice idea, but felt too on the nose after so much Real America. The layered carrot cake better suits, especially when shared.
Side A also operates as a weekday morning spot, with Bryan Overstreet’s local mini-chain The Coffee Movement serving their house-roasted java and a rotating selection of donuts from 8a-2p. Everyone’s doing a fancy donut these days, but these are exceptional (especially the lemon). If they ended up on the dinner menu, that would be a knockout way to end the evening. –Eve Batey
→ Side A (Mission) • 2814 19th St • Mon-Fri 8a-2p, Mon, Thu, Sun 4-10p, Fri-Sat 4p-12a • Reserve.
–05/28/2025
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Half marathon
7 Adams, which celebrates its first birthday this week, might have produced San Francisco’s solution to the tasting menu conundrum. Prix-fixe formats are often a Goldilocks affair — too short feels like a glorified à la carte order, too long and/or too expensive often translates to a marathon of tweezered food. But at five courses ($87 per), this contemporary Californian spot from chef couple Serena Chow-Fisher and David Fisher seems to have found the sweet spot.
Everyone starts with Chow-Fisher’s buzzed-about milk bread and the same two openers, which on a mid-summer visit were the most intricate and thrilling of the savory options — a delicate scallop crudo with a gazpacho-evoking green strawberry vinaigrette dotted with homemade koji-dusted sunflower seeds, and an equally delightful chilled corn velouté with burnt avocado and serpent cucumbers.
For the remaining trio of dishes, guests select their own pasta, main course, and dessert from a list of two to three choices. When the chefs were at their prior stop, Bernal Heights’ Marlena, pastas were the star. They’re great here, too. (See: A playful dish of cocoa pappardelle and braised lamb with smoked cotija and lime crema.)
Desserts also stand out, especially Chow-Fisher’s signature semifreddos — which on this visit brought me chocolate with ripe strawberries.
In addition to the five-course prix fixe, there’s a more traditional six-seat chef’s counter experience, which runs eight to 10 courses and two and a half hours ($157 per). On a recent chef’s counter visit, dishes included a terrific Buffalo-style deboned chicken wing stuffed with homemade chicken sausage as an ode to Fisher’s native Western New York, and a brilliant summery tart with oolong bavarois, two kinds of melon, and blackberry lemon verbena jam.
While those 8 to 10 courses are full of thrills and a touch more culinary innovation, the heart of 7 Adams is worth considering as a special occasion tasting menu restaurant — without the commitment. –Trevor Felch
→ 7 Adams (Lower Pacific Heights) • 1963 Sutter St • Mon-Thurs 530-9p, Fri-Sat 5010p, Sun 5-9p • Reserve.
–10/30/2024