Restaurant happenings around the 'hood...
From Tablehopper this week...
The Western Addition is seriously on a tear: not only did ~NOPA~ open last week, and I’m hearing it’s getting high marks, (560 Divisadero St. at Hayes St., 415-864-8643), but a few doors down is ~ZIRYAB~, a Middle Eastern joint (at last—a different kind of wrap for the 'hood) from Sameer Nasser, who owns the Star-ell liquor store on Divis. Ziryab has a pretty extensive menu, serving kebabs, shwarma, falafel, salads, and there is even free-range chicken breast with sumac sauce. There's also a front patio that is recessed from the street, and hookahs (apple and strawberry). The only bummer: the hours are daily from 4pm-11pm, which means no lunch (yet)—but they plan on opening for lunch soon. 528 Divisadero between Hayes and Oak Streets, 415-522-0800. There is also a pizza joint that just opened, ~AMINA'S PIZZERIA~, right across from The Independent, which should make concertgoers happy. Granted, the unparalleled Little Star is right up the street, but sometimes you just need a slice of some thin-crust pizza, fast. 655 Divisadero St at Grove St., 415-441-4102.
Over on Fulton near Masonic in the old Storyville/1751 Social Club will be a tea café by day/performance space and restaurant by night called ~POLENG LOUNGE~. During the day, the café will serve bahn mi and desserts and snacks to accompany their tea program, which is designed to be approachable and will highlight floral and avored blends. During the evening, the the pan-Asian menu will feature Southeast Asian cuisine, with Philippine/Thai/Balinese/Vietnamese influences. The chef is Tim Luym, a former sous chef from Fifth Floor. He plans on integrating tea into a variety of the dishes, like Ceylon-encrusted duck breast, or chocolate cake with green tea anglaise. They will be putting in floor-to-ceiling glass windows to lighten the place up, they put in a water feature on either side of the fireplace, and sourced the exotic furnishings while on trips to Bali, Java, and Taiwan (which is where they went to source their oolong teas as well). The back room, called the Temple Room, will have a hand-carved statue of a deity from Java. They intend on being open in late May. 1751 Fulton St. at Masonic St.
For those that don't know her, Marcia is a NOPNA resident and kicks all kinds of blogging butt with her food & restaurant news. Check out her site and subscribe to her weekly emails!
posted by Matt Lanning @ 8:59 PM
9 Comments:
I checked out NOPA the other day with my family and loved it! I also think the other places that just opened up look great and I hope to try them out soon.
I'd rather have Running Reggae, the old Middle Eastern restaurant where Jay's Steak House is and the Jamacian restaurant that was on Fulton and Divis.
NOPA is trendy food for rich whitey. We're becoming Pacific Heights and it sucks.
You mean the Jamacian place that was never open? Nah, Kathmandu is better. As for us becoming Pac Heights, that's pretty unlikely. It's more like Divisadero is becoming the northern extension of Valencia. I for one welcome our new hipster overlords.
Make sure you get to Ziryab. Tasty, affordable food, and the owner & staff are very friendly.
Ziryab is not nearly as affordable as the Middle Eastern restaurant that is now Jay's. And NOPA is not affordable at least for me.
I guess I qualify (by some standards) as 'rich whitey', but I need to eat, too, and the lack of restaurants in this neighborhood for the past 9 years (when I moved into the Panhandle) has sucked. So I'm happy to see all different types and flavors of foods, at all price points.
People love to decry change, but somehow most of us find a way to deal with it, not just complain about it.
And I don't see anything other than NOPA that would really fit into Pacific Heights. I agree with the comment about this being an extension of Valencia.... Good, diverse options.
We have certainly had some bitter, anonymous posts lately, haven't we?
Can't we just all get along?
Matt,
If you like the different price points, where's the cheap food like the old Middle Eastern? I think the low price points are leaving and that's exactly the problem.
With the forced exodus of blacks and low-income residents comes change alright. It's called gentrification. AKA rich whitey comes to town.
Gentrification helps push the drug culture out of the neighborhood. And it can't happen fast enough.
Just yesterday I passed by a group of thugs that were playing craps on the street. That would have been innocent enough, except why would they feel that they need to have "lookouts" posted at both nearby corners? We need to work on driving this "business" out of the Panhandle before we start working on Gabin. Just wait until a stray bullet hits a mom or a baby...
Don't forget Green Chile Kitchen! It's pretty affordable.. and yummy! I'm also excited by NOPA and looking forward to trying it out. (though who uses the phrase "price point" when they are trying decide where to eat? GAg! :) Though I understand what you were tring to say.)
I agree with the person who said that local drug dealing is much more of a threat to the 'hood than a moody Asian bar on Fulton which may or not allow consensual sex on it's property. I was excited to learn early Tues morning that our neighborhood has a history of friendly prostitutes raising kids in a time of need. Did anyone else make the trek down to Lotta's fountain and hear that 99 year old woman? Those interviews were awesome.
Thanks for the link to Tablehopper-- nice site.
Gentrification pushes out the innocent non-wealthy in far greater numbers than those involved in the "drug culture."
Those lookouts that were mentioned were probably there to protect the craps game rather than drug dealing. Why did you jump to that conclusion anyway?
On a positive note, NOPA although expensive did a great job on the building. Looks super good.
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