Here is a tentative final list of openings of 26 restaurants, cafes and bars in San Francisco in January, pending straggler reviews. Google or search Yelp for location, details, etc.
It was a good month for ethnic restaurants, with SF getting its first Portuguese Restaurant, a rare Puerto Rican addition, and new Cajun, Chinese, Greek, Indo-Paki, Italian, Japanese (sushi), Korean (2), Nicaraguan and Vietnamese options. We also got our first “American Halal” (The Halal Guys) and the obligatory bubble tea, Asian Dessert and Poke joints. New coffee bars (including a robot barista) and ice cream/gelato places yes, but amazingly no new ramen, burger or pizza specialists.
I tried Kinjo last week. It was good but slightly less creative than kusakabe and slightly more expensive (both are prix fixe). Also less of a sake selection. Recognized former staff from Saru.
Not sure which Korean Kitchen this refers to. I only found Stone Korean Kitchen, which has been open for over a year. Their kalbi was not juicy, jap chae seemed to be more shredded carrots than noodle, wings were ok.
Tried Rm 212 (Sacramento / kearny). Nice cozy spot to get a beer or wine. The pork belly /cheese omelet /bacon jam bao (2/$8) had a weird spongy omelet inside, but otherwise not bad. The kurobuta sausage bao (same price iirc) was ok but sausages were a bit burnt, like one of the pork bellies. Crispy wings were very crunchy, tossed with just the right amount of glaze. Uni cream pasta with crab was disappointingly bland, with uni hardly detectable. Shrimp gyoza had an off smell. Place has potential but I might just get wings and a beer next time.
