You'd think that December would be a slow month ― most restaurants hustle to open before Thanksgiving in order to book up with holiday parties. But when we compiled this month-end list, SFoodie realized that December was even more active than November. (All the items on this list were pulled from our daily Buzz Machine column.)
Openings
• Pudong (2029 Market, 252-0700, www.pudongsf.com) is serving Shanghainese, French, and Chinese American food.
• The Marina welcomed Chotto (3317 Steiner, 441-2223, chottosf.com), an izakaya serving sushi made with fish flown in from Japan
• Squeaking in under the wire, Pasión (737 Irving, 724-5727, pasionsf.com), a pan-Latin restaurant from the Fresca crew, opened Dec. 30
• December saw three new food trucks: Brass Knuckle (Twitter: @brassknucklesf); 3-Sum Eats (www.3-sumeats.com); and Réveille Coffee Company (coffee truck, corner of Pacific and Sansome).
• Quite a few new bars and wine bars opened in time to host holiday boozefests: Asiento (2730 21st St.); Barrique (461 Pacific, 421-9200, barriquesf.com), a wine bar serving wine from the barrel; Black Sheep (2032 Polk, at Broadway); Punchdown (2212 Broadway, Oakland, 510-251-0100, punchdownwine.com); Tope Lounge (1326 Grant, 793-2120); and the beautifully restored House of Shields (39 New Montgomery)
• New cafes: Crema (2865 Seventh St., Berkeley, 510-848-7100); M Cafe (1161 Mission, at Seventh St.; 650-771-8563); Contraband Coffee Bar (1415 Larkin, 839-7388); Dash Cafe (420 Judah, 661-1237, Facebook page); and Showplace Caffe (715 Brannan St.)
Additional openings:
• Bistro SF Grill (2819 California)
• Daddy O's Southern Homestyle Kitchen (294 Ninth St.).
• Flying Pig Bistro (433 S. Van Ness)
• The Grill in SOMA (799 Bryant, 543-4745)
• Loving Hut (524 Irving)
• Mazzat Lebanese (501 Fell) in Hayes Valley
Closures
• Amanda's Feel Good Fresh Food (2122 Shattuck, Berkeley)
• Bistro St. Germain (518 Haight)
• Coda (1710 Mission)
• Gravity Room (3251 Scott)
• Jollibee (Fourth St. and Howard)
• Khoon Chang Thai (1901 Divisadero)
• Napa Ranch (465 California)
• Place Pigalle (520 Hayes)
• Tango Gelato (2015 Fillmore)
• Tasty Curry (1395 Ninth Ave.)
• Baguette Express (668 Larkin)
• Iluna Basque (701 Union)
• Video Cafe, aka Big Heart Cafe (Geary and 21st Ave.)
Transitions
• Now-former supervisor Chris Daly took over The Buck Tavern (1655 Market), and plans to rename it Daly's Dive
• Breaking Bread Sandwiches (100 Drumm) took over the Four Embarcadero branch of Birley Sandwiches
• Bar on Church (198 Church, née The Transfer) has been taken over by the owners of Bloodhound and Double Dutch
• Vinyl (359 Divisadero), a wine bar co-owned by Saison somm Mark Bright, opened evenings in the Cafe Divis space.
