Lauren Saria

San Francisco

Deputy Food Editor at The San Francisco Standard

Deputy Food Editor @sfstandard | 📧: [email protected] (Past: Editor at @eatersf, Food, Dining + Nightlife Editor at The Arizona Republic and @azcentral)

Articles

A lauded SF chef has quietly opened a wine bar in Hayes Valley

6 days ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

As of last week, one of San Francisco’s top chefs from the early 2000s is back in action, cooking small, French-inspired plates like local black cod with piquillo peppers and eggplant gazpacho bruschetta. Luke Sung, who made waves both locally and nationally with his Cal-French restaurant Isa, has quietly opened a casual wine bar called Kis Cafe in the Hayes Valley space that was formerly home to Dominique Crenn’s Petit Crenn.
Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurant Osito is closing

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran |Lauren Saria

Chef-owner Seth Stowaway is closing his Michellin-starred restaurant, but intends to stay in the industry he loves. San Francisco’s only Michelin-starred restaurant with a fire at its heart will go dark Sunday. Chef and owner Seth Stowaway confirmed Tuesday that Osito is closing. Though he said the restaurant was often “very busy,” the $15,000 a month rent wasn’t economically feasible any longer. “Our landlord just wasn’t interested in making it work.
4 most exciting new restaurants coming to SF this May

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

Jules, one of the most anticipated restaurants of the year, will debut in the Lower Haight later this month. | Source: Niki Williams for The StandardFans of chewy sourdough pizza and top-notch Hainanese chicken have a lot to look forward to in May.
San Francisco restaurants face a talent crunch for chefs

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

Nick Cobarruvias wasn’t supposed to be a chef. At 19, he was double-majoring in philosophy and government at the University of Texas at Austin while prepping to take the LSAT. But the need for cash led him to a job washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen, and by 22, he’d given up on law school. He arrived in San Francisco in 2003 with three duffle bags and a plan: graduate from California Culinary Academy and work his way up the city’s restaurant ranks.
The Hot List: Our favorite restaurants and bars in SF right now

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria |Sara Deseran |Astrid Kane

You need some new ideas for where to go out. We have some really delicious answers. You need some new ideas for where to go out. We have some really delicious answers. For anyone prepared to ask us, “Where should I eat tonight?” here’s our answer: the Hot List, our opinionated guide to the top restaurants and bars in San Francisco right now. Some of the picks are new and noteworthy; others are rediscovered favorites.
Two-Michelin-starred Lazy Bear just launched its own strain of weed

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

One of the city’s top restaurants has blazed a new frontier. Through a partnership with Sonoma Hills Farm, two-Michelin-starred Lazy Bear has rolled out a bespoke cannabis strain called Lazy Bear Reserve, a “first-of-its-kind” collaboration between a weed farm and fine-dining restaurant, says chef David Barzelay. They’re branding it not as an amuse bouche before sitting down for a tasting menu but as a “social tonic,” a way to bring Michelin-level chill to your next dinner party.
9 best places to eat and drink during a day at the Sunset Dunes

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria |Astrid Kane |Sara Deseran

San Francisco’s newest park may have split the city before it debuted, but now that Sunset Dunes is open for strolling and skating, even haters can’t resist the allure. The beachfront stretch of what used to be the Great Highway now has a giant octopus, a skateboard track and bike ramp, colorful murals, and stadium-style benches — which is to say, plenty to explore beyond the beach and attractions at nearby Golden Gate Park. What it doesn’t have is on-site food and drink.
After an abominable review, Park Tavern rolls out a ritzy members-only lounge

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

But the homecoming did not go as planned. In January, the San Francisco Chronicle’s chief critic, MacKenzie Chung Fegan, slammed not just the food — including “the worst steak of my life” — but also the service, which was apparently “rife with mishaps.” Four months later, Waxman is humble when talking about the opening.
SF’s Fort Point merges with Sonoma County’s HenHouse

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

By Lauren SariaPublished Apr. 15, 2025 • 9:00amSan Francisco’s king of canned beers is pulling up the stakes. As part of a merger with Sonoma County’s HenHouse Brewing Co., the 11-year-old Fort Point Beer Co. will move its production to a shared brewing facility in Santa Rosa. Yes, that means San Francisco’s go-to park beer won’t be made in San Francisco anymore. “On one hand, yeah, it’s sad,” says Fort Point cofounder Justin Catalana. “But we’re still very much part of San Francisco.
This Bayview mom craved a cozy, neighborhood restaurant. So she opened one

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

By Lauren SariaPublished Apr. 09, 2025 • 8:00amVanessa Lee never thought she’d own a restaurant on Third Street. When she was growing up in the ’90s, her mother warned about walking along the Bayview’s main corridor. “Make sure you keep your backpack with you,” Lee remembers her saying, “and if anyone asks you for it, you just give it to them.” By the time Lee became a mother, in 2019, the neighborhood had taken a turn for the better. She’d put her son in the stroller and go for a walk.