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

5 most exciting new restaurants, bars, and bakeries coming to SF in June

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

Want breaking Bay Area food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive Off Menu, where you’ll find restaurant news, gossip, tips, and hot takes every week. As the year approaches the halfway mark, San Francisco has already welcomed a slew of exciting new restaurants. In April, we saw the debut of Meski, an Afro-Latin spot from Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, while May marked the opening of Jules, a Haight Street home for one of the city’s most popular pop-ups.
The Hot List: Our favorite restaurants and bars in SF right now

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

Want breaking Bay Area food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive Off Menu, where you’ll find restaurant news, gossip, tips, and hot takes every week. 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.
A glamorous Japanese cocktail bar that might make Tokyo jealous

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

Want breaking Bay Area food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive Off Menu, where you’ll find restaurant news, gossip, tips, and hot takes every week. Ingi “Shota” Son knows how to put on a show. At The Shota, his one-Michelin-starred omakase counter, he and the other chefs have been known to break up the 17-course meal by impersonating a decapitated tuna.
In pursuit of legend status, Wayfare Tavern remains unapologetically normcore

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

Eat Here Now is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around — the ones we think are worth visiting. We dine once, serve forth our thoughts, and let you take it from there. Do not go to Wayfare Tavern 2.0 looking for novelty or an epicurean thrill. However, if you’re a middle manager in charge of finding a suitable dinner option for a diverse group of coworkers, then you’ve found a winner.
As SF liquor license prices crash, some owners see opportunity

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

Elmer Mejicanos had no plans to shut down his popular low-ABV cocktail bar Lilah just seven months after it debuted on Chestnut Street in the Marina. But the beverage director and his business partner, chef Adam Rosenblum, got a deal they couldn’t refuse: about $150,000 for a Type 47 liquor license, which would allow them to sell a full menu of high-proof liquors, instead of just beers, wine, and low-proof spirits. “As soon as we heard the price, our jaws dropped,” Mejicanos says.
Classic SF restaurant has been operating without a liquor license for months

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

Tosca Cafe, one of the city’s landmark restaurants, has been operating without an active liquor license for five months. But thanks to the byzantine nature of state government, the owner wasn’t aware of the license suspension until contacted by The Standard and has been slinging booze without interruption. According to public records, the North Beach restaurant, famed for its hedonistic back room beloved by Hollywood stars, had its license suspended Dec.
The Inner Sunset gets a French bistro to heat up the neighborhood

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria

Eat Here Now is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around — the ones we think are worth visiting. We dine once, serve forth our thoughts, and let you take it from there. The best way to prepare for a meal at the new Inner Sunset bistro Caché is by letting go of all expectations.
A lauded SF chef has quietly opened a wine bar in Hayes Valley

1 month 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 month 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 month 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.