Sara Deseran

California

Food Editor at The San Francisco Standard

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Articles

Now open in the Mission, Bar Brucato and its distillery took a risk well worth it

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran

By Sara DeseranPublished Apr. 16, 2025 • 10:00amIt’s not an overstatement to say there’s nowhere in San Francisco quite like Bar Brucato. In fact, there’s likely nothing else like it anywhere in the country. The cozy new restaurant, serving thoughtful California fare, just happens to be perched over the only distillery in San Francisco open to the public. A distillery specializing in amaros, nonetheless. In a time when N/A spirits are trending and restaurants are struggling, it’s a bold experiment.
San Francisco's best rooftop bar is closing temporarily, to become new Cuban spot

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran

By Sara DeseranPublished Apr. 14, 2025 • 6:00amIt’s been almost 13 years since rooftop restaurant and bar El Techo on Mission Street between 21st and 22nd began slinging empanadas and tacos. But fans will need to suck down their final pitchers of margaritas, because on May 4 (just before Cinco de Mayo, mind you), El Techo will close. A yet-to-be-named Cuban concept is slated to open in its place in June. This is not a change of hands but a change of theme.
A struggling chef made all the mistakes. He's helping other owners not to repeat them

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran

The current membership is small — basically, Stowaway’s closest friends in the business, including Thad Vogler of spirits company Bar Agricole, Kelly Kozak and Josh Donald of Bernal Cutlery, Maz Naba of Lebanese pop-up Ilna, and a forthcoming restaurant in Berkeley. Stowaway says there’s “lots of interest” from other restaurants, but clearly, he’s hoping that this story, pitched by publicist Cash to this writer, will help spread the gospel.
Turtle Tower has been reborn, this time in the Financial District

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran

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 new Turtle Tower has two things that anyone with a beating heart should love: a great comeback story and legendary bowls of noodle soup. A few weeks ago, the hallowed Vietnamese restaurant, which closed its original Tenderloin location in 2023, victoriously reopened in the Financial District.
The Hot List: Our favorite restaurants and bars in SF right now

3 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.
Here are the 4 most exciting restaurants opening in SF this April

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

Meski’s menu will offer items such as goat hip stew with berbere and empanadas with picadillo. | Source: Erin Ng for The StandardAt the top of the month, we’re looking ahead to the most exciting restaurants on track to debut in San Francisco. It’s shaping up to be a busy four weeks. Meski, one of the most anticipated restaurants in recent memory, backed by an all-star team, arrives Saturday in the Tenderloin on April 5.
A downtown riddle: What comes first — the people or the restaurants?

4 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran

The opening day of B. Patisserie’s new location in Union Square felt special-ordered. On that Friday morning (auspiciously, it was the day after the spring equinox) the iconic plaza was noticeably cleaned up in preparation for the annual tulip festival. The sun was out and the birds in the fat palm trees facing the corner of Powell and Geary — soon to house a big Nintendo store — were chatting over the rumbling of double-decker buses beckoning tourists, of which there were plenty.
Your favorite restaurant is closing. It's time to celebrate

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran

At the beginning of March, Uma Casa chef Telmo Faria took to social media and his website to pen a long letter, stating that he was closing his Portuguese restaurant in Noe Valley at the end of the month. Uma Casa had been open on Church Street for eight years but was a dream of Faria’s for a lot longer. “Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been an integral part of making someone’s dream come true,” he wrote to his customers. “I’d love for the next three weeks to be one huge party.
Ali Wong, Bill Hader diner at SF's Turtle Tower restaurant

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

By Lauren Saria and Sara DeseranPublished Mar. 19, 2025 • 2:58pmTurtle Tower, one of San Francisco’s most beloved destinations for steaming bowls of chicken pho, celebrated its soft reopening just one week ago but already has welcomed a pair of Hollywood stars. On Tuesday, San Francisco-born comedian and actress Ali Wong dined at the Financial District restaurant with her boyfriend and fellow comedian Bill Hader, Turtle Tower staff confirmed.
A big restaurant with big heart breathes life into a block of Downtown Oakland

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Sara Deseran

By Sara DeseranPublished Mar. 19, 2025 • 1:06pmEat Here Now is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around – the ones we think are worth visiting. We dine once, feed you our thoughts, and let you take it from there. If restaurants are shrinking, then Jaji is bucking the trend. The upscale, modern Afghan restaurant, which opened at the end of January in downtown Oakland, is big. Like 5,000-square-feet big.