These six newcomers (or new menus) cover the gamut, from Ukrainian dumplings to Nigerian food, Detroit-style pizza to hefty salads. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews — Gozu, Eight Tables at China Live, Little Saint in Healdsburg, Ernest, Uccello Lounge — these newbies are worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed):
Fried Chicken Joint from Nationally Lauded BBQ Master: Kowbird
With too many (well deserved) accolades to mention — from James Beard nom to Food & Wine Best New Chefs in that nation — when BBQ master Matt Horn of Horn Hospitality Group opens a new spot, go. Opening January 2022, West Oakland’s Kowbird is a casual lunch and dinner homage to fried chicken. I’ve already written much about my 15 years of road trips throughout the Deep South and Texas studying my barbecue styles — and how Horn Barbecue is THE most legit in the West and one of the very best in the nation. There is a lot more superb fried chicken out there than there is spot-on BBQ. Thankfully, we get Kowbird in addition to Horn’s ‘cue.
Pulling up to Kowbird’s horseshoe counter on a chill weekday lunch, local utility workers mingle for lunch alongside 20–30-somethings, under photos of black farmers, set to a playful old school and funk soundtrack and Devil’s Gulch beers from San Rafael’s Pond Farm Brewing on draft, including their fab root beer. Then comes the orgasmica of fried chicken from Horn and chef de cuisine Adam Lawrence. I tried all three seasonings (original, Nashville hot and the mustard-pickle-honey goodness of Honey Bird) and tried all iterations: fried chicken sandwiches, boneless buttermilk fried chicken tenders and chicken wings.
I love the Nashville hot (in dehydrated, lacto-fermented chile powder) as a sandwich on Martin’s potato rolls with house pickles and their killer (and secret), Duke’s mayo-based, molasses-tomato-laced Bird sauce. From house ranch to honey mustard, all sauces wow, but the Bird sauce is addictive. Honey Bird is a crowd pleasing delight, but the wings quietly stole the show: these juicy wings arrive on Texas toast with pickles, ideal Southern-style.
Kowbird’s mac and cheese is ridiculously decadent in five cheeses (gouda, havarti, provolone, Monterey Jack, parmesan). It sits heavy but how to resist? Their sweet tea is balanced, and I was lucky to catch my favorite pie — key lime pie (they rotate between this, sweet potato, pecan, apple). Crust and texture were spot on, although my top versions are even more sour/tart. Sadly, they were out of candy apples, tributing Horn’s grandmother who made them for church and the neighborhood. Horn’s Matty’s Old Fashioned burger joint is coming, completing a trifecta of comfort foods in Oakland. While I will crave his barbecue most, Kowbird is fried chicken happiness and am thrilled Horn continues to expand.
// 1733 Peralta Street, Oakland; www.kowbird.com
Ghirardelli Detroit Pizza Destination: Square Pie Guys
One of my top restaurant openings of 2019, Square Pie Guys (SPG) is some of the most creative and comforting Detroit-style pizza in the West, much less SF. The intimate, original SoMa space has long been a takeout/delivery go-to, with their Oakland spot opening in 2021. The newest Ghirardelli Square SPG just opened July 2 from owners Danny Stoller and Marc Schechter. It’s their biggest space yet at 3,300-square-feet, plus a 1000-square-foot patio and brilliant waterfront views of the Bay and Alcatraz. There is room for families and groups to fill up on order-at-the-counter pizza, Szechuan dry-fried wings, salads and monkey bread for dessert.
There are multiple Detroit pies to love, including their new Shay Diddy (white sauce, Italian sausage, roasted broccoli, chile flakes, Mike’s Hot Honey) and the JLIN (white sauce, pepperoni, Italian sausage, chile flakes, Green Goddess dressing, parsley, grana padano cheese), with fun newcomers like Pork & Pineapple graced with taco seasoning and pickled jalapenos. This confirms Ghirardelli Square’s status for locals, led by Palette Tea House, eventually Barrio and now SPG, ensuring there is excellent food to be had in this touristed yet historic area of the Wharf.
// 845 Beach Street, https://squarepieguys.com/locations
Ukrainian Dumplings & Eastern European Comfort: Leleka
Opened March 2017 by Sergei Shukailo who hails from eastern Ukraine, I wrote about Leleka when it was Pushkin, a counter in the International Food Court downtown. Their killer pelmeni and vareniki dumplings and baked piroshki drew lines, so they opened an expanded alley location next door in 2020, expanding to frozen dumplings to boil at home. Changing the name to Leleka this summer, Shukailo and team do robust delivery and takeout. Their delightful dumplings/pelmeni range from organic beef and gouda to salmon, to my favorite cherry vareniki, while baked piroshki are filled with mushrooms, spinach, apples or different meats. Their rosy pink borsht soup comforts on a chilly night, plus try Ukrainian honey cake, syrniki (cheese pancakes) and bottles of kvas (a fermented cereal-based beverage). Alongside Borsch Mobile, Leleka is a true Ukrainian food treasure in SF.
// 40 Belden Place, https://lelekasf.com
Hefty, Nurturing Salads: Saucy Greens Salad Shop
Opened March 2022, Saucy Greens Salad Shop has been my top salad newcomer for dense, hefty kale and romaine salads laden with spreads and veggies. It immediately became one of the best salad sources in town, ideal as I’m crunching deadlines, trying to eat healthy between ten or more restaurants and rich meals each week. Their salads are healthy but leave me satiated in generous portions I can even split — at $14–15 a bowl. Most importantly, they aren’t boring, packed with flavor and variety. The “Vibrant Salad” may be my top pick, over a muhammara base (Middle Eastern pomegranate, red pepper, walnut spread), packed with beets, feta, fennel, pickled onions, spiced sunflower and pumpkin seeds. But there are variations, like herbed labneh with pickled apricots, carrot labneh with marinated cucumbers, or red lentil balls and tabouli.
// 1096 Union Street, www.saucygreens.com
Real Deal Nigerian Food: Jolly-Jolly Coffee & Kitchen, Oakland
Jolly-Jolly Coffee & Kitchen opened March 2021 in the height of pandemic, a humble takeout spot with just a couple tables, located across the street from the West Oakland BART Station. Nigerian expat Jahswill Ukagumaoha serves Nigerian/West African and Caribbean dishes in hearty portions with a smile. His beloved jollof rice — his mama’s recipe — is the star of the show, with a subtle stickiness that recalls pitch-perfect Louisiana jambalaya laden with options like oxtails, stewed goat meat, shrimp and kale. Spicy rice benefits from the contrast of sweet grilled plantains, while lentil moi-moi cakes run a bit dry and dense but for a red pepper-garlic-onion melange on top.
// 1498 Seventh Street, Suite B, Oakland; jollyjollyllc.com
Healthy, Comforting Delivery: Proper Food
Co-CEOs Howard and Dana Bloom opened Proper Food in 2014 with chef/head of ops Juan Muñoz in SF’s FiDi district. Quality “fast casual,” grab-and-go meals — using, yes, local, seasonal, sustainably-sourced ingredients — for downtown workers was the name of the game. COVID disrupted all that. As SF residents who met attending Stanford University with a vision to change fast food, the Blooms shifted in pandemic to greater home delivery, partnering with growers, ranchers, and suppliers who share their values. Think antibiotic and hormone-free proteins, dairy and eggs, sustainable seafood, fair or direct trade coffee and teas.
While Chinese chicken salad or salmon teriyaki sound like hits of the 1990s. Trying over five dishes, each tasted homemade yet gourmet and nurturing. Sweet potato enchiladas tasted like “mom used to make,” bringing me childhood comfort alongside chocolate chip cookies. I wish their green juice contained no fruits (other than lemon or lime) to keep that natural sugar quotient down and focus on pure vegetal taste, but the food leaves me satiated and healthy. They still have nine shops in SF, four in NYC and on July 11, just opened Proper Food in SFO’s International Airport Terminal 1. Here’s to quality “fast food” from local entrepreneurs.
