A wing and a prayer
Edomasa, wine events, open houses, ODSY Workshop, calendar invites, Mon Laferte, Copal Santa Cruz, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Edomasa takes flight
At a time when many of San Francisco’s shopping centers are struggling to stay alive (or closing completely), it’s refreshing to walk into Japan Center West and see throngs of people checking out its boba shops, bakeries, sushi counters, ramen parlors, hibachi dens, and anime bookstores. The Doom Loop, if such a thing exists, clearly never made it to Japantown.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, one of the busiest restaurants in this cavernous complex was also one of its newest: Yakitori Edomasa, a spinoff of a famed Tokyo skewer restaurant that closed last year after nearly a century in business. Opened in November, the new Edomasa occupies a narrow space in the back of the mall. A small main dining room and a long counter face an open kitchen where chefs grill chicken, seafood, and vegetable skewers to order.
Edomasa is famous for its chicken, and rightly so: Each skewer is tender and juicy, with a touch of sweetness from a house yakitori sauce. The Yakitori Teishoku meal — one of three set offerings at lunch — includes three skewers, a dish of hearty vegetable rice, a small green salad, a phenomenal saucer of paitan broth, a two-bite bowl of extra-creamy potato salad, and your choice of appetizer. Opt for the yuzu karaage, a morsel of chicken so light and crispy it almost upstages the grilled dishes. But the real MVP is one of the set menu’s main skewers, the Nakamoto, a single, plump chicken wing, grilled and finished with a spicy miso glaze. I fear this skewer has ruined me for all other chicken wings.
All told, it’s one of San Francisco’s best lunches, and an absolute steal at $20.
Edomasa’s small plates are served in a crowded, lively space, where rounds of sake and beer flow freely, and the sounds of Jimi Hendrix and Iggy Pop fill the air. At night, there’s an expanded set menu as well as a full a la carte menu. All the more reason to visit one of the city’s great, thriving dining neighborhoods. –Greg Morabito
→ Yakitori Edomasa (Japantown) • 1581 Webster St #270 • Mon-Fri 1130a-230p and 5-930p, Sat 1130a-930p, Sun 1130a-9p • Reserve.
SF RESTAURANT LINKS: Contemplating Noodle and the Haystack, the Inner Richmond’s secret $200 ramen restaurant • Hyatt Regency’s rooftop restaurant is spinning again, but only for Hyatt club members • Farewell, sweet brunch: Presidio Social Club shutters • West Oakland getting impressive new food hall • Why are SF’s fanciest restaurants begging me to tell them that it’s a special occasion?
GOODS & SERVICES • Wine
Sip and savor
Not going to make it to BottleRock this weekend? Consider instead these lower-key, wine-centric events upcoming in San Francisco and surrounds:
The Mighty Tortilla is Keller Estate’s clever idea for tying together its Mexican heritage with its pinot noir, syrah, and chardonnay. Guests first learn how to make tortillas, then enjoy an elaborate three-course lunch (think ceviche tostadas, mole tacos) paired with Keller’s wines. Bonus: Keller Estate, in Petaluma, is tied with Ram’s Gate for the closest North Bay winery to the city.
→ The Mighty Tortilla • Keller Estate (Petaluma) • 7/14, 8/11, & 9/8 • $125 per.
It’s hardly a secret that Ashes & Diamonds is the rare Napa Valley winery with an excellent culinary program. Its wines are also the featured pairing every other Friday at Gilda’s, the private salon inside the ever chic Proper Hotel. To add one more layer to the party, dinner also happens to be a 10-course tasting menu inspired by the nearby Asian Art Museum’s exhibitions.
→ Gilda’s Salon Dinners • San Francisco Proper Hotel (Mid-Market) • 5/31 and every other Friday • $150 per plus $60 per optional wine pairing.
Wine classes are generally a lot less fun than wine drinking. Dogpatch’s great wine bar/restaurant/shop Ungrafted (run by a couple who both are Master Sommeliers) hosts a rare exception. Classes tend to focus on a certain region or industry topic, but the most entertaining and useful are the Blind Tasting Basics, next up this Saturday. –Trevor Felch
→ Blind Tasting Basics • Ungrafted (Dogpatch) • 5/25 @ 3p • $85 per • other classes Wed/Thurs and every other Sat.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Open house crawl
Five to get you started this holiday weekend in San Francisco proper:
→ 512 Mississippi St (Potrero, Sun 2-4p) • 4BR/2BA, 1765 SF house • Ask: $2.15M • three floors and lush backyard • Days on market: 13 • Agent: Joshua Altman, Redfin.
→ 88 Cameo Way (Diamond Heights, Sat & Sun 1-4p) • 4BR/2.1BA, 2007 SF house • Ask: $2.295M • Eichler mid-century with sweeping views • Days on market: 3 • Agent: Gary Chang, Coldwell Banker.
→ 496 38th Ave (Outer Richmond, Sat & Sun 2-4p) • 4BR/4BA, 3630 SF house • Ask: $2.749M (reduced from $3.175M) • detached house with ocean peekaboo • Days on market: 48 • Agent: Nikolay Tsvetanov, Compass.
→ 643 Teresita Blvd (Miraloma Park, Sat 1-3p) • 4BR/4BA, 3248 SF house • Ask: $2.95M • remodeled hilltop home overlooking Glen Canyon Park • Days on market: 21 • Agent: Daniel Maldonado, Compass.
→ 2401 Green St. (Cow Hollow, Mon 2-4p) • 4BR/3.1BA, 2930 SF house • Ask: $4.65M • corner lot with patio and 2-car garage • Days on market: 25 • Agent: Carrie Goodman, Sotheby’s.
SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Natural wine haven Tofino Wines reborn as Tomorrow’s Wine in Inner Richmond • Giant Korean grocery store coming to Daly City’s Serramonte Center • Steph Curry setting up business HQ in Dogpatch • Trader Joe’s opens ahead of schedule in Hayes Valley • Why home equity is so hard to tap • Bored remote workers are boosting online retail market.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop
Better leather
For several years, ODSY Workshop has remained a remarkably well-kept secret: a Japanese-technique leather repair shop that brings old beloved shoes, belts, and bags back to life. It’s also the place for bespoke sheaths, straps, pouches, and more. Regulars know that they can come to husband-and-wife owners Yina Kim and Soojin Chae with an idea, and they’ll bring it to life with unexpected twists and improvements — this “yes” and inventiveness is likely what scored ODSY customers like Brandon Jiu’s Chinatown destination Mister Jiu’s, for which they make custom apparel.
Kim and Chae have also started offering workshops for aspiring leatherworkers. For now, it’s corporate events only (a set of Googlers were recent students at their Sunset space), with a program of Sunday afternoon classes for the public coming this fall. –Eve Batey
→ Shop: ODSY Workshop (Central Sunset) • 2039 Irving St • 11a-230p and 330-630p, closed Wed and Sun • (415) 234-9916 for all inquiries.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Holidaze
Action Bronson, August Hall (Union Square), Sat @ 830, GA, $60 per
Mon Laferte, The Masonic (Nob Hill), Fri @ 8p, floor A, $794 per
BottleRock, Napa Valley Expo (Napa), Fri-Sun, 3-day GA, $399 per
WORK • Meetings
Booked solid
We had a 9a video call with a potential vendor yesterday morning to kick off the week at FOUND. I selected the time after the Calendly link the vendor sent on Friday showed no availability for weeks, and he offered to make time outside his standard 10a-5p booking schedule.
It was a good meeting. But the scheduling was a funny dance for a minute — sort of like a day-of 7p reservation magically opening up at a hot restaurant — and reminded me of days in more meeting-heavy corporate cultures when we could never “Find a time” in Google Calendar for that 10-person check-in. There was so much politics and preening, manufactured busyness, and big-timing built into the process.
The changing nature of work schedules and remote work seems to be doing away with some of that. With more employees working asynchronously, firms have had to get creative about how they interact, trading check-ins for shared workspaces and new forms of documentation.
One upshot of meeting-lite work culture is that it’s harder to show off how absolutely packed your calendar is. For those purposes, however, there’s still the pre-dawn email, reportedly making a comeback.
It’s unlikely yesterday’s scheduling dance was about calendar gamesmanship, but if it was? Well played. We just might get a Calendly ourselves and block it through July. –Josh Albertson
GETAWAYS • Santa Cruz
A warm Oaxacan hug
Like many laidback coastal towns, Santa Cruz has its share of casual seafood shacks with salty surfer vibes. But the next time you’re in town, skip the fish tacos in favor of more interesting flavors at Copal.
The Oaxacan restaurant and mezcal bar in Santa Cruz's happening Westside neighborhood is vibrant and edgy, with a striking all-black exterior stamped with a mythical long-eared rabbit common in Oaxacan folk art. Inside is an explosion of bright, saturated colors — from the dimly lit front bar to the main dining room and heated back patio. Chef Ana Mendoza lovingly showcases the best ingredients from her hometown, and the restaurant makes everything in-house, from milling heirloom corn for tortillas to grinding the spices for their standout moles.
Highlights include esquites, a sizable starter of shucked corn in epazote broth topped with queso fresco, mayo, and chile; and a tamale topped with Copal’s 30-plus-ingredient mole negro. Each dish is authentic to the region where Mendoza is from, but for a quick introduction to Oaxacan cuisine, try the menu’s two street food staples: the tlayuda (a massive tostada topped with four different meats) and the molotes (potato fritters with chorizo, refried bean paste, salsa, and queso fresco). Wash it all down with the house margarita or the O.O.F, a Oaxacan old-fashioned made with añejo tequila, mezcal, agave, and mole bitters.
Copal is the place to be on weekends, so plan on making a reservation or be prepared to wait up to two hours for a table (which, by the way: still worth it). –Allison McCarthy
→ Copal (Santa Cruz) • 1203 Mission St • Wed/Thurs/Sun 1130a-9p, Fri-Sat 1130a-10p, Mon 4-9p • Reserve.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Sneak peek of upgraded SFO Terminal 1, set to open next month • Air Premia now flying direct from SFO to ICN (Seoul) • Appreciating the food scene of Occidental, CA • A notable taco shop on the road to Las Vegas • At Rosewood’s reopened Kona Village on Big Island, it’s ‘more posh’ • Last day for Epic Pass best price for next winter: May 27 • Is Ritz Carlton really a luxury brand?
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