Fresh powder
GiGi’s, Boa’s, Seal Rock Inn, Marina listings, ski Alta, best upscale vintage, MORE
BARS • First Round
Page turner
The Skinny: Top Chef alum Tu David Phu has been busy with a new cookbook and other projects, so he hasn’t had a brick-and-mortar restaurant for a hot minute — not since 2019. Now he’s tapping back in as executive chef of GiGi’s, a new Vietnamese-inspired wine-bar-slash-bottle-shop. The bar opened right before Thanksgiving, and the bottle shop popped just in time for Christmas.
The Vibe: On a hard-drinking corner of Divisadero Street across the street from storied dive bar The Page, GiGi’s offers a more gentle welcome, with its handsome hunter green storefront and cream cafe curtains. Squeezing in through a small crowd at the entrance, I found a snug space lined with warm wood, exposed brick, and burgundy paint via Margaret Ruiz of The Strand Design. The bar’s hexagonal shape conjures an omakase counter; jade green quartz, textured grasscloth, and amber lighting all set a fresh tone.
The Drink: Advanced sommelier Justin Chin curated the opening wine list, which features more than a dozen different options by the glass, from France and Italy to California. General manager Madison Michael is also a sommelier, and on my visit she poured a Spanish dark rose, a steal at $10 per. There’s also a “Chambong” on the menu, but this isn’t really a chugging scene.
The Food: Five years ago, Phu caused a mini-stir when he opened an Oakland pop-up serving $10 banh mis. At GiGi’s, the banh mi lists for $17, and it’s worth every penny, bundling up salami, truffled pate, and pungent pickles on a soft baguette from Tarts de Feybesse in Oakland. There’s also a wagyu dog, supposedly inspired by Costco nostalgia, here with fun toppings like kewpie mayo, furikake, and pork floss.
The Verdict: In this moment of natural wine bars awash with tinned fish, it’s especially sweet to have someone like Phu back in the kitchen, doing his thing — on this side of the bridge, no less. –Becky Duffett
→ GiGi’s (NoPa) • 299 Divisadero St • Wed-Sun 4-9p • Reserve.
RESTAURANTS • Intel
→ TOOTHSOME: On a quiet block of Balboa Street, Boa’s (Outer Richmond, above) stealthily started pouring coffee late last month, with a full lunch and dinner menu available as of last week. Fable owners Ramsey Garcia and Jonathan Vargas have turned the spot — for years a training lab for dental techs — into a glowing, warm destination that serves a slate of pillowy panuozzi (as defined by Garcia, “basically an open calzone”) and delivers sparkling wine in repurposed Napoli tomato tins. It's fun, witty, cool, and unlike anywhere else on the west side. There’s not a website or posted hours, but Garcia told me they’re aiming for 8a-8p daily. Walk-ins only. –Eve Batey
→ EDGE OF GLORY: San Francisco has been without an oceanside restaurant since 2020, when the Cliff House, Louie’s, and Seal Rock Inn closed their respective doors. Alfred Schilling, a 70-something chef and chocolatier who’s lived in the Richmond for the last 30 years, reopened the latter last week (Vista Del Mar, above). The menu reflects his French heritage — house-made pain de campagne and tomato Provencal on every plate. Schilling hasn’t done much to update the half-century-old dining room, where Hunter S. Thompson almost surely dined while jamming out Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72; its classic wood details and etched glass dividers remain. Schilling and team are definitely still getting their bearings, so patience is required. But they just added local Dungeness to the menu, which — along with that view — makes up for a lot of early-days bobbles. Walk-ins only. –Eve Batey
SF RESTAURANT LINKS: Social media scuffle topples lauded SF chef • Side A headed to old Universal Cafe spot in the Mission • Women’s sports bar Rikki’s to open in Castro • Barcelona bar Sips plots three-night stand at Empress by Boon • Macarena opening in Palo Alto’s Bird Dog space • NorCal crab season is officially on • Is red wine out?
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
All’s fair
Razed after the 1906 quake to make way for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the present-day Marina has come a long way from its fairground roots. The narrow neighborhood between Fort Mason, Van Ness, Lombard Street, and the Bay has built a rep for its vibrant nightlife scene along Chestnut Street, and its showy waterfront homes. (And don’t forget that Safeway, immortalized as a meet-meets-meat market in Tales of the City.)
Barbary Lane’s residents have made way for sporty pedestrians, brunch crowds, and strollers, and that change is reflected in its residences, a mix of post-fair mansions, multi-family buildings, and starter condos. According to Compass, 26 homes have changed hands there in the past year, at a median price of $3.737M; 51 condos have also sold in that period, at a $1.575M median. Here, three listings that illustrate the Marina’s range.
→ 1234 Francisco St, Unit 5 (Marina) • 2BR/2 BA • 1065 SF condo • Ask: $1.225M • Top floor of 1924-built six unit building • Days on market: 90 • Agent: Natalia Colmenero, Compass.
→ 301 Marina Blvd (Marina, above) • 4BR/5.1BA, 3664 SF home • Ask: $5.49M • Waterfront Palladian with roof desk • Days on market: 96 • Agent: Michelle Harris, Compass.
→ 3437-3439 Fillmore St (Marina) • 6BR/6.2BA, 5300 SF multi-family • Ask: $6.1M • TIC-eligible two-unit building with two-car garage • Days on market: 7 • Agent: Helena Zaludova, Compass.
SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Big changes planned for SF greenspace in 2025 • SF rent prices trend up • Smurfs supplant Wharf Madame Tussauds • Berkeley ADU legislation could change city’s condo game • Middle managers are getting squeezed.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Fresh Start
Some Like It Hot • Orpheum Theatre (Mid-Market) • Fri @ 730p • Mezzanine, $224 per
David Cross, Shane Torres: The Beginning of the End • Fox Theater (Oakland) • Sat @ 8p • PIT A, $155 per
Ben Barnes: Where the Light Gets In • The Fillmore (Fillmore) • Sun @ 8p • GA, $48 per
GETAWAYS • Ski Country
Alta-rnative digs
Renowned as one of the last true skier’s mountains in America (no, snowboards are most definitely not allowed), Alta can be a tricky nut to crack if you’ve never graced its slopes. That stems in part from the fact that it lacks a village of any sort; the resort, such as it is, is a series of hotels and boarding houses that line the side of the two-lane road running up Big Cottonwood Canyon, a 45-minute drive from the Salt Lake City airport. There’s no luxury shopping to be had, and no restaurants outside of the hotels to reserve.
And Alta’s hotels — if that’s even the right word for these throwback ski lodges — aren’t the sort of places to be booked on points. Five of them, all independently family-owned, line the valley from the (extremely) rustic Goldminer’s Daughter and the nicer Peruvian at one end, to the more upscale (but still very firmly set in the ski era of the ‘60s and ‘70s) Rustler Lodge at the other. To further that feel, these lodges all include breakfast and dinner — board, in the parlance — as part of one’s stay.
I’d never skied Alta myself until last winter, when a friend of mine and I sought it out for a February ski weekend. Having not yet made head or tail of Alta’s old-school lodging offerings, we booked at the one new hotel to open in the valley in the past several decades, Snowpine Lodge. Billed as the valley’s first luxury ski resort when it opened in 2019, the vibe is actually one of familiar modern alpine charm, with warm woods throughout its 59 guest rooms, many with balconies. As vertical as the mountain it faces, Snowpine covers six floors, including a spa, as well as two very enjoyable restaurants, Swen’s for fine dining (consider the large format elk osso buco, $160 per) and the casual Gulch Pub for drinks and bar fare (though the mountain’s true après spot is back at the Peruvian — all hail the P-Dog).
As for the skiing, Alta’s terrain and snow need no introduction, but both proved sublime over our three days on snow. Snowpine Lodge is ski-out ski-in, with a private chairlift to hoist one back to the resort at the end of the day — a final luxurious touch. Perhaps next time, we’ll try one of the old-school lodges, but for Alta newbies, a stay at Snowpine Lodge will make you feel like you’ve been skiing these slopes your whole life, and rather stylishly at that. –Lockhart Steele
→ Snowpine Lodge (Alta, UT) • 10420 Little Cottonwood Rd • King rooms from $1059/weekend night.
GETAWAYS LINKS: United trims service at SFO • I tried Delta’s new (first-class only) Shake Shack burger, and • Park City ski patrol strike update: parties reach tentative agreement • Why secret luxury hotels are opening inside existing properties.
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Vintage stores, upscale
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