The 6 most exciting restaurant openings in SF this month

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To put it simply: The lineup of restaurants set to debut in August in San Francisco is stacked. 

One of the most exciting openings is on track for the top of the month, when chef James Yeun Leong Parry’s The Happy Crane lands in Hayes Valley. Parry’s technique-driven Cantonese cuisine earned him a solid fan base when he ran the concept as a pop-up; now, at long last, the restaurant will move into its permanent home. 

Other notable debuts this month include Precita Social from chef Greg Lutes, whose Bernal Heights fine-dining destination 3rd Cousin has earned a spot in the Michelin Guide, and a downtown outpost of popular bagel shop Schlok’s Bagels & Lox. An East Bay brewery will open the doors to its first SF location, and the takeout sushi trend arrives in North Beach.  

If you’re looking for the city’s best new restaurants and bars right now, check out the Hot List, which we update at the beginning of every month. 

Here are the biggest openings scheduled for August.

The countdown is on until the debut of what might be the most anticipated restaurant of the year. The Happy Crane will open Aug. 8 in the former home of Corey Lee’s Monsieur Benjamin in Hayes Valley. Under chef James Yeun Leong Parry, whose résumé includes stints at Benu and Palette Tea House, The Happy Crane will serve modern Chinese cuisine inspired by his time cooking in Hong Kong, London, and Beijing. 

Driven by a desire to preserve traditional Cantonese cooking traditions, Parry has crafted a menu with Iberico pork jowl char siu, oyster pancakes, and crab rice rolls. Duck will be roasted in a massive gas- and coal-fired oven, then served with house-made pancakes and condiments — though it’ll be available by preorder only. The cocktail list stands to be a stunner as well, since Parry brought in Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Haven to consult alongside bar manager Carolyn Kao.

On Aug. 7, the former home of one of San Francisco’s two Limón restaurants (don’t worry, the one on Valencia Street is still going strong) will become a casual Peruvian-centric spot called Brasa Bros. (Yes, that’s “Brasa Bros,” not “Brasa Brothers.”) A rep calls it an experiment by the three brothers behind Limón, with a menu focused on buckets of rotisserie chicken, chicken tenders, and various permutations of loaded fries.

One of the buckets is called the All-Star; another is the Game On. In other words, menus don’t get more sports-centric than this. There will be beer and sangria as well as chicha morada, a drink made from sweetened purple corn that’s a favorite in Peru.

Downtown office workers should celebrate the arrival of Schlok’s, one of the city’s most popular bagel shops, on the ground floor of the Robert Dollar Building. The second location comes about three years after the pandemic pop-up started by Zack Schwab and James Lok made the leap to a permanent space on Fell Street, just off the Panhandle. 

The FiDi location, which will have about 20 seats, will offer the same menu as its predecessor, according to Schwab, who is also a partner in The Snug, Taco Primo, and Little Shucker. That means a lineup of half a dozen types of bagels plus house-made schmear options that include scallion, toasted garlic, roasted tomato, and habanero. The menu of two-hands-required bagel sandwiches includes a classic egg and cheese, brisket, and house-cured lox from Atlantic salmon. 

When David Fisher and Serena Chow Fisher closed Michelin-starred Marlena in July 2023 due to a dispute with their landlord, they decamped for Japantown, where they opened the renowned 7 Adams and lived happily ever after. Bernal Heights, however, was forced to contend with the void (although a short-lived project called Foliage filled the space briefly). 

Two years later, the location will be home to Precita Social from chef Greg Lutes, who also operates 3rd Cousin on the other side of the hill. The layout will be much the same, but diners can expect some sexy dishes rooted in a raw bar. That means caviar and lobster hand rolls, persillade baked oysters, and moule frites, as well as vegetable-forward dishes like mushroom sizzling rice in vegan dashi. Capitalizing on one of the bigger food trends of late, there will also be Dubai chocolate soft-serve ice cream. 

San Francisco’s beer renaissance continues as 9-year-old Richmond brewery East Brother debuts its first taproom outside its hometown. Details are scarce, but The Standard was able to confirm an anticipated August opening inside the Metreon, the more successful of downtown’s two main malls. There will be 14 to 18 beers on tap to start, including a variety of classics and seasonal offerings. 

It may not be the most high-profile Bay Area brewery, but East Brother has won acclaim in recent years. Its flagship Bo Pils, described as “golden, noble, lemony,” took home the silver medal at the 2024 Brewers Cup of California.

The takeout sushi trend shows no signs of slowing. This month, one of the Bay’s best options for grab-and-go sashimi and rolls will open its biggest location yet. Ebiko will take over the former home of Caffe Roma in North Beach, which has been vacant for several years. Owner David Liu told The Standard that the third location of Ebiko, which joins the original in Oakland and a second in FiDi, will have a larger menu and, for the first time, beer and sake. Notably, it’ll also be the first Ebiko to have a few seats. “One of the main things customers tell us is, ‘Oh, we wish that there was somewhere to sit,’” Liu said, “and we’re always recommending a park or a bench.”