Why October might be SF’s biggest month of restaurant openings

Summer may be over, but the San Francisco restaurant and bar scene is about to get a whole lot hotter. October will see a wave of restaurant and bar debuts, including some of the most exciting openings expected this year. 

At the top of the month, chef Michael Mina and NBA champion Steph Curry will start shaking whiskey cocktails and searing steaks at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square, and not long after, the city will gain a halal Uzbek restaurant, Uzbegim, in the Richmond. By the end of the month, fans of the Mission dive Beauty Bar will be able to celebrate its return, while the Dogpatch will see the opening of the fine-dining destination Wolfsbane, from the couple behind Lord Stanley. 

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

Now, here are the most exciting openings in October. 

It’s been two decades since Michael Mina opened his first restaurant inside the Westin St. Francis, and he is now one of San Francisco’s most well-known culinary exports, with restaurants from Hawai’i to Dubai. This month, he’s coming back to where it all began to open an outpost of Bourbon Steak, a modern steakhouse concept with locations from Orange County to Washington, D.C.  Expect chilled shellfish, a classic Caesar, and the signature lobster pot pie. A bourbon bar will serve as the restaurant’s centerpiece. 

In addition, Mina has teamed up with Golden State Warrior and entrepreneur Steph Curry to open an adjacent cocktail bar called The Eighth Rule. The intimate den will also offer a bourbon-focused menu, piggybacking off Curry’s 2-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey brand, Gentleman’s Cut. There will be a “curated selection of spirits as well as craft cocktails,” and with just 40 seats, the bar is sure to be one of the most coveted reservations of the fall. 

San Francisco is getting its second halal Uzbek restaurant in less than a year. But unlike Lower Nob Hill’s Sofiya, Uzbegim will have a pan-Mediterranean menu, with dishes like burrata-arugula salad and tzatziki dip, as well as beef samosas and lamb soups. Chef Anvar Akhmedov, a native of the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, trained at Presidio Social Club and The Chapel and now is setting out on his own in the former Chaska space on Geary Boulevard.

The location is no accident, and not only because of the Richmond’s large population from the former USSR. Chaska was a Pakistani restaurant, and Akhmedov is repurposing its tandoor to bake bread at high heat. But Uzbegim will be a meaty place, with ribeye, lamb chops, and no fewer than 12 types of kebabs. Plant lovers need not panic, though, as there will be almost as many salads, including one made with heavily fermented Uzbek pickles. 

During its decade in Russian Hill, the “casual fine dining” hot spot Lord Stanley earned and lost a Michelin star, transformed to a takeout window, then pivoted again to host a series of chef residencies. In May, husband-and-wife restaurateurs Carrie and Rupert Blease opted not to renew their lease, and chef Nathan Matkowsky departed for the East Coast.

Five months later, the Bleases are back. This time, they’re rolling out Wolfsbane, a wine-driven successor in the Dogpatch with a 12-course tasting menu. Like Lord Stanley, it will showcase the best of California produce; the opening menu promises sea urchin bottarga with buttermilk, Liberty Farms duck, caviar, and lobster. Bottles will be sourced from California and as far as the Jura and Savoie regions of France. The wide variety of sparkling wines, Carrie teases, will include several “made from grape varieties you don’t often see with bubbles.”

Hot on the heels of opening the Parachute bakery at the Ferry Building in early September, the team behind Presidio Heights fine-dining restaurant Sorrel is back with another debut. This month, they’ll unveil Arquet, a large-format, full-service restaurant that takes the space previously occupied by The Slanted Door. With chef Alex Hong at the helm of the open kitchen, Arquet will serve seasonal California cuisine cooked over a wood fire. The space, with views of the Bay Bridge, will be washed in a natural palette with design details inspired by the restaurant’s name, a French term for “little arch.” 

When Beauty Bar went dark in April 2024, the Mission lost one of its most high-spirited dives — if one with a mixed reputation. Originally part of a national quasi-chain of kitschy venues offering martinis and manicures, it was also a place that saw, as members of a certain generation can recall, the sale of illicit substances and at least one incident of gunfire. 

Fast-forward one year, and bartender Jahaziel Garay has bought it and hired the original artist to touch up the exterior murals. He’d hoped to reopen in the spring, but renovation work proved more extensive than planned, although the place has shown signs of life in recent weeks, including the debut of an Instagram account. Garay is keeping mum on most details but says the interior will look very different from before. Keep an eye out for an opening party announcement in the run-up to Halloween.

British expats will get a true taste of home when Dingle’s Public House opens inside Inn at the Opera, a cozy hotel in the shadow of the War Memorial Opera House. George Dingle, the chef behind the modern gastropub, brings ample cred to the project, both as a U.K. native (he was born in Bath and raised in Gloucestershire) and as chef de cuisine at the now-closed French bistro Monsieur Benjamin. Dingle will be joined by his wife, Anissa, a front-of-house pro who has pulled together an approachable wine list for their first venture as a couple. The menu will offer British classics like Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding, meat pies, Scotch eggs, fish and chips, and a hefty sausage roll. 

Since opening Rich Table in 2012, husband-and-wife team Evan and Sarah Rich have made their Hayes Valley restaurant a staple of the city’s dining scene. Now they’re expanding next door with the more casual RT Bistro. Intended to be a neighborhood gathering spot, RT Bistro will celebrate simple preparations and warm hospitality. The 36-seat dining room will feature light-blue walls, a long banquette, and Douglas fir flooring. 

Working with chef de cuisine Dexter Fernandez, the couple plan to make good use of a wood-fired grill for market vegetables, local seafood, and meats — including the popular RT Burger (once a limited, off-menu item at Rich Table), which is made with dry-aged beef, Point Reyes Toma cheese, and house-made bacon jam. At the bar, expect seasonal cocktails and a wine list that spotlights lesser-known varietals and regions. 

Fans of Japanese cuisine are likely familiar with the names Ray Lee, chef of Akikos and Friends Only, and Tommy Cleary, of the now-closed Hina Yakitori. Both are experts in their fields — pristine sushi and smoky grilled skewers, respectively — and will soon join forces to open a restaurant in a familiar location: the original Akikos space on Bush Street, which has been dark since that restaurant moved to SoMa in 2023.

Though they’ve yet to decide on a name, the duo has been collaborating on pop-up dinners for a few months as a way to R&D some of the dishes they’ll offer at the new spot. At a recent event, the menu included king crab okonomiyaki with trout roe, crispy grilled skewers of chicken thigh under a dusting of yuzu kosho, and moriawase, a chef’s selection of nigiri. For dessert, Lee makes an impressively smooth black-sesame ice cream.