Eat Here Now is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around – the ones we think are worth visiting. We dine once, serve forth our thoughts, and let you take it from there.
During a recent dinner at Precita Social, the newest addition to Bernal Heights, my dining companion zeroed in on a dish of pork belly and pole beans with sizzling rice as a must-order. His theory? Any dish that’s not like the others on the menu is always worth checking out. A black sheep is often a chef’s creative spark.
The hot, crispy-soft rice ($29) with little fatty porky bits balanced by summer beans was tossed tableside with fresh basil and fenugreek sprouts. It was homey and delicious — my favorite dish of the night. “I wasn’t planning on putting sizzling rice on the menu,” chef and owner Greg Lutes says. “But I’m friends with Seth [Stowaway], the chef from the former Osito, and when he closed, he had a sale, which included these nice clay pots. So now I’ve got 20 of them.”
Though the sizzling rice is a bit of a detour — and a dish Lutes now deems a signature — the Precita Social menu is all pretty eclectic, less hard-boiled. You could call it Asian fusion with Cal-Ital leanings and American classics wrapped up in a bistro setting. Or you could just accept that it’s made up of dishes Lutes is drawn to and not overanalyze it.
Beyond the rice dish, there is more Asian influence; Lutes likes to cook to the tastes of his Japanese wife. We had a pretty bluefin tuna crudo ($23) with Korean chile aioli and dots of avocado puree punctuated with yuzu and tamari, scattered with flowers and sprouts. There is also a lobster handroll with uni and caviar ($24) and chicken katsu ($35).
Should that not satisfy your cravings, there are Hog Island oysters on the halfshell ($28 for six) or caviar with French onion dip ($64). I enjoyed a now-classic late-summer dish of creamy stracciatella with tomatoes and nectarines ($19). Five-ounce Wagyu burgers ($25), which you can make into a double with bacon, also make a play for attention.
Though the menu’s scattershot focus gave me pause, every dish I had was deftly executed. There’s a fantastic steak frites ($39) served with an updated au poivre sauce punctuated with the pop of piquant green peppercorns; it was perfectly sopped up with a side of thick-cut fries. I didn’t try the handmade pastas, which include tortellini stuffed with corn and Jimmy Nardello peppers or lobster amatriciana with tagliatelle, but I will when I return.
This is not Lutes’ first rodeo, either in the kitchen or in the quirky, drive-in, drive-out neighborhood. Even though he lives in the Outer Richmond, Lutes has been running 3rd Cousin on Cortland Avenue in Bernal for 10 years. There, he offers a $165 tasting menu. People make a trip for his uni crème brûlée. (“One of the single reasons I’ve been able to stay open so long is because of that single dish,” he says. “People want to seek it out.”)
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However, with Precita Social, he’s aiming for something more neighborhoody — though at these prices, it’s definitely not an everyday spot. “I wanted to do something more approachable but with some creativity, so people can come in for a birthday dinner or with kids in a high chair or just for a night out.”
The residential corner location looks unassuming enough, but it has experienced some small-town drama. Located just across from Precita Park, until 2023, it was the domain of two of the city’s most famous chefs: husband-and-wife team David and Serena Chow Fisher of Marlena, who earned a Michelin star. After a tangle with the landlord, Stephan Roulland, they dramatically quit (causing gasps and “ripples in the foodie universe”) and made their way to grab a star for 7 Adams, where they remain.
To former Marlena fans, the space — painted a deep blue — won’t look dramatically different. Inoffensively handsome, it doesn’t reflect Bernal’s keep-it-weird personae.
The service at Precita Social went at a nice pace until it came time for dessert. We ordered the lattice-topped apple hand pies ($14) with salted caramel (which you should not miss) and kakigori ($18), a delightful, refreshing bowl of shaved ice with melon, strawberries, and sweetened condensed milk. There was a lull before it all arrived because Lutes had cheffed out and bought the trending ice shaver from Japan and, well, “it takes some time to hand-crank it. We’re still learning.” But the desserts were both great and all over the map — just like everything I had at Precita Social.