Just a few blocks from the ballpark on the ground floor of the Hyatt Place Hotel, Kaiyo Restaurant — an amped up version of the Cow Hollow original — opened its doors in April serving Japanese Peruvian cuisine known as Nikkei. The menu offers sizable plates meant to share including lomo saltado and shoyu-ginger chicken, but there’s also a small sushi counter where diners can try Nikkei sashimi, nigiri, and rolls. Cocktails come from experienced bar pro Danny Louie, so don’t sleep on the drinks.

Chef Nite Yun is back on the restaurant scene just two years after she closed her popular Oakland restaurant Nyum Bai. Her latest, Lunette, opened in the storied Ferry Building in early June serving Cambodian noodle and rice dishes for $21 each. Check out the Student Noodles, a new dish from Yun that stars rice noodles with brisket, bean sprouts, and chives, or the KFC (Khmer Fried Chicken) dish that’s gluten-free and features salt and Kampot pepper fried chicken.

Head over to this small takeout-friendly SoMa restaurant for plant-based riffs on Filipino classics and stunning kamayan spreads — though there are meaty dishes on the menu too. It’s a comeback for Mestiza owner Deanna Sison who closed the first iteration of her restaurant in 2020 and now returns in a new space with chef Syl Mislang at her side. Order sweet potato-stuffed lumpia, calabasa coconut curry with aji verde, and a vegan version of sisig made with mushroom tempeh. 

There’s a tiny new dumpling spot on Kearny and you’ll know it by the street facing window that gives passersby a front-row view of the staff tucking filling into fresh wrappers. Today Food’s menu is concise but offers some less common options — think chicken and corn dumplings and pork and sauerkraut potstickers — all of which are made fresh onsite and cooked to order. Opt for takeout if the small number of tables aren’t available.

After months as a roving pop-up, Four Kings settled into its new Chinatown home in mid-March, marking one of the most anticipated restaurant openings of the spring. Mister Jiu’s alum Franky Ho and Mike Long run the kitchen, pushing out plates of flat-iron chow fun kissed with wok hei and Xinjiang lamb skewers spiced with mala, chile, and cumin. Don’t miss the Canto-nostalgic fare that draws from both Chinese and non-Chinese culinary traditions, for example, mapo spaghetti and XO snails. It’s a small space so be sure to make a reservation. 

Homestyle Indonesian cooking landed in the Mission in early March thanks to Rasa Rasa Kitchen, an expansion of the food truck business owned by Joe Sharp and Patty Tang. The menu goes beyond the favorites from the truck so while there’s no laksa on the menu, diners can try “large dishes of curry, fried fish, and sambal-smothered vegetables,” KQED reports. Many dishes are served family-style so bring a group to explore the menu’s breadth. 

The second location of chef Anthony Strong’s Pasta Supply Co. has touched down in the Mission. Expect the same formula that made the Clement Street location popular with the neighborhood, with a shop side selling plentiful pasta shapes and sauces for home cooking, plus dinner service. The dishes do change, but the shop’s cheekily-named White Lotus Season 2-Style pasta featuring cuscini with semi-dried tomatoes and oregano, plus lemon oil, sea salt, and pistachios (topped with a hit of hot honey) is a refreshing menu favorite.

Komaaj started as a pop-up serving multicourse Iranian dinners but now lives on as Komaaj Mazze & Wine Bar, a place for locals to gather over pomegranate rice and chicken and a glass of wine. Owner Hanif Sadr offers a taste of Northern Iran in sharable plates of cucumber salad, sumac yogurt dip, and sweet and sour chicken stew. Wines mainly come from the Caucasus region, which encompasses Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and northern Iran — though nonalcoholic options including teas and sharbat sekanjbin (a mint and vinegar drink sweetened with honey) are worthwhile, too. 

Chef Kim Alter is expanding her restaurant empire to include one more property on her corner of Hayes Valley, opening the new Nightjar adjacent to both Nightbird and its sister bar the Linden Room. Nightjar is a multi-functional space meant to be a part-time private dining room for Nightbird and a pop-up event spot for Alter and other chefs. In its first months, Nightjar will be the home of Alter’s prime rib pop-up Primebird, an ode to the legendary San Francisco restaurant House of Prime Rib.

Naruephon “Billie” Wannajaro, the owner behind Union Square-adjacent Hed Very Thai, teamed up with chef Piriya “Saint” Boonprasan to bring multi-course Thai tasting menus to Japantown. The new restaurant, Hed11, serves fine dining fare including young coconut caviar sticky rice pancakes, banana chicken curry, crab salad dip, and cabbage salad with tiny fried shrimp. Much of the food happens to be gluten- and dairy-free making this an accessible tasting menu option in the city.

Third-generation Fillmore resident Fernay McPherson made a name for herself as a fried chicken queen of the Bay Area serving Southern fare at her restaurant’s original Emeryville location. But as of April she’s back in action in the city serving golden fried chicken alongside sides such as brown butter cornbread, braised greens, and mac and cheese. 

The team behind Tacolicious spread its footprint to Noe Valley with the opening of Todo el Dia, an all-day restaurant that serves breakfast tacos by day and fire-licked rotisserie chicken at night. Think of the lunch and dinner menu as a fancified version of El Pollo Loco: tacos, tortas, and family-sized chicken meals come with freshly made blue corn tortillas, Rancho Gordo yellow eye beans, and mint-cilantro rice.

Tacos El Tucán built a name for itself serving Tijuana-style tacos in Richmond, but now the restaurant has leaped across the bay to San Francisco, opening a new restaurant in the Castro. The new location will have a similar menu to the original location, folding in items such as the restaurant’s popular quesatacos and red tacos, but the plan is to add on fish and carnitas tacos, as well.

The second location of Little Original Joe’s launched in the Marina to plenty of fanfare (and packed seats) on Chestnut Street. Expect comforting Italian American food in an upscale setting with plush banquette seats and a stunning bar at one end of the restaurant. Fill up on pizza, hearty pasta such as the house-made meat ravioli, and five styles of parmigiana, among a plethora of other dishes. Sip on the restaurant’s spin on various cocktails, such as the Italian Margarita, or indulge in one of four negronis.

The nostalgia for old-school Italy is alive and well at Bettola in the Inner Richmond. It’s part casual eatery, part shop, with a smattering of groceries and home goods available for retail alongside dishes made for takeaway or dining at the space. The chicken and porchetta rotisserie options are noteworthy, as are the two timballos on offer daily. If you’re lingering over dinner at the restaurant, check out the Neapolitan playing cards stuffed into a drawer at each table.

Sizzling fajitas and stiff margaritas have descended upon West Portal thanks to the family behind longtime San Francisco favorite Original Joe’s. The inspiration for the restaurant comes from co-owner Elena Duggan’s two oldest daughters whose father is from San Bartolo Morelos, Mexico. It’s a high-ceiling and sprawling dining room that’s often full of locals tucking into big portions of enchiladas, chile Colorado, and pozole.

This casual Korean sandwich spot is an egg lover’s dream, with 10 different styles of Korean egg toast and toppings such as curry chicken or beef and kimchi. If you’re an omnivore, scope out the wagyu toast option which comes with “Unforgettable Sauce” or the Dungeness crab fries. On the sweet side, try one of the croffles — the shop’s croissant-waffle hybrid — or the Instagram-ready Paradise drink.

Galinette is a new French bistro by the ocean, perfect for locals and daytrippers looking for a place to stop for food after a day at the beach. The restaurant is from the team behind Union Square’s Bouche, but here Galinette skews more casual (and less phone-focused) with a choice between snacky items like duck confit croquette or brandade, and heartier items like the bourride with seafood and hanger steak frites. The restaurant is open from morning to night, with pastry and coffee offerings if you’re looking for something more on the go.