Lou Bustamante

Rickhouse Mint Julep ($12, Custom Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon, Mandarine Napoleon, mint, spring bitters)

We may not get the dramatic announcements of spring's arrival that other parts of the country get, like crocuses jetting out through the snow, but we do get our own subtle declaration of a new season. With asparagus season having peaked, the presence of local strawberries and cherries forecasting longer, warming days, and cocktail menus around town start to get a refresh.

While Blackbird has shifted their entire menu from the heavier drinks of winter, warming and substantial, to a collection of refreshing sippers, Rickhouse has introduced an entirely new menu, doing away with the drink bible and focusing their offerings. Here's a quick look at both new menus:

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Pete Kane

Beet, bacon, and arugula sandwich at Sydney Town Tavern.

Just around the corner from the Transamerica Pyramid comes the new Sydney Town Tavern, a reference to Barbary Coast days when exiles from Australian penal colonies populated San Francisco.

It's hardly a wretched hive of scum and villainy in there, though. In fact, it's a fairly ordinary sports bar with a full kitchen and a simple bistro-style menu, executed well. Exposed brick, faux-punched-tin ceilings, wall-mounted TVs and restrained Americana constitute the bulk of the décor. (This is no Outback; there is absolutely no cringe-inducing Australiana.)

See also: Heyday: Chez Panisse Alums Reinvent Power Lunch In the FiDi
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Tender Greens

Today brings news that Tender Greens is expanding to San Francisco and opening in the Financial District in May or June. For the uninitiated, Tender Greens is an SoCal-based fast-casual chain that's a little like Mixt Greens except about fifty times better. When I worked in Santa Monica before moving here I used to eat the grilled octopus, fingerling potato, nicoise olive, and shaved fennel salad multiple times a week; if not that, I'd get a hot plate with freshly grilled steak, chicken, or albacore, garlicky-buttery mashed potatoes, and a side salad for something like $11. All of it's made with responsibly, locally sourced ingredients, yadda yadda yadda, and they have local beer and wine on tap.

See also: Heyday: Chez Panisse Alums Reinvent the Power Lunch
Chicken Soup's Good For the Soul at Shorty Goldstein's
Testing Out Lunch At FiDi's New Foundation Cafe

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Anna Roth

The Financial District certainly isn't lacking for midday lunch options, but there's been a recent spate of openings that focus on what NoCal does best: local, seasonal, sustainable cuisine. First was Shorty Goldstein's, a deli with everything made in-house that's won some early raves. There's also Heyday, a healthy lunch spot from Chez Panisse alums that's also serving takeaway roasted Mary's chicken for dinner. The third is Foundation Cafe, a bright, subway-tiled spot on Kearny between Bush and Pine, serving up a short menu of salads and sandwiches, based on, you guessed it, local and sustainable ingredients.

See also: Heyday: Chez Panisse Alums Reinvent Power Lunch In the FiDi
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Chicken Soup's Good For the Soul at Shorty Goldstein's

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Pete Kane

Coppa sandwich and quinoa salad at Heyday.

The indecisive, the picky and the gluttonous can all make common cause at Heyday, a new spot in the Financial District where nearly everything is made from scratch daily. It's like Bi-Rite, but without the grocery aisles or the ice cream.

Lunch options skew smallish, but at one for $6, two for $10 and three for $14, it is simply not possible to make a wrong choice in this warmly rustic space, furnished with tomato-red chairs, succulents and a decoupaged wall of Agricultural Almanac pages. Open kitchens can be surprisingly tough to pull off (ahem, B. Patisserie, with your uninviting wall of reach-in fridges) but a lingering peek at Heyday's is irresistible.

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Anna Roth

The chalkboard menu and house-made pickles at Shorty Goldstein's.

A new deli in the Financial District is offering classic comfort food like pastrami sandwiches and chicken soup updated with local, seasonal ingredients, as per usual in S.F. The tagline at Shorty Goldstein's is "cure, brine, smoke, pickle," which refers to all the things that Michael Siegel and his team do in-house.

Breakfast brings cheese blintzes, matzah brei, challah French toast, a gravlax plate, and a pastrami or corned beef Benedict, which sounds like an amazing hangover cure. For lunch, there are meaty corned beef, pastrami, and turkey sandwiches, along with a beef tongue version of Thursdays, matzo ball soup, chopped liver, latkes, kniches, brisket, and half roasted Mary's chicken.

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Lou Bustamante

The Stone Serpent at M.Y. China

The first night of Chinese New Year begins on Saturday, and while lucky foods like mandarins (to symbolize wealth) and noodles (for longevity and a full life) are traditional, we found three different cocktails to ensure a full year of good luck. Enjoy all three and triple your happiness -- and hopefully not your hangover.

Drink: Stone Serpent
Where: M.Y. China, 845 Market, fourth floor, 580-300
Why: The orange-red cocktail garnished with a golden yellow lemon twist is meant to represent the colors of the red Chinese envelopes, a tradition designed to forgive past grudges and start the year fresh. The Stone Serpent ($11, VSOP Raynal, grapefruit juice, Cointreau, Cherry Heering, Peychauds, ginger, Belfast apple cider) has an almost chocolately quality from the brandy, and plenty of ginger bite. The light float of a San Francisco Chinatown classic, Belfast cider (around since 1848, and sold almost exclusively here), represents the banquets at which it is always served.

See Also: M.Y. China: High-End Cuisine Finds a Niche in a Busy Mall
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Anna Roth

The spicy pork belly BiBimBap bowl at BiBimBar

Now that SF Weekly offices have moved to the Financial District, we've been exploring the workday lunch options with some gusto. And among the favorites we've already found, one of the standouts is the week-old BiBimBar in the newly reopened International Food Court. It offers rice bowls, cold soba noodle bowls, and (coming soon) ssam wraps topped with banchan and meats like bulgogi, spicy pork belly, marinated chicken, and jangjolim -- all familiar Korean barbecue flavors made healthy and portable for the workday.

See also: Jang Soo BBQ's New Owners Are Swankifying Up Korean
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Lou Bustamante

The Sazerac at Bix

Veering off Montgomery onto Gold Street, a little, almost nondescript alley, feels like slipping into a hidden passageway. Walking along it I get the thrill of being in on a secret, what I imagine was half the fun of Prohibition-era speakeasies. The tidy little street doesn't stand out for any particular reason, except for the neon sign that marks the entrance to Bix. It may not be a secret, but the dramatic shift from street to 1930's jazz joint sure feels like one.

See Also:
- Best Swanky Bar - Bix
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Lou Bustamante

Walking in to Michael Mina, it was hard not to feel a little intimidated, even during happy hour when the dining room is closed and the bar takes center stage. Patrons dressed to the nines fill the seats and standing room, sipping cocktails while chatting business and fashion. Thankfully, the bar staff does a stellar job making everyone feel comfortable and the short list of five cocktails are priced to do the same ($10-$12).

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- Carlo Splendorini Mixes Up Gin Magic
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