The Bay Area Hit List, May 2022: Lulu, Piperade, Liliana, and More

The sun is out, and for your weekend planning, we present Lulu brunch for your consideration. From Friday through Sunday, chef-owner Mona Leena Michael offers up a dazzling mezze brunch. For $30 per person, you get a parade of treats, from deep-fried eggs to fennel-scented falafel. NB: There’s also an entire la carte menu.

Liliana is the shiny new cocktail bar attached to live fire tasting menu restaurant, Osito. Cocktails star, but there’s a strong food menu as well, serving up both small and big plates from the team led by chef Seth Stowaway and Jenn Yoo. Don’t miss the kanpachi with almond milk and melon vinegar.

The Basque gem from Gerald and Cameron Hirigoyen is back open for full service. Whether you opt for outdoor or indoor, this kitchen still produces some of the best uniquely rustic cooking in San Francisco.

When the spring produce starts to fill up the markets, there’s no better place to go than Al’s Place, where the menu is now stacked with spring bounty: fave beans (in a bagna cauda), sugar snap peas (yeasted, alongside burrata), asparagus (blistered), rhubarb (agrodolce), and on, and on. 

Speaking of spring, now is the time for asparagus pizza across the Bay Area, and you know that Sharon Ardiana’s two stellar pizzerias — Gialina and Ragazza — do it splendidly.

Because grabbing one of the six seats at the counter here makes for one of the East Bay’s finest omakase experiences. And lest you think spring is all about the green vegetables, Utzutzu will showcase the best seasonal seafood right now, too. (That’s to say: Don’t miss the firefly squid if they’ve got it).

You don’t need an excuse to revisit Rintaro, a restaurant that exudes beauty in its space and on the plate. But, here’s a pro tip: Every Monday, chef-owner Sylvan Brackett and co. are offering counter seating for Kappo Rintaro, a small restaurant within the restaurant wherein they serve a seasonal omakase menu ($150/person) with labor intensive dishes that aren’t able to be made during normal izakaya service.

Shuggie’s is a pizzeria and natural wine bar that bills itself as a “food waste paradise.” That means it comes with a climate-based mission and grandma-style “trash pie” options that spotlight abandoned chard and meat offcuts.

The California Caviar Company’s Sausalito restaurant serves up all kinds of roe and small plates, but on May 15, chef Jonny Black — last seen in the Bay Area as the executive chef of Atelier Crenn — will be cooking a seven-course, caviar-centric menu there,  as a sort of preview for his upcoming restaurant, Chez Noir.

The folks behind Korean superette gem Queens have recently opened a new spinoff on the corner of Taraval and 46th, named Hotline. Here, they’re offering up junghwa cuisine — Korean-Chinese takeout fare like gan jiajang, a dish of minced pork, onion, zucchini, shiitake, and green cabbage. Or, as they describe it,  “a humble dish that triggers all those precious Ratatouille-Anton flashback feels.”

No reservations. Order here.

Wait, do you really need a reason to revisit Tommy’s Mexican? It’s open for takeout and dine-in, both indoor and outdoor. Make the pilgrimage, drink some Tequila, meet some new friends.

More info here.