How many birds can we eat?
Enough already, San Francisco. Enough with the chicken restaurants. As a food writer whose formative years were spent in the South, the glut of chicken joints reminds me of my teen years where it seemed like a bird, be it fried or roasted, was never more than a block away from me at any given moment.
Take it from a Southerner: San Francisco has officially reached the chicken restaurant tipping point.
With that said, say hello to Jonathan Waxman’s new project at Ghirardelli Square: J Bird.
The chef’s flagship restaurant, Waxman’s, which opened in March 2016, has closed for a remodel. J Bird is a fast-casual, counter-service venture with a menu built around the chef’s famed roast chicken with salsa verde.
Waxman said he’s been thinking about the chicken concept his entire culinary career; he just needed a place to put it. When factoring in Ghirardelli Square’s penchant for entertaining families and large groups of tourists, the destination looked to be the perfect setting, Waxman said.
For those familiar with the 2017 San Francisco food scene, J Bird might invoke a bit of deja vu. RT Rotisserie (see Michael Bauer’s review on L5) opened in Hayes Valley earlier this year with a similar appeal — meals of chicken and simple sides — as did the Mission’s Cajuninspired Bayou and Tacolicious’ MF Chicken (see Jonathan Kauffman’s story on L2). For his part, Waxman has been roasting chickens since the 1980s, including at his seminal Jams in New York City. If anything, the chef is diving back into a trend he helped cultivate.
J Bird will officially open Tuesday, Aug. 8.
A whole chicken at J Bird will go for $19.50 while a half-chicken will be $10.50. Fried chicken thighs served by the piece are $3. There’s also a J Bird picnic basket, which comes with a whole roast or fried chicken with two hot and two cold sides for $35.
Some Mexican soul: Michael Mina and Adam Sobel’s ode to coastal Italian cuisine at the Mina Test Kitchen (2120 Greenwich St.), named Postcards from La Got a tip? We work for tips! Send restaurant news and gossip to food@sfchronicle.com Costeria, says goodbye this weekend.
For what will be the next, and seventh, incarnation of the Cow Hollow restaurant, Mina will partner with renowned Houston chef Hugo Ortega to create Mi Almita, a concept the Mina camp says is essentially “a journey throughout Mexico.”
Mi Almita, which means “my little soul” in Spanish, will launch Aug. 23 with a $39, five-course tasting menu with dishes like huitlasquites corn soup; a ceviche trio sourced from the tidal pools of Fort Bragg; and pozole verde with little neck clams, hominy and pumpkin seeds.
For context, Ortega, the 2017 James Beard award winner for Best New Chef Southwest, has long been a key figure in Houston’s food scene thanks to his landmark Mexican restaurants.
Furthermore, to understand Ortega’s food, you have to understand his backstory. The chef, who was born in Mexico City and raised on his family’s Puebla state rancho near Oaxaca, immigrated to Houston as a teenager in 1984. He couldn’t speak English at the time, had no documentation and found work as a dishwasher. Over the years he became a U.S. citizen and established a reputation as one of Houston’s premiere chefs after debuting his namesake Hugo’s in 2002. From there, Ortega opened the upscale Caracol, then Xochi in Houston’s downtown Marriott Marquis and, finally, Origen in Oaxaca.
Rich people things: The same San Francisco food scene where a tasting menu at Quince once included truffles served on iPads may soon be home to a high-end Wagyu beef sandwich that costs $180.
According to Business Insider, Wagyumafia, the Tokyo restaurant known for highlighting the world’s most expensive beef, is plotting an expansion to San Francisco in 2018. Early reports say it’ll take shape in the luxury residential building at One Henry Adams in the Design District. Kash Feng and the Omakase Restaurant Group (the same folks behind Dumpling Time) also have grand plans for a portion of the space.
As for Bay Area restaurants reveling in the appeal and high price points of Wagyu beef, the most notable newcomer has been Hiroshi in downtown Los Altos. The restaurant opened in June with no physical menu, serves only eight customers per night and costs “upwards of $400” per person.
Chef-owner Hiroshi Kimura said the Wagyu beef at Hiroshi is flown in from Japan on a weekly basis, which is the reason for the higherthan-Quince prices.
If you’re curious as to how a restaurant prepares a $180 Wagyu sandwich, Business Insider has you covered. Apparently, it’s just a Wagyu beef cutlet breaded and fried and then placed on two (very normal-looking) slices of toasted white bread that have been covered with a Japanese soy sauce and vinegar spread.