Gallery

A new beer garden — and a new chapter — for San Francisco’s Magnolia Brewing

Buzzsaw whirs, hammer poundings, and shouts echo at re-envisioned Dogpatch location for Magnolia Brewing Co., which is due to reopen this month.

Kim Jordan, Magnolia’s new owner, nods at a black metal fixture being carried away by two construction workers. “Those are going to be really groovy,” she says of the lights.

What was once the brewery’s Smokestack barbecue joint will soon be transformed into a restaurant and indoor beer garden. It will open on September 27.

This is the latest stage of Magnolia’s big overhaul, following a complicated saga in which the beloved San Francisco brewery filed for bankruptcy and eventually sold to New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, Colo., of which Jordan is co-founder and executive chair. Dick Cantwell, the departed co-founder of Elysian Brewing in Seattle, as well as Belgian lambic blendery Oud Beersel, were named partners in the new Magnolia. Read more…

The New Magnolia Dogpatch

With brewery locations in Upper Haight and Dogpatch now owned New Belgium Brewing Company with Belgian brewer Oud Beersel, specifically Dick Cantwell (co-owner/president/director of brewing operations, founder of Elysian Brewing in Seattle), Kim Jordan (executive chair/co-founder of New Belgium Brewing Company) and Brian Reccow (CEO).

Talking food and drink at the revamped Dogpatch and Haight brewpubs/restaurants here.

Magnolia’s Dogpatch Brewpub Will Close for Major Overhaul

Reopening in August with new food and beer

Smokestack, Magnolia Brewing Company’s ambitious Dogpatch beer and barbecue spinoff, will close for a major overhaul on Monday, June 18th, reopening in August under the simplified name Magnolia Dogpatch. Changes will include more drinking and dining space, an updated beer list from Magnolia’s new brewmaster, and a new menu that leaves barbecue behind to focus on quality pub food like that of Magnolia’s original Haight Street location.

The move reflects a changing of the guard at Magnolia, which was acquired last year by Colorado brewery New Belgium and Belgian brewer Oud Beersel.

San Francisco Brewing Co.'s Huge New Restaurant and Beer Garden Is Finally Here

And Now You Have a Very Legitimate Reason to Visit Ghirardelli Square

One of your duties as a resident of this city is to roll out the red carpet (read: do touristy stuff) for visiting dignitaries (read: your family).

Hit up the Golden Gate Bridge. Brace yourself for Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. Realize that Ghirardelli Square is now home to a huge new brewery and beer garden that you'll probably go back to sans family once you realize the sheer importance of it.

About that last thing...

We speak of San Francisco Brewing Co.'s shiny new restaurant, brewery and beer garden that's now open looking like this. 

You and a group of intrepid explorers on a search for the elusive San Francisco beer garden will venture to this 12,000-square-foot space and grab a quick peek of the brewery before getting down to business. The business, naturally, of beer. Read more...

Curio debuts in the Mission with seafood, quirky art, lots of personality

Roughly six months after the Vestry, a sister restaurant to the Mission District’s Chapel, was shuttered with the promise of reincarnation, the Valencia Street space has new life.

Opening there Friday, June 22, is Curio (775 Valencia St.), a quirky, art-inspired bar and restaurant where seafood towers, specialty cocktails and live music collide with impunity. It’s the brainchild of Jack Knowles (Á Côté in Rockridge) and includes an artist in residence — Curio designer Michael Brennan.

Aesthetically, the bar has a handful of quirks, some of which reflect its unconventional artistic spirit (Salvador Dali-esque clocks that tick backwards, for example), and others that embrace the fact that the address once housed a mortuary (a neon “afterlife” sign and a gold skull made of studs hanging on one of the walls). Read more...

Adriano Paganini's Belgian Brasserie Takes Shape in Cow Hollow

Adriano Paganini, the prolific restaurateur behind Beretta, Delarosa, Starbelly, Lolinda, Super Duper and more, is ready to talk about his plans for 2000 Union Street, the former home of Cafe des Amis. The "exciting, yet unpretentious" restaurant he alluded to in January will be a Belgian brasserie. "It's a concept I've been wanting to do for years," said Paganini. "I was just waiting for the right location."

Don't expect straight-ahead beer and frites. Just as Paganini's Lolinda is a loose interpretation of an Argentine steakhouse, the to-be-named Cow Hollow business will take its inspiration from the European brasseries Paganini used to frequent in his 20s. "It's not just a bar with food," added Paganini. "This is going to be a fun spot that's good for all day. And as always, we're very inspired by what it means to be a restaurant in California."

Lolinda's director of operations, Brian Reccow, is partnering on the project, and he'll oversee a beverage program led by Belgian-style beers: 10 on tap, many in bottles. Bartender Nora Furst will create a drinks list to compliment, with a few beer cocktails thrown into the mix for good measure. Read more...