I was at the Ferry Building yesterday and was amazed at the crowds and bustle

Two pieces, the first an overview of new restaurants on the Embarcadero and the other about the new Alora at Pier 3.

By Mario Cortez March 11, 2024 - San Francisco Chronicle

When it opens this summer on the Embarcadero, Parisian-inspired restaurant Bon Delire will offer steak frites and glasses of wine set against sweeping bay views. But with San Francisco’s office occupancy rate remaining low and tourism facing a long, challenging recovery, some could call the location risky.

“I never doubted that restaurants in the area would come back,” Kais Bouzidi said, referencing the Embarcadero, on the city’s eastern shoreline, where he has operated the restaurants Sens and Barcha since 2007 and 2015 respectively. Recently, he’s seen more office workers around the area and signs teasing restaurants set to open soon. “Why open here? Why not?”  

Bouzidi is not alone in his thinking. A recent burst of new restaurants along the Embarcadero is reactivating the waterfront’s food scene. Bon Delire will open next to the new restaurant Alora, on the Embarcadero’s Pier 3, featuring elaborate Mediterranean cuisine and scenic patio seating. JoyRide Pizza plans to open on Pier 1. In the Ferry Building, a beacon of the city’s restaurant industry, there are exciting arrivals, such as Italian spot A16 La Pala, and Lunette, a new Cambodian restaurant in the works from celebrated chef Nite Yun. Popular Mexican restaurant Don Ramon’s, which closed in SoMa last March, is due to reopen nearby.

Eric Young, director of communications for the Port of San Francisco, which manages the waterfront from Fisherman’s Wharf to the Bayview, agrees that there’s a restaurant revival happening along the Embarcadero. “It’s evidenced by people opening spaces or having negotiations,” he said, though he declined to discuss ongoing lease discussions.

Michael Dellar of One Market restaurant has observed the area since opening in 1993. The business, in the corner of the historic red brick Southern Pacific building at the tip of Market Street, arrived around the same time as the popular Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market and the nearby restaurant Boulevard.

Dellar has seen several downturns, like the dotcom bust, 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. But he always anticipates a return to form.

One Market is not quite back to pre-pandemic figures, but Dellar hopes to come close soon. Business in December and January was comparable to December 2019 and January 2020, while his 2023 figures were just slightly down from a surprising surge in 2022.

“San Francisco is resilient,” said Dellar, who called himself a “total believer” in the city. “It’s had its ups and downs, but it remains one of the greatest cities in the world. ”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/embarcadero-sf-waterfront-18678209.php

New waterfront restaurant lands in S.F. with intricate pasta and kebabs

By Mario Cortez Jan 25, 2024 - San Francisco Chronicle

When the owners of hit Indian restaurant Rooh landed a prime lease on San Francisco’s waterfront, they locked in one of the city’s specialists in Spanish cooking. Then, they all began talking about kebabs. 

The result is Alora, a broadly Mediterranean restaurant that opens on the Embarcadero on Thursday, Jan. 25. There, chef Ryan McIlwraith, best known for his tenure at S.F. Spanish restaurants Bellota and nearby Coqueta, prepares dishes like broiled Kusshi oysters with lemon-Prosecco sabayon, intricate pastas and elaborate grilled meats. 

McIlwraith was able to sell owners Anu and Vikram Bhambri on a wider Mediterranean focus after they returned from a trip to Turkey. “We were talking about how the Adana kebab was their favorite thing to eat on their trip, so we put it on the menu,” he said.

The menu still borrows from the chef’s experience with Spanish and Italian cooking, but also goes in new directions based on his personal fondness for Greek food, which was plentiful growing up near Greektown in Vancouver, British Columbia, and his current penchant for eating hummus and kebabs on days off.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/alora-mediterranean-embarcadero-sf-18623585.php

Greg