Food + Drink

Aphotic dropped less than a month after SF’s Palette closed. And, yes: The same team behind the latter is now responsible for the former. The attention span of the modern-day human being is akin to that of the current population of vaquita dolphins — nearly non-existent. Even TikToks are getting shorter, statistically. (It’s one reason why I decided to debut Underscore_SF just a day after I formally announced my departure from The Bold Italic.) But you can’t blame us bipeds for our collective disjointedness; we’re inundated by literally hundreds, if not thousands, of stimuli every time we open our phones or laptops or turn on our FrameTVs.   How do you cut through the fray? Tailor to this current moment and time. Tease something briefly. Soft launch it, ASAP. Hard drop i...

Opened in 2019, SF’s Palette restaurant served as a nexus of creativity and cuisine in SoMa — but its hasty closure last month saw that connection fray into thin air. Palette, the San Francisco eater once located at 816 Folsom Street, was beloved for its New American fare and gorgeous art gallery. The space, itself, was a sprawling ode to how food and artist expression exist in tandem — oftentimes on the same plate. But as with literally hundreds of restaurants and bars in the Bay Area, Palette also couldn’t manage to climb out of the financial pits dug by the Covid-19 pandemic. “The pandemic’s ravage brought a new perspective, and opened my eyes to other ways of working, other opportunities seen through the perverse lens of loss, and hope for a better future,” Chef Peter Hemsley says ...

This San Francisco corner store is a verdant oasis of organization and modestly priced peanut butter. We’re a sucker for a solid bodega. There’s something mesmeric about following the isles of one after being overserved at a nearby bar; you let whimsy and impaired judgment lead your post-drinking snacking — a satiating journey riddled with situational serendipity, for better or worse. They’re also places to spot resident felines, minding their own business, swatting at your feet as you walk by. (I’m looking at you, Mish Mish at Mid City.) When you couldn’t be bothered to walk the half-mile to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, the family-run corner store less than 200 feet away from your apartment is there, allowing you to surrender to listlessness. So, yea: We love a well-kept, somewhat...