The scallop hand roll from Taki Nori in downtown San Mateo.
The latest COVID-19 surge is battering the Bay Area food industry, but restaurants continue to open in the face of public health and staffing challenges. The Peninsula and South Bay are now home to several new spots of note, from a sushi bar devoted to hand rolls in San Mateo to a Los Gatos market serving hoagies and boozy soft-serve.
Read on for more on each opening.
The Peninsula’s first hand-roll restaurant debuts
Sushi restaurants with a focus on hand rolls remain scant in the Bay Area, but two opened in the last month: the buzzy Handroll Project in San Francisco and Taki Nori in downtown San Mateo. From a perch at Taki Nori’s sleek, L-shaped bar, diners can watch chefs deftly assemble hand rolls with hamachi, meaty salmon belly and silky scallop topped with crispy garlic. Ball out with the most expensive hand roll on the menu: a $25 uni and toro creation garnished with gold flakes. Each hand roll is made to order and there are only 13 bar seats, so expect a wait at peak times.
144 E. Third Ave., San Mateo. instagram.com/takinori_handroll
Palo Alto gets an Austrian restaurant
Owner Dino Tekdemir outside the new, second location of Naschmarkt in Palo Alto.
Campbell’s popular Naschmarkt has brought its homemade pretzels and spätzle to Palo Alto. The Austrian restaurant opened a second location on Birch Street, just off California Avenue in the former Anatolian Kitchen space (Anatolian owner Dino Tekdemir also runs Naschmarkt). Head there for warm pretzels with beer-cheese sauce, Austrian charcuterie and pork schnitzel. The wine list features many Austrian bottles with an entire section devoted to Grüner Veltliner, the Austrian-grown grape.
2323 Birch St., Palo Alto. naschmarktrestaurants.com/home
S.F. coffee truck expands south
California Kahve owner Molly Welton hands a matcha rose latte to a customer in S.F. She recently opened a new cafe in Menlo Park.
California Kahve, a popular coffee truck parked near San Francisco’s Ocean Beach on weekends, now has a permanent daytime cafe at the Park James Hotel in Menlo Park. Owner Molly Welton’s popular coffee and tea drinks, including a lavender mint matcha and marionberry latte, are available here Monday through Saturday. For food, expect pastries, quiches and colorful smoothie bowls. California Kahve is located inside the hotel, with ample outdoor seating on a massive, couch-filled patio.
1400 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. californiakahve.com
South Bay breakfast sandwich specialist grows
Egghead Sando, a hit breakfast sandwich spot in Cupertino, has arrived in San Jose. Sandwich options include fluffy scrambled eggs with chives, over-medium eggs with Spam or the classic bacon, egg and cheese on toasted brioche buns. A hefty fried chicken sandwich, reminiscent of Taiwanese popcorn chicken, is draped with a yolk-oozing egg. Drinks range from coffee and matcha lattes to black sesame milk.
519 W. Capitol Expressway, San Jose. eggheadcafe.net
A new Thai option for the Peninsula
Head to Foster City’s new Chuan Chim Thai Cuisine for North and Northeastern Thai specialties, including chubby Isaan-style pork sausages and khao soi curry noodles. The menu includes crispy catfish salad, Dungeness crab fried rice and curry with roasted duck and pineapple.
1099 Foster Square Lane, Unit 125, Foster City. chuanchimthaicuisine.com/
A convenience store goes plant-based
Everything sold at Hangry Planet in San Bruno is plant-based, from vegan jerky to dairy-free ice cream.
Instead of Slurpees and sodium-drenched hot dogs, this San Bruno convenience store is now stocked with vegan doughnuts, Beyond Meat breakfast sandwiches and oat milk soft-serve. Hangry Planet, located at an El Camino Real gas station, is completely plant-based. A machine dispenses vegan hot cocoa, while freezers are stocked with vegan pizza and dairy-free ice cream. It’s a funky scene, complete with a car wash virtual-reality experience and massive T-rex statue outside devouring a replica of Vladimir Putin.
1199 El Camino Real, San Bruno. instagram.com/TheHangryPlanet
Taco truck gets a permanent home
Popular Peninsula truck Tacos El Flamingo has opened a restaurant in downtown San Mateo. The large, prominent building, formerly occupied by Little Sichuan, is now serving quesabirria, flautas, whole fried fish and other Mexican fare.
168 E. Fourth Ave., San Mateo . 650-558-8978
More hot chicken for the South Bay
Jojo’s in San Jose is the latest Bay Area business to capitalize on the Nashville-style hot chicken trend. The food truck serves spicy fried chicken sandwiches with a range of heat levels, plus crinkle-cut fries. Jojo’s is parked on Kooser Road and Camden Avenue Friday through Sunday.
1587 Kooser Road, San Jose. jojoshotchicken.com
A market with cheesesteaks and soft-serve
Los Gatos’ newest market specializes in East Coast deli fare. Montebello Market sources pastrami from New York City’s famed Carnegie Deli for its reuben and Philadelphia staple Amoroso’s rolls for a cheesesteak with cheese whiz. There are also several hoagies, beer-steamed hot dogs and boozy soft-serve (or sans alcohol for kids). The market is also stocked with grab-and-go food, wine and canned cocktails. Jim Foley, a local real estate developer who also runs Rootstock Wine Bar in Los Gatos, teamed up with Oren’s Hummus owner David Cohen to open the market.
9 Montebello Way, Los Gatos. montebellomarket.com
Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
Elena Kadvany joined The San Francisco Chronicle as a food reporter in 2021. Previously, she was a staff writer at the Palo Alto Weekly and its sister publications, where she covered restaurants and education and also founded the Peninsula Foodist restaurant column and newsletter.