The summer restaurant list feels different this year. It isn't a scatter of new arrivals in neighborhoods you don't visit. It's a run of long-delayed projects landing in the same few blocks, alongside pop-up cooks finally getting keys to real addresses. If you already live here, the useful question isn't "what's new," it's "where is the energy actually collecting this summer, and what's worth a walk on a Saturday."
The short answer: the Mission's 24th Street corridor, the Presidio edge, and Jackson Square. Here's what's landing in each, and what to do with the information.
The Mission's 24th Street corridor is doing the heavy lifting
Two of the summer's most anticipated openings are within a few blocks of each other on 24th.
Cinderella Bakery & Cafe, Richmond's beloved destination for rye bread and Russian honey cakes, is finally opening its Mission outpost by the end of July after years of delays. That's a seven-year story arc. The 24th Street location, which sits among shops selling conchas and Mexican wedding cookies, will offer mushroom and noodle pirogi, deep-fried beef-and-gorgonzola piroshki, hamentaschen, and sour cream cakes, plus light and dark rye. A mural with matryoshka dolls by Precita Eyes has been on the exterior since spring, an intentional gesture to a Latino community mourning the 2018 eviction of previous tenant La Victoria Bakery. The original Balboa Street location stays open until 7 p.m., so if the Mission outpost keeps those hours it will be a real option for a late-day craving for blinchiki.
A block away, Stray Dog opens July 1 on the corner of Utah and 24th, in the former Junior cocktail bar space. Owner Angela Cao is pulling from Shanghai's all-day cafes with flavors like pandan and ube on a beverage menu featuring beans from San Francisco's own Ritual Coffee Roasters. By night, partner Nathan Angelo Depante takes over with a menu of 12 to 14 pan-Asian cocktails. Hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, midnight Thursday through Saturday, with a 3–5 p.m. daily closure. That afternoon gap is worth noting if you're the type who wanders in at 4.
If you're staying in the neighborhood for coffee, Berkeley's Binge Coffee House has opened its first SF location in the Mission, focused on phin drip coffee with flavors like ube, banana, and cookie butter, alongside matcha, bánh mì, and pandan waffles.
The Presidio edge is quietly becoming a food destination
The park has had picnic-worthy grass for years and, until recently, not much reason to eat there. That changes this summer.
Mess Hall, an all-day eatery adjacent to the Presidio Tunnel Tops, is expected to open in summer 2026. It's a food hall with a cafe, full bar, and three all-day spots covering seafood, burgers, sandwiches, and Korean food, plus grab-and-go items sized for a Tunnel Tops picnic. If you've been bringing your own sandwich from home for years, this is the update.
A short drive east in Presidio Heights, Sayat and Laura Ozyilmaz, the husband-and-wife team behind Dalida, have opened Maria Isabel, a Mexican restaurant inspired by Laura's heritage with vibrant moles, salsas, tacos, octopus, and aguachiles, at 500 Presidio Ave.
Ferry Building and Jackson Square, still where restaurateurs plant flags
The old Boulettes Larder space in the Ferry Building is set to become Hayati, a Middle Eastern restaurant from the team behind Sens. That's a rare piece of Ferry Building real estate turning over, and it's worth checking on your next farmers market lap.
Jackson Square is quietly picking up two openings from teams with existing SF credibility. Napa-based bagel brand Loveski Deli has moved into Jackson Square, serving artisanal bagels, sandwiches, matzoh ball soup, salads, and fries. Bar Coto, a refined all-day Italian café from the team behind A16, is also landing in Jackson Square with espresso, pastries, sandwiches, and low-ABV cocktails.
Pop-ups finally getting addresses
A distinct pattern this summer: cooks who have been feeding you at farmers markets and one-off dinners are converting into brick and mortar.
- Rize Up, best known for appearances at farmers markets and on restaurant menus, is opening a SoMa cafe serving coffee, toasts, and sandwiches on creative slices like ube or sesame-scallion.
- Esme, a French restaurant in NoPa from a co-founder of Pearl 6101, has landed in the old Ragazza space with its back patio intact. The seasonal menu includes pastas, galettes, and a rotating cheese dish.
- Semilla, familiar from the Outer Sunset Farmers Market, specializes in Northern Mexico-style burritos filled with shredded beef and eggs or chile verde pork.
There's also a Michelin-level shuffle worth tracking. After closing Michelin-starred Lord Stanley, Rupert and Carrie Blease partnered with Tommy Halvorson on Wolfsbane at 2495 Third St., a hyper-seasonal restaurant with Rupert cooking vegetable-forward dishes and Carrie running a sleek, industrial front of house. And JouJou, the seafood-centric French bistro at 65 Division St., has been called one of the most exciting openings of 2026 by Modern Luxury.
The map at a glance
| Opening | Neighborhood | Why it's on the list |
|---|---|---|
| Cinderella Bakery Mission | 24th Street, Mission | Seven years in the making, pirogi and rye until late |
| Stray Dog | Utah & 24th, Mission | Ritual coffee by day, pan-Asian cocktails by night |
| Mess Hall | Presidio Tunnel Tops | Real picnic supply for the park |
| Maria Isabel | Presidio Heights | Dalida team, Guerrero and Sinaloa flavors |
| Hayati | Ferry Building | Middle Eastern in the old Boulettes space |
| Bar Coto | Jackson Square | A16 team, low-ABV afternoon spot |
| Loveski Deli | Jackson Square | Napa bagels move downtown |
| Wolfsbane | Dogpatch, Third St. | Lord Stanley alumni, vegetable-forward |
| Esme | NoPa | French cooking, Ragazza's back patio |
| Rize Up | SoMa | Farmers market bakery goes daily |
Building a weekend around it
You don't need to hit all of them. A workable summer Saturday, if you're already in the city:
- Morning coffee and a bagel from Loveski, then a walk through Jackson Square while it's still quiet.
- Late-morning matcha or a phin drip at Binge Coffee in the Mission.
- Lunch at Cinderella once it opens, then a slow loop down 24th to see the Precita Eyes mural.
- Afternoon reset with cocktails at Stray Dog after 5 p.m., when the evening menu returns.
- Dinner at Esme in NoPa if you can get the back patio, Wolfsbane in Dogpatch if you want to eat off a tasting arc.
If you're building around the Presidio instead, wait for Mess Hall to open, then park once and treat the Tunnel Tops as your dining room.
What this list is really saying about the city
Cinderella's arrival after seven years and a change of tenant, Wolfsbane rising out of a closed Michelin address, farmers market cooks converting to storefronts, and a food hall finally anchoring the Presidio all point to the same thing: San Francisco's operators are still willing to sign leases, and they are concentrating them where foot traffic is already reliable. That's a useful signal for anyone thinking about the long-term shape of these neighborhoods, whether or not you're in the market for anything more permanent than dinner.
If you or someone you know is starting to think about that longer-term picture, whether staying in the city, trading up within it, or comparing what the same budget buys across the Bay and into the Central Valley, Jose Diaz is available in English or Spanish. Schedule a consultation.
