It may have been a short week, work-wise, but the food scene didn't slow down. This week marked the opening of a new Tacolicious, a brand new bar in Hayes Valley, and a new bakery in the Marina.
First up we have the brand new Le Marais Bakery, at Chestnut and Steiner in the Marina. They're selling a variety of house-baked breads and baguettes by baker Justin Brown who trained, in part, at Roberta's in Brooklyn, as well as pastry and viennoiserie (i.e. croissants) by pastry chef Phil Ogiela. Also: sandwiches, and Stumptown coffee. [Eater]
Wednesday marked the opening of the city's third Tacolicious location at 1548 Stockton Street (at Union). You can expect a menu that's pretty much the same as at the other two, the same high metal stools, and more art on the walls by local artist Paul Madonna. [Thrillist, Urban Daddy]
Thursday, July 4, was opening day for Brass Tacks, the new non-gay bar that replaces longtime drag/gay bar Marlena's in Hayes Valley. Owners Anthony Healy-London and Matt Conway talked to Hayeswire about their plans for the neighborhood bar, which is reclaimed-wood-paneled now with a bare wood floor, and which boasts one of only a few full liquor licenses in the neighborhood. [Hayeswire]
In case you hadn't heard, there was a chef shuffle in the past few months at the huge Amber India spinoff in the Mission, Amber Dhara. They brought in a well-regarded chef from Washington D.C. restaurant Rasika, Manish Tyagi, to revamp the menu, and now Rasika's owners are suing Tyagi for breach of contract for defecting to SF. [Inside Scoop]
This week Michael Bauer reviewed 1601 Bar & Kitchen, which we previewed in the June issue of 7x7, giving it 2.5 stars and saying on the blog that "if it evolves as expected, it should soon be worthy of 3." He especially loves the traditional egg hopper, and chef Brian Fernando's soups, like his refined green garlic soup, and the Marcona almond soup with chile powder and apricot. [Chron]