The New Fillmore

By Thomas Reynolds

For the first time in almost four decades, Mrs. Dewson’s Hats at 2050 Fillmore Street wasn’t open in the days leading up to Easter, which is typically prime time for hat buyers.

A few days later a sign went up in the window telling the news: After 37 years, Mrs. Dewson’s Hats was closing. And on Sunday afternoon, April 29, the last hats were sold, the final goodbyes said and the doors closed on a prime piece of Fillmore history.

“It’s a sad day,” said Glenn Mitchell, nephew of owner Ruth Garland Dewson. “We’ve been fighting it off for a while.” Mitchell has been overseeing the shop since his aunt checked herself into an assisted living facility two years ago.

“I’ve been crying ever since I heard,” Ruth Dewson said the next day, sitting in a wheelchair in the top-floor lounge at AgeSong, her new home in Hayes Valley. “I’ve had a good time on Fillmore Street and I don’t want to give it up. Why should I die when all these other assholes are still alive?”
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The Turkish restaurant Troya opened in the space vacated by Citizen Cake.

Two new restaurants have opened in the neighborhood in recent weeks, and still more are in the works.

A Turkish restaurant, Troya, has taken over the prime space at 2125 Fillmore from Citizen Cake, which fell short of its great expectations and closed late last year — although star chef Elizabeth Falkner, now in New York, hasn’t forgotten the neighborhood. “Fillmore Street is magical and I will miss it the most,” she wrote in a recent note on her website. “I will be working on the Citizen Cake book over the next year, so look for it in 2013.”

The owners of Troya, Berk Kinalilar and Brigitte Cullen — who also operate the original Troya restaurant at Clement and Fifth Avenue — are now serving their signature Turkish cuisine in the new Fillmore spot. Their gentle renovation of the space has judiciously warmed the surroundings while retaining some details from the beloved former occupant Vivande, including the red brick wall on the north side of the room, now enlivened by a space-expanding strip of mirrors.

The menu includes meze, kebabs and a few larger plates, plus flatbreads ­— “the soul of Turkish cuisine,” according to the owners — prepared onsite by Turkish baker Behiye Golgeci.

Pa'ina brings Hawaiian food and music to 1865 Post Street.

Down the street, Pa’ina, which means “gathering” in Hawaiian, is now open in a re-imagined space at 1865 Post Street, serving up Asian fusion and Hawaiian cuisine. With a menu heavy on appetizers and small plates and a hearty listing of signature cocktails, the eatery caters to those snacking before and after films at the Sundance Kabuki cinemas next store. It also aims for the lounge crowd, with a center stage featuring live reggae and Hawaiian music.

Farther south in the jazz district, Mayor Ed Lee visited on April 23 to promise continuing city support for the district and announce the impending arrival of four more dining options.

Hapa Ramen, a food truck hailed for producing unique pork, chicken and vegetarian noodle bowls using locally sourced, organic ingredients, will make a permanent home at 1527 Fillmore at the end of May.

Also in May, Prime Dip will open at 1515 Fillmore, offering hot au jus dippings for sandwiches stuffed with prime rib, lobster, chicken and other offerings. Prime Dip opened its first location on Larkin Street in the Tenderloin last year.

Later in the year, the owners of the wildly popular State Bird Provisions at 1529 Fillmore are slated to open a second location called Progress a couple of doors south. And the owners of the casual eatery Fat Angel, at 1740 O’Farrell, have announced plans to open a second site, to be called City Grange, before year’s end.

Read more: “Pa’ina means party“

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Defining a place: handpainted lettering on the facade of Roostertail at 1963 Sutter.

DESIGN | Chris Barnett

San Francisco graphic designer Christopher Simmons has a long list of powerhouse clients including Facebook, Microsoft, Wells Fargo Bank, Stanford, Kaiser Permanente and the Nature Conservancy. So why in an uncertain economy would he take a flyer on two Fillmore startups that sell Vietnamese sandwiches and rotisserie chickens?

For Simmons, owner of the design firm MINE, it was a matter of pride — and guilt.

“I got an e-mail from Denise Tran, who was planning to open Bun Mee, a small restaurant specializing in casual yet upscale Vietnamese street food, but I didn’t respond for six or seven days,” Simmons admits. When he did call, Tran told him she had decided to go with a New York City creative house.

Simmons, a soft-spoken 39-year-old who favors vintage tennis shoes and wears only scruffy duds made before 1970, says he “always wanted to do a restaurant.” He had a good feeling about Tran and her concept and offered to do a full-blown proposal anyway in two days.

Tran recalls it somewhat differently. “I had committed to the other firm, but Christopher called and persuaded me to reconsider. His pitch was so much stronger that I hired him instead.”
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CRIME WATCH

“We wrapped up our one beer at Balboa and walked out to try and grab a cab,” restaurateur Matthew Meidinger tells Eater. “While standing there a woman (who I understand to have also just left Balboa) bent down to take off her black Louboutins and put on flip flops for the trip home. As she was doing this (in the middle of a very busy sidewalk) a man passing by accidentally kicked one of her shoes. Not down the street or anything, just bumped it with his own shoe. She started yelling at him and as he turned around to apologize with his hands already up in the air, this good sized man with her punched him!”

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The Ellinwood House at 2799 Pacific Avenue — sitting prominently on the corner of Divisadero Street — is back on the market for an asking price of $12.5 million. The house underwent a $10 million renovation a decade ago, but was repossessed last year. Curbed reports on the multi-generational drama of the house, which was originally on the dividing line between San Francisco and the Presidio.

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The first parklet in the neighborhood — in front of Delfina Pizzeria at 2410 California Street near Fillmore — is now accepting visitors. It’s a new public space that offers a spot to pause in the sunshine.

EARLIER: “Parklet sprouting on California Street“

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The Tallman Hotel and the Blue Wing Saloon on Main Street in Upper Lake, California

GETAWAYS | Caroline Wampole

Longtime neighborhood resident Lynne Butcher was on a visit to Upper Lake in June 2003 when she saw a “for sale” sign on the historic Tallman Hotel. She had just sold her equipment leasing business and was looking for a new project.

“The ‘for sale’ sign had been there for 41 years,” she says.

But the Tallman’s days were numbered. The county had just red-tagged the 1880s building and it was slated for demolition. In fact, the local fire department wanted to use it as a training ground for a controlled burn.

“We must have been the 500th person in 40 years to look at the property,” says her husband, Bernie Butcher, laughing and shaking his head. “But if you wait long enough, the greater fool will arrive.”

Most people would not consider a plunge into the hotel and restaurant business a relaxing way to spend their retirement years. But then Lynne and Bernie Butcher have always had a sense of adventure.

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For a few days each week, a limited number of people can now share dinner and a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most beloved spots in the neighborhood.

For the fixed price of $20, Boulangerie Bay Bread at 2325 Pine Street has begun offering a traditional French table d’hote. The evening’s entree is served with roasted potatoes or vegetables, a salad, bread still warm from the oven and a slice of fruit tart. Diners are encouraged to bring their own wine; there’s no corkage fee.

Ever-genial counterman Rudy Guglielmo welcomes guests into the space between the display cases and the ovens, which is transformed into a cozy dining area with wood plank tables preset with French dining essentials: ample pots of butter, cornichons, mustard and sea salt. French President Nicolas Sarkozy looks on approvingly from a framed portrait on the wall. Diners are treated to the sights, sounds and smells of the bakery’s inner workings, with heaps of fresh-baked macarons bustled in to restock for the morning rush.

On a rainy Saturday night, the warmth of the ovens was especially inviting. The featured entree was braised beef short ribs, served in generous portions. Entrees for other nights include roast chicken, lamb confit and roast pork loin.

Seating is limited to 20, first come first served, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

[Show as slideshow]

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ORNITHOLOGY | Monte Travis

From my ninth floor office near Lafayette Park, I’ve been watching a pair of red-tailed hawks engage in aerial courtship flights since early this year.

In late March I saw the hawks carrying sticks to a large nest high in a eucalyptus tree in the park, undertaking a little remodeling. A few days later, I observed one of the hawks poking its head above the rim of the nest. This suggested at least one egg and probably more had been laid in the nest. If all goes well, we should have chicks in about a month.

As I was photographing the female hawk on the nest, I was alerted by the screams of about 20 red-masked parakeets — the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill — who suddenly bolted into the air from the treetops directly overhead. I looked up, and there came the male redtail swooping in from the west. When the male arrived at the nest, the female, who is larger, rose up, and for a short time both stood on the nest (above). Then the female took off and the male settled in for his shift.  

Redtails are monogamous and generally mate for life. But later that same day, I witnessed a mystery: three adult birds on the nest (below). For 45 minutes, all three alternately flew to and from the nest. A menage a trois, perhaps? Or maybe redtails, like certain other species, sometimes employ one of their young from the prior year as a helper. This will bear watching in the coming days.

It’s a domestic ornithological mystery. But it seems appropriate for San Francisco: an alternative avian family.

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A service under the pagoda in Japantown commemorated the anniversary of the earthquake.

On March 11 — the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan last year — a commemorative community event called “Our Hearts to Japan” will be held at the Peace Plaza at Post and Buchanan Streets in Japantown.

The event caps a year of local activities that have raised more than $4 million to aid the victims of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown that followed. More than 20,000 people were killed and thousands more were left injured and homeless.

“The event is a way to memorialize those who have died and to honor the survivors, many of whom still need our help in rebuilding their lives,” said Dianne Fukami, president of the board of directors of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. “When I was in Tohoku last month, I witnessed the spirit and determination of the people, but I also realized how huge their losses are and how great the need continues to be.”

An extensive program of events will be held in Japantown on March 11. “Our Hearts to Japan” will begin at 2 p.m., and those attending will observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. — precisely the time the disaster struck Japan.

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