The Best Restaurant Openings in Northern California – June 2026

The Che Fico team clearly can't sit still. Less than a year after opening MICHELIN-recommended Via Aurelia, David Nayfeld and the Back Home Hospitality team have debuted Golden Rule, also in Mission Bay. Led by bar director Danielle Peters-Clossey, who joined Back Home Hospitality in 2024, the bar offers a robust cocktail menu divided into House Cocktails, Little Treats, and Spirit Free selections.

San Francisco's retro diner wave has reached the Inner Sunset, where "summer" fog and wind provide the perfect backdrop for rich, indulgent comfort food. Chef Daniel Bermudez's menu features meatloaf with mashed potatoes, smashburgers, and a Caesar salad topped with Dungeness crab, along with house-made "Uncrustables," a burger-stuffed grilled cheese, and other elevated diner fare.

Palestinian-Syrian chef Reem Assil first built her following at the original Reem's in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood before expanding to San Francisco. Now, after a series of closures, she's back in Oakland at Jack London Square with her signature man'oushe, dips, and cardamom lattes. Assil's fans will be pleased to learn that the new venture operates as a worker-owned co-op, a model that reflects the chef's long-standing commitment to worker ownership and community advocacy.

Los Angeles-based Innovative Dining Group, the team behind Sushi Roku and Katana, has arrived in Napa with BOA Steakhouse, the group's sixth location nationwide. Inside the newly rebuilt Casa Mani Resort Napa Valley, lush junglecore design sets the mood, and the menu features premium cuts, chilled shellfish, and the brand's signature tableside Caesar salad.

When the beloved queer bar Friends and Family closed at the end of 2025, many mourned its chic, dimly lit space and excellent cocktails, not to mention its outstanding, grown-up grilled cheese. This month, the space came back to life with a soft opening after former Friends and Family chef Alli Li took over and renamed it. The cocktails, with cheeky names like My Ex's Ex and Folded by Kehlani, are as good as ever, while the menu takes a sophisticated Asian-ish turn with dishes like Peking duck buns, japchae, and sweet corn sago.

Richmond District residents already know chef Susan Dunn from Pearl 6101, which she co-owns, and Pizzetta 211. For her first solo project, Dunn has ventured beyond the neighborhood, trading Italian influences for French ones. Like any neighborhood bistro, Esme is quaint and cozy, with a menu full of classics, including rillettes, steak frites, galettes, and a rotating cheese dish, plus a strawberry mascarpone bar that feels right at home on the menu.

West Portal, a sleepy neighborhood that got a major culinary boost in 2025, is back in the headlines with a new restaurant from the team behind one of San Francisco's most creative Thai restaurants, Khao Tiew. Given the Bay's newfound appetite for Thai breakfast dishes, as seen in the success of Tanzie's in Berkeley, it's no surprise this new restaurant centers brunch, serving honey walnut shrimp waffles, croissant pudding with duck confit, char siu-topped scrambled eggs, and other surprises.