Openings

First Look at The Corner Store, Now Open

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Just open this week in the former Hukilau space at Geary and Masonic is The Corner Store, a new venture from business partners Miles Palliser and Ezra Berman, both formerly of 330 Ritch. We broke news of it back in May, and the concept is a neighborhood bar with slightly dressed up American fare. In keeping with the corner-store theme, they’ve got a retail component as well, with jarred pickles and soda for sale, as well as beer and wine for takeout. The menu, from former Salt House and Town Hall guy Nick Adams, seems simple enough, but the food is already looking pretty put together — but then again this is San Francisco, and even our little neighborhood restaurants need to be magazine-shoot ready barely one week in and serve well plated farmers’ market salads and a perfect roast chicken.

Also, there’s a soda fountain aspect, with a bevy of non-alcoholic options, as well as a bar program from Hans Hinrichs, formerly of 25 Lusk and Foreign Cinema. He’s doing soda fountain-inspired boozy drinks, like the 50/50 (spiced rum, orange marmalade, vanilla ice cream), as well as twists on classic cocktails like the Pickled Paloma (tequila, lime, salt, pickle brine, and house grapefruit soda). See the full drink list here.

As Palliser says, the whole idea was to give a classic American, corner-store feel to the place, and already in its first week the borderland neighborhood between NoPa, USF, Laurel Heights, and the Inner Richmond is already responding. He says the restaurant is meant to recall “simpler times… where the patio can serve as front porch to the many neighborhoods that intersect at the corner of Geary and Masonic.”

Check out our slideshow from a bustling opening-week evening.

The Corner Store - 5 Masonic Avenue at Geary - 415-359-1800 - Open Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., with dinner served from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, brunch is served 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner from 6 p.m. on, ending at 9:30 on Sunday


Earlier: Regarding the Corner Store, Opening Shortly

A retail component adds to the “corner store” concept, with jarred goods as well as beer and soda for sale.
with endive, candied pistachios, honey vinaigrette, and Greek yogurt.
A roasted Mary’s half chicken with caramelized lemon and sweet onion, summer vegetables, and mustard-white wine jus.
First Look at The Corner Store, Now Open