Sara Deseran

Nombe serves up traditional izakaya food in the Mission.

Three people with one thing in common—a love for Japanese food—meet through the Small Business Association and decide to go in on a restaurant concept together. They take over a funky space—a former taqueria on Mission Street, that was a 50s diner before that—complete with a huge arched mirror and black-and-white checked floors; change little; insert an izakaya restaurant; tack a banner out front advertising the name Nombe (which translates from Japanese to something to the effect of “boozer”) and open the doors until 2 am on weekends.

The Plant Cafe Organic offers waterfront views

Kris Tamburello

I'm a person that never feels like they can get enough of summer. Knowing that the season is fleeting makes me greedily eat as many peaches as possible. The same goes with the Indian summer in SF; I have this urge to dine outside every minute I can—all the while, looking, in a slight panic, towards the horizon to see if I can see the fog threatening to spill over. I feel it's important not to waste a moment of blue sky. (Except when you're at your desk writing a blog.)

Saison's chef Joshua Skenes prepping in the kitchen

In the ongoing trend of chefs thinking outside the box, Saison—a Sunday night “restaurant” put on by Kris Esqueda, former Michael Mina sommelier Mark Bright and chef Joshua Skenes—has been luring diners from all over the city to a urban-cool space tucked behind the Stable Café in the Mission District.