Polk Street's Fall Calendar: What's Opening Between Lower Polk Live and the Holiday Sip & Stroll

From Bush up to Broadway, Polk Street can feel like one long strip of storefronts. Its calendar is planned by two separate groups. The Lower Polk Community Benefit District runs events at the south end. Discover Polk runs events farther north. This fall, the new restaurants are arriving at the north end, while the free street events are happening at the south end.

Here is the same stretch of street, walked from Lower Polk up to Russian Hill, with dates for each stop.

Lower Polk: free events and a coffee shop that started at a farmers market

The first big date is Friday, October 23. The Lower Polk Community Benefit District is putting on the 2nd Annual Lower Polk Live! from 4 to 9 p.m. on Polk between Bush and Sutter, according to its Eventbrite listing. It's free, open to all ages, and pets are welcome. The lineup includes the band Top Chefs, JP Breganza and Kendo the DJ. Skratchfight is running turntables that anyone can try, even if they've never touched one. Westside Steppaz is leading soul line dancing and stepping, with no experience needed.

A few blocks away, Le Mil's Coffee opened at 1330 Polk on August 15, 2026, according to the shop's own site. It's an Indian coffee shop that grew out of a pop-up at a Newark farmers market. Eater SF reported that Anand Upender of York Street Collective developed its drinks. Opening a permanent shop after a farmers-market following is a path that comes up again on Polk this fall.

Lower Polk's next newcomer isn't expected until next year. At the corner of Polk and Post, Anthony Niboli and Ronald Rodriguez are building Innerbloom at 1101 Polk. It will sell flowers and also serve wine and small plates. Hoodline reported in September that the opening has moved to early 2027. Citing the San Francisco Chronicle, the same report said the storefront has gone through at least five businesses in 15 years. Earlier tenants included Eleven O One, which ran there for a decade. Niboli organized CabFest, an annual San Francisco wine festival, so the wine list will lean Californian. The owners also want a mural, wall space for neighborhood artists, weekend DJs, and a parklet for live music on Polk once they have permits.

Polk Gulch: the diner that already opened

At 1601 Polk in Polk Gulch is Goldenette, the oldest opening on this list. Chronicle restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez called it San Francisco's best new diner in a March 10, 2026 review, about a month after it opened in February. Building owner Eddie Naser runs it with chef Wes Rowe, who previously ran WesBurger n' More. The space used to be a Toast location.

Breakfast is served all day. As of that March review, the Goldenette Melt cost $21. It has two beef patties, Point Reyes toma, caramelized onions and Russian dressing on rye, with fries, tots or a side salad included. Hernandez ranked it the second-best patty melt in the Bay Area. Rowe makes his banana milkshake from banana-infused milk spiced like banana bread.

Another business is planned up the street. The Chronicle reported in August that permits show plans for a Freedom Coffee café at 1850 Polk, in a space that used to be a Pilates gym. No opening date has been announced.

Russian Hill: three openings from experienced restaurant teams

The north end of Polk is getting the newest openings, and two of them come from teams that already run well-known restaurants.

Handroll Hawker opened at 2360 Polk on Tuesday, September 29. It's open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Owner Romi Trower is a filmmaker from Australia, and she opened it after two years of work. She told Eater SF that uncut hand rolls are an everyday food back home:

"It's as common as getting a sandwich or a salad for lunch."

The menu has nine rolls. Eater describes the Australian version as made ahead and kept in a chilled pastry-style case, so the rolls hold together for eating on the go. At Handroll Hawker, each roll uses a whole slice of fish rather than chopped fish. Options include crispy chicken, shrimp tempura, spicy salmon or tuna with yuzu mayo, two vegan rolls, and a cooked tuna roll Trower calls "the Australian classic." Chef Tai Trinh came from the omakase restaurant Robin. David Steele of Flour + Water Hospitality Group consulted on the project. The shop is set up mainly for takeout, with only a few tables. The pink-and-teal room has artwork by Serge Gay Jr.

Lorella, a bakery from the Octavia team, is coming to 2139 Polk. Octavia chef-owner Melissa Perello and pastry chef Melissa Loar began selling pastries on weekends from a side door of the restaurant in 2024, under the name Saturbakes. The Chronicle's list of upcoming openings, last updated October 6, says Lorella will sell seasonal breads such as focaccia, chocolate croissants filled with coffee ganache, and pizzas that rotate between Detroit style, flatbreads and pizza bianca. Loar hopes to add whole cakes and a weekend ice cream cart later on. The projected opening is November.

Jupiter Room is moving into the former Lord Stanley space at 2065 Polk. Peter Hemsley and Trevin Hutchins, who were chef-owner and bar director at Aphotic, are behind it. Deirdre Balao Rieutort-Louis will be head chef and pastry chef. The Chronicle honored her as Best Pastry Chef in its Top 100 Restaurants for her desserts at Aphotic and Dalida. The plan is playful takes on 1950s bar food and desserts, such as a reworked pineapple upside-down cake. Martinis will be the focus of the cocktail list, and there will be non-alcoholic drinks too. A takeout window will face Broadway. The Chronicle's October 6 update projects a late-November opening.

Both of those November dates are projections. The Chronicle's own list says it is updated as "existing projects are inevitably delayed."

The first weekend of December, at both ends

Both merchant groups have events on December 4 and 5, back to back.

On Friday, December 4, from 4 to 8 p.m., Discover Polk holds its Holiday Sip & Stroll on Polk between California and Broadway. It offers tastings, shopping deals and holiday entertainment. Broadway is the north edge of the event, and that's where Jupiter Room's takeout window will be. If it opens on schedule, it will have been open for about a week by then.

On Saturday, December 5, from noon to 4 p.m., the Fern Alley Music Series Holiday Market fills Fern Alley in Lower Polk with local artists, small businesses, live music and photos with Santa. Dogs are welcome.

Lorella and Le Mil's both began as pop-ups, one at Octavia's side door and one at a Newark farmers market. Handroll Hawker took its owner two years to build. Innerbloom's owners are taking on a corner that has turned over many times. Most of what's opening on Polk this year comes from people opening their first permanent shop.

If any of these blocks are on your mind for reasons beyond dinner, Chris A. Sabido is glad to talk through what's changing on Polk and the neighborhoods around it. Book an appointment whenever it suits you.