On Friday, Dec. 4, Polk Street's Holiday Sip & Stroll runs from 4 to 8 p.m. between California Street and Broadway, with tastings, shopping deals and holiday entertainment along the way. The route ends at Broadway. The corner there holds the former Lord Stanley space, which is becoming a martini bar with a takeout window facing Broadway. A little farther north, a new bakery and a neighborhood grocery face each other across Polk at 2139 and 2140.
The event's official boundary is Broadway, and Upper Polk's most anticipated openings are at Broadway and just north of it. For anyone who lives on Russian Hill, the walk home from this year's Sip & Stroll passes the stretch where the newest places are.
The route stops at Broadway, and the new openings start there
Discover Polk, the nonprofit community benefit district that lists the event, calls the Sip & Stroll a holiday tradition and draws its footprint from California Street to Broadway. Most of that footprint is south of Russian Hill's commercial heart. In late 2026, the places getting the most attention are clustered at the route's northern end and past it:
- 2065 Polk St., Jupiter Room, in the former Lord Stanley space at Broadway, with a projected late-November opening
- 2139 Polk St., Lorella, a bakery from Melissa Perello and Melissa Loar, set to open in late November
- 2140 Polk St., Bi-Rite Market, across the street from Lorella, open since August 2024
- 2360 Polk St., Handroll Hawker, an Australian-style handroll restaurant
Two of the four are scheduled to open in the weeks just before Dec. 4. This holiday season, Upper Polk's dining news is centered on the blocks just north of Broadway.
A corner built for the hour after the tastings
Jupiter Room's plan seems made for the end of an evening out. The San Francisco Chronicle's listing of 2026's most anticipated openings describes it as a return to San Francisco for chef-owner Peter Hemsley and bar director Trevin Hutchins, who ran the acclaimed seafood restaurant Aphotic. Deirdre Balao Rieutort-Louis, named Best Pastry Chef in the Chronicle's Top 100 Restaurants, is head chef and pastry chef. The Chronicle reports her plan as nostalgic, elaborate riffs on 1950s bar food and desserts, including a reimagined pineapple upside-down cake.
According to Hutchins, martinis will lead the cocktail list, alongside riffs on classic drinks and nonalcoholic options. An earlier San Francisco Standard report described the bar as aimed at late nights, with elevated comfort food such as burgers and shrimp cocktail.
The Broadway-facing takeout window is the detail that ties the bar to the street. The Sip & Stroll officially ends at Broadway at 8 p.m., and that window sits right on the cross street where the route stops. The Chronicle projects a late-November opening. Updates go out through the Jupiter Room site, which asks visitors to sign up for opening details.
Two storefronts facing each other at 2139 and 2140
The second anchor of this northern stretch is a pairing across the street. The bakery coming to the west side of the block lines up with the market that has been on the east side for two years.
Bi-Rite Market opened at 2140 Polk St. on Aug. 29, 2024, Eater San Francisco reported at the time. The 4,000-square-foot store carries locally sourced produce, prepared foods, made-to-order sandwiches, a full-service fish counter, prepackaged meat, cheese and charcuterie, plus Bi-Rite Creamery ice cream. In Bi-Rite's own account of the opening, owner Sam Mogannam said the site held "a special place in my heart." He had lived nearby and shopped at Real Food, the store that used to be there, and he praised the corridor's independence.
Lorella will open directly across from it. The San Francisco Standard's November preview lists the bakery from Melissa Perello and pastry chef Melissa Loar for late November at 2139 Polk St. It's a brick-and-mortar spinoff of their Satur-bakes pop-ups. The Standard says the counter will carry country levain loaves, savory tomato-basil croissants and masa milk buns filled with elote-style street corn.
The second floor is the unusual part. Lorella will have an upstairs space where children can play, which The Standard ties to the owners' own experience as parents of toddlers. Later plans include ice cream, whole cakes and a rotating pizza bianca. The Standard's example is topped with Zuckerman potatoes, caramelized leeks, house-made crème fraîche and rosemary.
The Standard also places Lorella in context. Polk Street already has Juniper, known for some of the city's best croissants, and Lorella adds a second bakery to the corridor. Together with the grocery across the street, the result is a short block where bread, prepared food, fish and ice cream can all be bought within a few steps. Holiday tables are exactly what The Standard had in mind when it noted that several of the year's most anticipated openings are arriving in November, "just in time to put crusty loaves of sourdough on holiday tables." Opening details are posted at lorellasf.com.
Farther north, toward Union
The northward pull doesn't stop at the 2100 block. At 2360 Polk St. is Handroll Hawker, built around portable, Australian-style handrolls. The San Francisco Standard reported its opening date as Tuesday, Sept. 29. Owner Romi Trower told the Standard, "I just missed this food so dearly."
A handroll is food you eat with your hands, on the way somewhere, and that suits a street people walk end to end. From the Broadway corner, a walk north on Polk now goes from a martini bar with a takeout window, past a bakery and grocery facing each other, to a handroll counter near Union. Every one of these addresses sits past the official Sip & Stroll boundary.
Planning the evening of Friday, Dec. 4
Ticket pricing has a deadline that lands on this post's publish date. The event's ticket form, linked from the official event site, lists the early-bird tasting ticket at $30 through Nov. 12. From Nov. 13 to Dec. 4 it costs $40, a $10 increase starting tomorrow. The ticket covers admission to the Dec. 4 event and tastings at participating businesses. The event site also advertises free, family-friendly entertainment and shopping discounts.
Since the route runs from south to north, the evening sets itself up as a walk toward Russian Hill:
- Start at California Street around 4 p.m. The tastings and shopping deals cover the full stretch of Polk to Broadway.
- Work north block by block. The free entertainment and discounts don't require a tasting ticket, so a family can walk the route on the same terms as everyone else.
- Reach Broadway as the event winds down at 8 p.m. This corner is home to Jupiter Room at 2065 Polk, with its Broadway-facing window.
- Continue past the route's end. Bi-Rite Market at 2140 Polk and Lorella at 2139 Polk sit just north, and Handroll Hawker is farther up at 2360 Polk.
Both Jupiter Room and Lorella are scheduled for late November, which puts their openings in the final week or two before the Sip & Stroll. Check each one's site before Dec. 4 for opening hours.
Every campaign we run starts with knowing which block a buyer will actually walk, and on Upper Polk this winter, that block is just north of Broadway. If you own a home near this stretch of Polk and want to understand how the street's newest openings fit into the story of your property, the Ardila Costello Team would be glad to talk it through. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.