When Ironside opened in San Francisco’s SOMA district, it attracted attention from a mix of newspapers, city magazines and food sites. The archive lists about ten outlets and one official announcement. Here is a summary of what they focused on.
Who covered it
Coverage came from San Francisco Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, Chowhound, 7×7, Daily Candy, Thrillist, SFoodie and UrbanDaddy. The restaurant also issued its own press release in September 2009.
Recurring themes
The neighborhood fit. Several writers described Ironside as a welcome casual option for SOMA, a part of town that some felt lacked a community eatery. One national newspaper tied the place to the area’s industrial-chic character.
An eclectic, affordable menu. Reporters noted a menu with something for everyone, pitched at reasonable prices and not taking itself too seriously.
Signature dishes. The pressed Cubano sandwich was singled out by a city magazine as a sandwich worth queuing for, and a food forum praised the maple bacon breakfast bun.
The building. The historic bi-level loft, once a shipbuilding machine shop, drew mentions as an urban-industrial setting.
Lines at the door. One blog reported that on opening day for breakfast and lunch a queue ran from the counter to the pavement by lunchtime.
Connection to District. Commentators noted that Ironside was a spin-off of the team behind District.
A note on sources
These summaries paraphrase headlines and excerpts from the archive and have not been rechecked against the original articles. For the full story of the opening, see the launch announcement and the home page.