El Lopo

Thank you to everyone who made our second anniversary feel like the first anniversary we never got to have. Thank you to everyone who kept us alive for anither full year after the odds started to look impossible. And congratulations to our Lopie Award winners! We're so excited to be embarking on year three with you.

In the two years we've been open, Hannah has celebrated two of her birthdays at El Lopo. Aside from the 50-or-so friends she's introduced to us, she's led a spectacularly effective campaign to get herself votes for this award. What more could we ask for in a cheerleader?

If you visit us more than once a month, our newly launched take-care-of-me club was made for you. It's essentially a subscription to El Lopo. You pay into a monthly house account and then when we see you, we just start bringing you stuff we know you'll like. No menus, no bills... just show up, drink, eat, and leave. Maybe say bye and thanks on your way out. There are some really fun membership perks we'd love to tell you more about, but this is a social media post and chances... are you've already stopped reading. For now, get more details and sign up through our friends @thethirdplace.is or thethirdplace.is/el-lopo

Last day to nominate someone for a Lopie award! (Link in bio.) When Kara and Caroline show up, we don't even ask what they're in the mood for. It's a bottle of Animus vinho verde and two glasses. If it's not a school night, there's probably a second bottle or at least a porrón of the same to follow. And if the wooden hightop table by the window is available, we don't even ask where they want to sit.... Full disclosure: there was one time that Kara ordered a beer.

nominee for best bar dog: Mutton Lopie award nominations are only open for 3 more days!

It took us about 10 minutes of brunch service to realize we need a house hot sauce to go with them eggs. This batch should be done fermenting in another ten days!

Help us welcome Batter Bakery to Lower Polk Plaza! Now that the Plaza is open at 11am on weekends, the hours overlap with a few more restaurants in the area. You can now order from @batter along with @veganpicnicsf and @benthaicafe during lunch hours while seated in the Plaza.

It's brunch o'clock! We know you had a late one last night so take your time... brunch menu is on until 4 today.

Making its debut for brunch this Saturday and Sunday... fresh chorizo, piquillo peppers, and mahón cheese with olive spread on @janethebakery baguette. It's not going on the nighttime menu so you're just going to have to put on some sunglasses and shuffle over here before 3pm this weekend.

Still keeping that "don't" part lit for now. We appreciate that San Francisco has been more cautious than the state is requiring, and we're following their example now by being more cautious than the city is requiring. We are super excited to have you back inside when the time is right, and we're already brainstorming some fun ways to make it work. This is not to knock other businesses who are choosing to resume indoor dining at this time, nor is it to dissuade you from patronizing those places. We realize we've been very fortunate to have outdoor seating as a viable option, and many of our peers don't have the luxury of choosing not to reopen their dining rooms now. Pay them a visit and help them recoup some of the hefty costs they've sunk into making their dining rooms safe!

Alright, we're done testing! We did a little practice run of the brunch menu last Saturday, and after valuable input from some guinea pigs (@sunelaine @pelufiasco @lukexpb @cindikeen), we're ready to make things official. El Lopo is henceforth open for brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 3:30! Reservations are available now through our website.

Doing some R&D for brunch... This saffron rice porridge with shrimp, chorizo, and a soft-cooked egg will make its debut on Saturday, 9/26 when we soft-launch our brunch service!

Not as good as good, but way better than hazardous... we officially have an AQI in the moderate zone! To commemorate the occasion, we're whipping up a batch of moderately drinkable sangria that is at least guaranteed not to kill anyone.

We've got a limited number of tables outside (no Plaza setup today due to the air quality), and are also offering a menu of food and beverages to go! Check our online menu for the full list of options and give us a call to order. You can also order all Lopería products delivered to any address in SF - just place your order through the Lopería tab on our site.

That feeling when you're trying to hold three tables' entire orders in your head and two tables' glassware in your hands so you're hoping nobody talks to you before you at least get a chance to punch in the food orders but then the guy at C2 asks you for a spoon and you smile and say "absolutely" but think 'why the fuck does he need a spoon for olives' while you go ALL THE WAY INSIDE to get one spoon for one person and avoid eye contact with 15 others who need 15 other things... and then the kitchen says all the spoons are dirty right now so you try to wash one by hand and the dish soap is almost out so you go to the back to get more and then you see someone waiting for the bathroom and you ask how she's doing and she says she just arrived for a reservation and you look up her name and find that you were planning to seat her at C2 where that guy who eats olives with a spoon is somehow already seated so you pick another table at random and tell the reservation that you're just about to clear off her table and then you go to find the sanitizer bucket and there's not enough sanitizer left so you have to open a whole new jug of bleach while being careful not to get any on your hands because you've already gotten so much bleach on your hands that they're bright red and sore and you reminisce about the before times when bleach was only for mopping the floor and it was okay to touch humans and it was legal to serve indoors and people actually smiled, and you think about those beautiful smiles you used to see all the time on all of your regulars' faces and then you realize that all of those regulars are actually here right now and they're actually still smiling behind their masks despite having gone through just as much crazy shit as you and they're super excited to be served by you again after six months and they are the whole reason you're motivated to work this hard right now and they are the whole reason that you can still afford to be here serving anyone right now, so you suck it up and let the bleach get on your hands because you love everyone and you really do want to get them exactly what they wanted how they wanted it, even if they want to eat olives with a spoon. See more

It's the perfect day to debut a new txakoli by the glass - this one from @tantakawines is super crisp, just a little effervescent, and awesome with raw seafood.

So many thanks due from last night, but above all we are grateful that nobody ordered this 100-year-old sherry so that we could have the best staff meal of all time: Grilled wings, eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes from @grubstakesf paired with @bodegasfernandodecastilla Singular Oloroso at 3am. Only three barrels of the sherry were ever released, so it's safe to say that #lowerpolkplaza is the only place on earth where you can enjoy this unique combination. Also, sorry we probably forgot something you ordered. Still getting used to being busy again.

Attentive lopo fans may notice we've already posted this photo once, but it's so much more appropriate now. It is no exaggeration to say that we would not be reopening today without overwhelming support from our diehard regulars. Our sales this April were a whopping 6% of our sales from February, while our costs were still at about 70%. These porrónes were effectively war bonds for us - loans from the public that we'd like to pay back now. The program raised almost two full m...onths of operating expenses, and in an industry that is all about cash flow, that alone was the reason we're able to come back today. Whether you ordered a porron, bought a gift card, sent us thoughtful emails, or went out of your way to get a bottle of wine and some tomatoes from us instead of a supermarket, we're celebrating you tonight. If you're not tagged above, it's either because A) we couldn't find you on Instagram, or B) because we know you were intrinsically motivated to help us out and don't need the public pat on the back.