By Su Yardimci

On most evenings, Irving Street settles into a familiar rhythm. Parents stop into the produce markets on their walk home, students cluster outside boba shops and the N-Judah empties another round of riders onto the sidewalk.

In recent months, residents may have noticed a new addition among these storefronts: Grégoire, the Berkeley-based French takeout restaurant, has opened its first San Francisco location in the Sunset District on Irving Street and Ninth Avenue.

Grégoire first opened in Berkeley in 2002, building a loyal following around its rotating menu of prepared French dishes.

Unlike traditional restaurants built around reservations and dining rooms, Grégoire operates with a quieter kind of presence. Customers step inside, read the day’s menu and leave with dinner in hand. The format allows the restaurant to exist not as an occasion, but as part of everyday life. That distinction feels especially meaningful in the Sunset, where restaurants often become part of residents’ routines over time.

Irving Street has long served as a center of neighborhood life, connecting the surrounding residential blocks to the businesses that sustain them. For decades, its storefronts have reflected the needs of the people who live here: bakeries that open before sunrise, markets that close late into the evening and restaurants that residents return to again and again.

Grégoire’s rotating menu changes with the seasons, encouraging regular visits and reinforcing the sense of familiarity that defines neighborhood restaurants. There is no urgency to the experience, no pressure to linger.

Grégoire’s menu is shaped by seasonal ingredients and traditional French technique, but one item has defined the restaurant since its earliest days: the potato puffs. The small, golden spheres sit behind the counter in neat rows, crisp on the outside and soft at the center. They have become a signature, drawing customers who stop in specifically for them, often adding an order alongside whatever else the day’s menu offers. Surrounding them is a changing selection of vegetable gratins, roasted meats and composed seasonal dishes.

A small number of seats line the interior of the restaurant, offering a place to pause, but the restaurant is designed around movement – serving food that becomes part of the walk back through the neighborhood.

As the Sunset continues to grow, Irving Street remains its anchor, shaped by both continuity and change. Grégoire joins that ongoing story, becoming part of the daily movement of the neighborhood – a place residents will come to recognize as their own.

Grégoire is located at 1300 Ninth Ave. at Irving Street and is open Sunday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find more information at gregoirerestaurant.com.

Su Yardimci is a San Francisco enthusiast who has turned her childhood dream into reality. After moving to the Bay Area for college, she has been sharing her love for the City through film photography and neighborhood guides.