What’s new in San Francisco

Miniature golf and alcohol, together at last. New lights on the Ferry Building. Fire pits and picnickers on the Presidio’s parade lawn. Screaming scarlet walls on Nob Hill. A clamorous neo-Hawaiian feast on Sutter Street and a muted neo-Mexican repast in the Mission District. These things are happening in San Francisco. Here's the lowdown.

Presidio

The Presidio, which covers 1,491 acres that begin at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, has experienced several upgrades since the National Park Service took over the historic property from the Army in 1994. In an April-through-October custom that began in 2014, the Presidio’s grassy parade ground comes alive from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays with Twilight at the Presidio, when hundreds of picnickers queue up at food trucks and a pop-up bar, huddle near cabanas and temporary fire pits and listen to live music. Cost of a fire pit with eight chairs for the night: $150. Or you could wear a parka and flop on the grass. And if you arrive on a PresidiGo bus from the Embarcadero area, the ride is free. If Thursday doesn't work, there's Picnic at the Presidio every Sunday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

While you're in the Presidio, have a look at the old Officers' Club, which reopened in October after renovation. The historic building features museum-quality exhibits on the site's history, especially the Spanish colonial years of the late 18th century. Consider a stay at the Inn at the Presidio (another historic building, reopened as a hotel in 2012). Grab a bite at Arguello (at the club) or the Commissary (a short stroll), both opened in the last year. As you're prowling the territory, keep an eye out for the sly, nature-based works of artist Andy Goldsworthy, who has made four site-specific pieces in the Presidio since 2008.

Details: www.nps.gov/prsf, www.presidio.gov.

Hotels

The Scarlet Huntington, 1075 California St., better known as the Huntington Hotel until a change of ownership and name in 2014, has long been a Nob Hill lodging with great snob appeal. Grace Cathedral looms across the street, and the hotel’s restaurant, the Big 4, pays homage to the 19th century railroad titans who built their mansions atop Nob Hill. Now you'll see a splash of, yes, scarlet on this hotel's lobby walls and couches, and a whole rainbow of colors on pillows in the bedrooms. A room for two on a January Saturday begis at $250 a night. The new look felt a bit Vegas to me (except for the unchanged Big 4). Details: www.thescarlethotels.com/huntington-hotel-san-francisco.

The attractive Hotel G now does business where the Hotel Frank once stood at 386 Geary St. near Union Square. It’s neighbored by new restaurant Three 9 Eight Brasserie. Both opened in 2014. The G’s rooms are subdued but stylish, with a great use of space and light in the bathrooms I saw. Most units have wood floors. A room for two starts at $269, depending on day of the week, in February. In the brasserie, columns and walls have been roughed up to look like ruins, and someone has scrawled provocative city quotes high on the wall. Apparently John Steinbeck said, “San Francisco is a golden handcuff with the key thrown away,” and John Lennon said, “Los Angeles? That's just a big parking lot where you buy a hamburger for the trip to San Francisco.” Details: www.hotelgsanfrancisco.com.

For years, the most commanding hotel-room views in the city have been from the guest rooms of the upscale but almost invisible Mandarin Oriental, occupying the 38th to 48th floors of a Financial District skyscraper at 222 Sansome St. Through the big picture windows, you get a panorama of the TransAmerica building, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Then last year, Loews swept in and bought the place. Now the hotel is called Loews Regency San Francisco. Neither the views nor the rates have changed appreciably (they start about $430 a night). And the rooms (subdued and beige) are still outfitted with binoculars in case you want to do your sightseeing without standing up. Details: www.loewshotels.com/regency-san-francisco.

There are more hotel changes afoot in Fisherman's Wharf, where the 361-room Radisson on Beach Street has become the Zephyr, with snazzier rooms aimed at younger, more prosperous guests who want to be close to the bay. (There’s a lot of red, white and blue in the new design, and a magnetic dartboard in every room.) The hotel is still largely surrounded by the T-shirt shops and oddity museums that have gobbled up the wharf. Doubles from about $424 a night. Details: www.hotelzephyrsf.com.

Eating

Hungry? BDK Restaurant & Bar, another casual eating option near Union Square, opened last March adjoining the The Marker hotel at 501 Geary St. The site used to be the Grand Cafe. The dining room, much-renovated since then, has high ceilings and black-and-white tile floors, and the staff lays out four newspapers for your breakfast-time perusal. (The initials BDK are a nod to the late Bill Kimpton, a pioneer in the boutique hotel trade.) Details: www.bdkrestaurant.com.

The Mission District’s Californios, barely identifiable as a restaurant from its 22nd Street facade, is a bold, rigorous experiment: a Mexican fine-dining establishment in a longtime Mexican neighborhood known for grit and zest. The hushed restaurant, which opened a year ago, seats about 25 at tables and seven or eight at the bar, and there’s no real menu. You submit to chef Val Cantu’s wishes, and for $125 you get the multi-small-plate tasting menu of remarkable food: peas, grits, egg yolk, halibut, seaweed, sourdough tortillas, fennel, at least three kinds of potatoes. The chefs use tweezers a lot. It was a bit precious, but it was also the best meal I’d had in months. Details: www.californiossf.com.

Across the street from Californios is Urban Putt (1096 S. Van Ness Ave.), which celebrates mini-golf, booze and food. In the bar's rooms and hallways, owner and chief greenskeeper Steve Fox has arranged 14 eccentric holes (there wasn't enough room for 18), many of which are more interactive art than tests of athletic prowess. (Cost of a round of golf is $12; $8 for ages 6-12; free for the younger ones.) There are holograms and an homage to Jules Verne. Kids are welcome in the golf area until 8 p.m., when the minimum age becomes 21. Upstairs there's a pleasant, pubby restaurant serving California comfort cuisine (and poutine, for some reason). Next time my family is with me and the hour is right, I'm steering us to Van Ness and 22nd Street. Details: www.urbanputt.com.

Liholiho Yacht Club, a playground of Pacific cuisines, opened last January at 871 Sutter St. The dining room is deep and narrow, the kitchen is wide and open, and the floor is a modernist pattern of blue and white, with tiles spelling “ALOHA.” The night I visited, a tuna poke dish (very Hawaiian) shared the menu with beef tongue, lamb ribs and marinated squid. I sat at the bar and chose the ribs. Tremendous. Details: www.liholihoyachtclub.com.

The Market, just downstairs from Twitter's headquarters at 1355 Market St., is a burst of affluence on the long-troubled middle stretch of Market Street near the Civic Center. The core is a way-upscale grocery store (Spanish ham, $27 a pound; French cheese, $20 a pound) with eateries around its perimeter – a tapas bar, taqueria, coffee merchant, wine shop, juice vendor, pizzeria, sushi and oyster bar – everything you wish you had in the building at your job but don't. The Market seems to be making peace with its neighborhood. I arrived around 4:30 p.m. and saw three security personnel before I spotted a customer, but the servers and security were friendly and adept. And my $3.75 carne asada taco was tasty. Details: www.visitthemarket.com

This story was originally published January 1, 2016 at 1:00 AM with the headline "What’s new in San Francisco."