Oh that the food was anywhere as good as the beer, lamented SF Weekly food critic Jonathan Kauffman back in June, in a review of Social Kitchen and Brewery. Owners of the place are no doubt hopeful that'll be the case with chef new-hire Huy Nguyen. Actually, Nguyen's been in place just about two weeks, replacing Dante Simoncini, who stepped up after opening chef Rob Lam's consultancy crashed to a close (Simoncini had worked as Lam's sous at Butterfly).

Social Kitchen brewmaster Rich Higgins tells SFoodie that Simoncini's departure was “amicable,” noting the need for change. “The costs are not in line, and we're not serving the food that we need to serve,” Higgins says. Nguyen has gigged as a sous chef at Grace in Hollywood, as a pastry chef at Abacus in Dallas, and as a band chef on rock tours. Don't expect Social's menu to look much different, at least at first, says Higgins, except that Nguyen is marshaling his pastry chops to beef up dessert offerings.