Ana Kamin

Hayes Valley's hotly anticipated new omakase restaurant, Robin, is finally open! Under chef Adam Tortosa (Akiko, 1760), Robin serves traditional Japanese dishes made with local, seasonal ingredients. Tortosa, who trained under sushi master Katsuya Uechi in Los Angeles, will offer some a la carte dishes, but encourages guests to try the omakase (chef's choice) experience. On a sliding scale from $79-$179 and tailored to the hunger, interest and taste buds of each guest, the omakase dinner is a tasting menu of the California coast's bountiful seafood options including Monterey uni and Fort Bragg rockfish served sashimi style.  Photograph: Ana Kamin Although the menu is sushi-centric, guests can also order Japanese delicacies such as milk bread toast with torched lardo and smoked maple syrup or sesame noodles with shaved black truffles and Japanese chimichurri. All the condiments are made inhouse, including umeboshi (pickled plums) and blood orange kosho (a paste made from chili peppers). For dessert, homemade soft-serve comes in green tea with olive oil, sea salt and umeboshi or sake lees (what's left over when sake ferments) with cara cara granita and pistachios.  Photograph: Ana Kamin For those looking for a cool new date night spot, the interior of the restaurant is just as stunning as the sushi. Tortosa worked closely with local artists and designers to create a sophisticated, contemporary space with a touch of rock star glam. Caroline Lizagarra decorated the cement flo

When you think of San Francisco, you don’t necessarily think of outdoor pool time. But what if we told you that the City by the Bay was once home to the world's largest outdoor pool? A pool so big that lifeguards used rowboats to patrol the center. Crazy, right? Before you rush out hoping to catch a snap for the 'Gram, the pool was filled in 30 years ago to make space for the San Francisco Zoo parking lot. Here's what the modern-day San Franciscan missed out on.  It all started with Herbert Fleishhacker, a banker, philanthropist and park commissioner, who had the idea to build the world's largest swim tank. It took only three years to build the 1,000-foot-long and 150-foot-wide public pool, as well as an adjacent bathhouse and surrounding park, making it THE recreational destination for San Franciscans in the 1930s. Despite the summer fog and the fact that water was pumped in straight from the freezing Pacific Ocean, the pool had already hosted more than 60,000 swimmers by its two-month anniversary. People flocked to the Fleishhacker Pool, swam in the salty waters, jumped from the diving boards and strolled the park grounds. Even Olympic trials and other national swimming and diving competitions were held at the pool. On any given day, 10,000 swimmers could splash around in the 6-million-gallon pond. The times were good...until they weren’t anymore.   In the 1950s, the rising car industry gave Bay Area residents the possibility to escape to warmer weather and the pool starte