There’s a new player in the rotating cast of Market Street’s sprawling Saluhall. The Filipino and American burger heroes at Izzy and Wooks open inside the space on Monday, January 12. A grand opening for the buzzy sandwich shop is planned for Thursday, January 29. The business will still pop up at the Ferry Building on Saturdays and Stonestown Galleria on Sundays.
It’s not the first newcomer to Saluhall in recent months: La Cocina graduate Sate and Soto joined in September 2024 with Indonesian fare, but that vendor came and went in four months. Though the events program for Saluhall boasted large turnouts, the general health of the food market has been up for speculation. Izzy and Wooks marks the first lease signed by Saluhall’s operator Ingka Centres, which parted ways with former collaborator Kerb Food in November, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
The original contractor reached out to Izzy and Wooks in July 2024, and Ingka Centres renegotiated a contract in November. Izzy and Wooks owners Manuel and Cheryl Ramirez say it’s not lost on them that only one of the original eight vendors at the food hall is still operating. But Manuel points to the success of burger pop-up Smish Smash, opening in January 2025, as a path forward for Saluhall. “When they reached out to us, we were open-minded but cautious,” Manuel says. “We kept thinking ‘god, if we can stay here, and get to the other side, this could be a really special place.’ We hope it’s a happy ending for all parties.”
To the Smish Smash end, Manuel says he and Cheryl will focus on Izzy and Wooks’s fried chicken in the food hall. The tamarind, hot scorpion, and mochiko fried chicken sandwiches are top sellers. While smash burgers make up 35 to 40 percent of sales at the farmers markets — an option that will continue — the only burger on the Saluhall menu is a smashed longanisa sandwich. It’s a combo of roasted black garlic, pineapple, and pork sausage topped with banana ketchup and pickled Fresno chiles. Arroz caldo will make the jump from the farmers market to the mainstay menu; Manuel compares it to a Filipino congee, a chicken rice porridge of shiitakes and black garlic. Glazed pork belly with scrambled eggs for breakfast and plant-forward bowls are on the menu, too. A mango calamansi cooler is the restaurant’s go-to drink.
The Ramirezes’ have more than a decade of experience working in downtown San Francisco. Izzy and Wooks opened in the Metreon in nearby SoMa in spring 2024. They left after five months when a new tenant made a much larger offer on the space (a Freshroll location is in the location now). Izzy and Wooks moved to a San Francisco Center space then; that move was mostly to use Koja Kitchen in the mall as a commissary kitchen.
Before that, the Ramirezes ran three popular Inay Filipino Kitchen locations in the city. In 2021 they opened a location of Korean fried chicken hotspot Bonchon on Fourth Street. Down the road, Saluhall or not, they hope to keep getting Izzy and Wooks out to as many diners as possible. “We’re still looking at doing something in the Peninsula. We’ve been downtown since 2012, ” Manuel says. “It’s been a roller coaster.”
Izzy and Wooks (945 Market Street) opens Monday, January 12; hours from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.