Danny Im opened Anju, a Korean-Japanese "drinking food" spot, at 206 Valencia St. on July 1 — his third San Francisco restaurant after Nara and Ganji, both acquired or opened in 2024.

Anju opened at 206 Valencia St. on July 1, and the neon behind the bar tells you which side of the menu it drinks on: "One more sake, one more Anju," glowing violet over a room built for shared plates and multiple rounds. It's the third San Francisco restaurant from chef and owner Danny Im — and the second concept he's put his name to in barely two years.

The name is the thesis. Anju is the Korean word for the food you eat while drinking — the dishes that exist to keep a table going through bottles of soju, makgeolli, and beer. Im calls the room "Japanese-Korean fusion," a marriage he told the San Francisco Standard (external source, opens in a new tab) came naturally to a Korean-raised cook who learned his technique in a Japanese culinary program. Sake and soju both pour here, which is the whole point.

The specifics behind the room track a fast expansion. City business records register the operation as Wd International III, Inc., under the DBA "Anju," at the Valencia address as of April 22 — the paperwork trail that precedes an opening by a couple of months. Im became executive chef at Nara on Haight, acquired that business in 2024, and opened the Japanese restaurant Ganji in Japantown the same year. Anju makes three, and Im says he still hand-picks ingredients for all of them himself.

The menu is priced to match a night out rather than a special occasion — squarely $$, per The Infatuation's review (external source, opens in a new tab), which ran it unrated. The through-line dish is the hamachi truffle — yellowtail, jalapeño, garlic crunch, and a touch of truffle — a staple Im carries across all three of his menus. Korean fried chicken and dak jeon, a crispy chicken pancake, round out the drinking food; a maple cornbread closes it out.

Listing platforms put Anju's hours at 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Im told the Standard the patio and basement spaces are still being worked out — three weeks in, the room isn't finished defining itself.