Charles Phan has three openings on the horizon.
Summer may be blockbuster season for movies, but it's pretty much the dregs as far as restaurant openings go. Fortunately, we're now looking forward to an exciting fall season that offers the rebirth of Herb Caen's favorite haunt and three, count 'em, three new openings from Charles Phan.
Academy Café and Moss Room: This forthcoming duo of restaurants from Loretta Keller (Coco500) and Charles Phan (The Slanted Door) will be located in Golden Gate Park’s highly anticipated California Academy of the Sciences. The more formal Moss Room will showcase Keller’s signature Cal-Med cuisine, while the Academy Café, located on the main floor, will offer a mélange of cuisines including Mediterranean, Southeast Asian and Mexican, as well as a noodle station featuring Phan’s Vietnamese street-stall classics. An eco-friendly theme reaches its apex with a “living staircase” of moss separating the restaurants. Although the museum is slated to open September 27th, the restaurants probably won’t open until October (55 Music Concourse Drive).
Aurea: As part of its $32-million renovation, Nob Hill’s historic Stanford Court will convert its former flagship restaurant, Fournou’s Oven, to an event space. Aurea will then take over most of the first-floor lobby sometime in October, offering an all-day menu from Jeffrey Surprise (ex Quince) that will showcase local Bay Area artisan ingredients running the gamut from lobster mac ’n’ cheese to Asian-leaning bento boxes. The dining room will include communal tables as well as more intimate “cocktail cubbies” (905 California St.).
Cafe des Amis: The Bacchus Group (responsible for Spruce, The Village Pub and Pizza Antica) is looking to an early December opening for its much-delayed French brasserie. It will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and also a late-night menu in the landmark Marina building that previously housed Prego. Executive chef Gordon Drysdale, head chef at Pizza Antica, has developed a menu of traditional French fare interpreted through a Northern Californian lens (think coq au vin and roast squab with warm liver toasts). The exclusively French wine list will highlight lesser-known regions such as Vézelay, Jasnières and St. Péray (200 Union St.).
Contigo: Chef Brett Emerson’s long-in-the-making Noe Valley restaurant is inching toward a hopeful October opening. Once to be called Olallie, it’s now going by Contigo (Spanish for “with you”), and will be a convivial neighborhood hangout offering a daily changing menu of small and large plates inspired by the regional flavors of Spain, from Moorish Andalucía to modern Catalonia. Part of the restaurant's delay is due to Emerson’s fastidiousness in making it a green venture, from the food to the furnishings – including tabletops salvaged from the historic Levi Strauss factory – to the vegetable and herb garden in the back patio (1320 Castro St.).
Dosa on Fillmore: The second outpost of the Mission’s popular Southern Indian spot is on schedule to open in Upper Fillmore this November. The high-ceilinged, bi-level venue will be far larger than the original and will offer a broader range of fare and a greater emphasis on cocktails (1700 Filmore St.).
Gitane: After almost a year delay, this forthcoming Café Claude sibling (which replaces Bluepointe) is finally slated to open in mid-October. The menu from chef Lisa Eyherabide (ex Le Charm) encompasses the rustic cuisine of southern France, northern Spain and North Africa. Like its brethren, the cafe will feature a heated enclosed sidewalk patio (6 Claude Ln.).
La Mar Cebichería Peruana: Peru’s most prominent celebrity chef, Gastón Acurio, is opening the first stateside branch of his internationally acclaimed seafood restaurant. Located at Pier 1½ along the Embarcadero (with a view overlooking the Bay’s marina), it’s slated to open this Thursday.
Manzoni: Glen Park’s burgeoning Restaurant Row will soon include this casual midpriced Italian located in the old Bird & Beckett bookstore. The name references Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, and is also the nickname given to owner Monhal Jweinat when he lived and cooked in Milan and the Friuli region. The rustic, Tuscan-looking restaurant will be dinner-only, offering fare from across Italy, and will also feature a wine bar (2790 Diamond St.).
Nettie's Crab Shack: This modern-day twist on the classic fish house is slated to wash upon the shores of Cow Hollow in late September. A co-venture of restaurant veterans Annette "Nettie" Yang (Spruce, Jack Falstaff) and Brian Leitner (Chez Panisse), it will feature an all-day menu will feature a chalkboard menu of affordable coastal-inspired lunch, brunch and dinner fare, complemented by ice cold buckets of beer, pitchers of cocktails and inexpensive wines, which can be enjoyed at communal tables, the copper-clad bar or on the restaurant’s open-air patio (2032 Union St.).
Out the Door: Charles Phan is set to open the third incarnation of his casual Vietnamese eatery in the Upper Fillmore area later this fall. Unlike the other outposts, this one – nicknamed Cubed – will be a sit-down, full-service restaurant (2232 Bush St.). The tireless Slanted Door restaurateur (see Academy Café above) is also planning to unveil a yet-to-be-named Chinese noodle joint in the soon-to-be-opened SoMa Grand (1085 Mission St.).
Washington Bar & Grill: Herb Caen’s old stomping ground, the Washbag, will be reopening later this fall. The venerated North Beach locale closed abruptly at the end of 2007 but was recently snapped up by local musician Liam Tiernan, who intends to resurrect the original concept by late September, and while the executive chef has not been finalized, he’s tapped the Washbag’s legendary bartender Michael McCourt to return to his old post (1701 Powell St.).
Zinnia: Former Myth chef Sean O’Brien will be returning to his Jackson Square origins when he opens this globally inspired New American (which replaces the shuttered Scott Howard). Hoping to open sometime after October, O’Brien plans to craft a menu similar to the one at Myth but with a larger selection of handmade fresh pastas – he’ll also be instituting his popular half-portion option for many of the dishes. The dining room will include a semiprivate chef’s table for 10, a communal table and a bar serving the full menu (500 Jackson St.).
– Meesha Halm