Front and center among this week's food news is the planned expansion of Tartine Bakery to the Heath Ceramics building at 18th and Alabama. But elsewhere in town, two-year-old Dixie has called it quits in the Presidio, the Mission's new mini-golf course/bar/restaurant Urban Putt is set to open in a few weeks, and French Laundry is heading for a temporary closure – and possible stint as a pop-up.
First up, Tartine Bakery owners Chad Robertson and Elizabeth Prueitt announced this week that they're planning to open a second location, with both a restaurant and commissary kitchen component, at the Heath Ceramics showroom at 18th and Alabama by 2015. The new kitchen and bakery space will allow for expanded bread production, as well as new projects for Bar Tartine chefs Nick Balla and Cortney Burns. And, the new dining room will allow Bar Tartine to host some of their many guest-chef dinners outside the restaurant. If all goes well, they may be able to get the bread-baking operation running in the new location by the end of this year. [Tablehopper]
Over in the Presidio, Dixie has given up the ghost after less than two years, and a little less than a year since the departure of opening chef and partner Joseph Humphrey. The remaining partners tried to make it a more casual neighborhood spot with less ambitious food, but their rent debt caught up with them. That space is now up for grabs. [Eater, Inside Scoop]
Also closed as of this week is Hi-Lo BBQ, the Hog & Rocks spinoff, which was doing just fine until owner Scott Youkilis got an unsolicited offer to sell from underground dining-club chef David Barzelay, of Lazy Bear fame (the name is an anagram of his last name). Barzelay has done stints at Mission Street Food, Nopa, and Commonwealth, but this will be his first brick-and-mortar restaurant to call his own. Look for it to open later this year, maybe before fall. [Inside Scoop]
We have an update on Urban Putt, the sure-to-be-popular combination miniature golf course, bar, and restaurant at 22nd and South Van Ness. It's set for a May 5 opening, with a pub-ish food program from former Bottle Cap chef Dane Boryta (pizzas, poutine, ribs), and a cool sounding bar program by Colin Carroll. The course will have 14 holes, with room for about 50 people on it at a time, plust a 35-person capacity in the downstairs bar, and 70 more seats in the upstairs dining room.
And finally, The French Laundry is heading for an temporary closure in order to do some renovations on its kitchen. The closure looks to be happening in July and August, and executive chef Thomas Keller has hinted that the restaurant may revert to being a temporary pop-up somewhere, location TBD. That means it could be somewhere in Napa, or it might even come to San Francisco. Stay tuned. [Napa Valley Register, Inside Scoop]
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