The sizable restaurant space in the base of the Airbnb building in SoMa that was, pre- and post-pandemic home to Spanish restaurant Bellota, will be coming to life again.
I have to say I miss Bellota, whose lifespan straddled a pandemic, and which, for a time, was San Francisco’s most exciting yet somehow most unsung Spanish restaurant. Where else in the city could you get paella de cordero and paella de setas in a pan side by side, or get jamon iberico and pinxtos from a roving cart? It was a kind of clubhouse for Airbnb employees, being in the base of their building, but I’m not sure enough of the rest of the city got to appreciate it.
Bellota closed last summer, and the space was briefly given over to a Mexican pop-up that seemed like it could be a try-out for a pivot in the space by the Absinthe Group. But now we learn via Tablehopper that the new concept will be called Bosco, and it will be Italian. (“Bosco” means “woods” or “forest” in Italian.)
The menu will reportedly be driven by live-fire grilling, coal roasting, and plancha cooking — the Bellota kitchen was already tricked out with a wood grill, but possibly a new, even larger hearth is being added — but not much info has been released so far. Tablehopper also found menu clues including fire-roasted vegetables, whole-animal butchery, sustainable seafood, flatbreads, fermentation, and imported Italian ingredients along with local, seasonal produce.
SFist has reached out to the restaurant group for more details, like a chef or an opening timeframe — a nascent website is online but only says it will open “this summer.” An Instagram account is also live but is empty so far.
What we do know is that this restaurant can seat around 200 people, and already had a large and handsome bar area.
We’ll alert you as we learn more.
Bosco – 888 Brannan Street – Opening this summer
Dining and Cooking