San Francisco will soon have a new, modern bistro led by a duo of French cooks with plenty of experience at Michelin-starred restaurants.
Caché opens in the Inner Sunset on Saturday, with California-inspired bistro fare like a “crudo” surf and turf that pairs beef tartare with fresh oysters and beef. It comes from Florent Thomas and chef Simon Mounier, who met working at famed chef Pierre Gagnaire’s two-Michelin-star-ranked restaurant La Grande Maison.
The new restaurant will feature dishes informed by Mounier’s roots in Brittany, using prime Bay Area produce. In true French bistro fashion, there will be a rotating dish of the day, or plat du jour, during lunch hours, along with coffee and seasonal tarts that highlight his pastry training.
Plans for brunch include buckwheat crepes akin to the ones in Brittany, although served rolled into wraps. In what’s billed as a riff on a hot dog, Caché will place a slow-cooked octopus tentacle on a brioche bun made in-house, adding smoked peppers, pickled onions and a mango-curry mayo ($30). Afternoon dishes will feature a sea bream sashimi for two ($39), advertised as a signature dish.
In the lead-up to the opening, the duo hosted a pop-up at Night bird in Hayes Valley where they prepared dishes like beef with vegetables, finely chopped sausage and a coarse mustard. A dish of green quinoa ($25) — flavored with green curry coconut milk and coriander— was an early favorite. Both will be available at the new restaurant for dinner.
Thomas is serving a wine list that incorporates low-intervention and biodynamic wines from California and Europe. There will also be low-proof cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks. Diners can sip on them at the intimate granite bar, with room for eight seats. The 1,700-square-foot restaurant is located in the long, shotgun space that was formerly home to the beloved Korean market Queens. It also includes banquette seating, and a back patio with various plants. Thomas and Mounier were drawn to the sunset due to its proximity to Golden Gate Park and community-oriented feel, they said in a press release.
The restaurant arrives amid a wave of new French restaurants, including Bon Delire, the reopened Verjus, and the forthcoming JouJou from the team behind Lazy Bear. Meanwhile, classic French restaurants such as Jeanne D’Arc have bid adieu to the area.