A few months back we told you about the two new projects from the Flour + Water team (David White, David Steele, and chef Thomas McNaughton) that were slated to be going into a development just a few blocks away at 20th and Florida: Central Kitchen, a non-pizza concept with themed dinners centered around a farmer, animal, or wine; and Salumeria, an Old-World-style deli, open only in the daytime. Then recently we heard that Jake Godby of Humphry Slocombe had joined the game, with a bakery café called The Parlour. Well, now, in addition to these sequels, the Scoop reports that the Bon Vivants (Scott Baird of 15 Romolo and partner Josh Harris) have jumped on board too with a bar called Trick Dog.
The two bar guys are partnering with friend Jason Henton to create a casual, non-cocktail-geeky spot for a good drink. “We want to go back to the time where people went to bars to enjoy themselves,” Harris tells the Scoop, “before people geeked out about what kind of basil you’re muddling.” This is all well and good, but we’re pretty sure most people still go to bars to enjoy themselves, we’ve just gotten a little more tolerant of how long it takes to get a drink.
In any event, this marks the first time we can think of where a non-mall, non-Ferry Building developer in S.F. has specifically tried to assemble a bunch of established local food and cocktail brands in order to create a food destination spot where before there was none. People are willing to trek a little off the beaten path to line up at Flour + Water, so the logic seems to be that they’ll be willing to trek a couple blocks more. Look for this complex to open sometime in spring or summer of next year.
Bar stars Scott Baird, Josh Harris and Jason Henton plot Trick Dog, a new bar in the Mission [Scoop]
