Previews

Coqueta Opening Saturday, April 13, on Pier 5

Photo: Courtesy of Michael Chiarello

As we hinted the other day, Michael Chiarello’s Coqueta is making it open this month, and today they announce the date: Saturday, April 13. Given Chiarello’s TV celebrity, the waterfront location, this being his first S.F. project, and the relatively few other high-profile openings on the docket this year, you can expect this place to be met with a ton of buzz and immediate crowds. (We note that reservations on OpenTable have already been snapped up for the opening days, and the first available is at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 18.) We should have some photos and further details for you next week. For now, the Scoop has the lengthy opening menu, which has a selection of 27 hot and cold tapas dishes, including wood-grilled octopus; olive oil-poached Delta asparagus with sangria salsa “holandesa” and Serrano “bits”; and Canary Island “wrinkly” new potatoes with mojos verde.

And as Chef Chiarello revealed a couple weeks ago, the plan is do some passed pintxos (skewers), and paella, in the style of dim sum and State Bird Provisions, though he claims to have had the idea first. So that should keep things interesting in the dining room. Paella varieties include Arroz Cremoso (creamy rice with braised oxtail, and leeks two ways), and the more traditional Fideua (vermicelli pasta cooked like paella with shrimp and lomoiberico). Also from the wood oven will be a fabada bean stew from Asturias with chorizo, pork belly, and morcilla; and there are some family-style dishes from the wood grill like a “Gaucho” bone-in dry-aged beef ribeye; and a whole grilled Branzino stuffed with Meyer lemon and herbs.

The focus of the space, formerly home to Lafitte, is going to be a new, glassed in, semi-enclosed bar where the restaurant’s porch seating used to be, offering Bay views whilst drinking.

Stay tuned for more next week.

Michael Chiarello unveils the Coqueta menu, sets a date [Scoop]
Earlier: Coqueta Opening Later This Month (Probably)
Chiarello to Serve Passed Apps at Coqueta, in a Dim-Sum Style
Michael Chiarello Names His Chef de Cuisine for Coqueta

Coqueta Opening Saturday, April 13, on Pier 5