Remember back in November when we learned that the Rec & Parks Department, which needs to find a new operator for the 100-year-old Palace of Fine Arts complex who can perform $20 million worth of historic preservation and seismic work on the place, had settled on three competing reuse proposals including two hotels? Well, there was some public outcry about the commercialization of the iconic place — though we're actually just talking about the buildings behind the iconic rotunda designed by Barnard Maybeck — and Rec & Parks cited the fact that the place had pretty much always been in commercial use, including when it was the Exploratorium. And it sounds like the two hotel proposals have dropped out of the race, either because they might face resistance (a 20,000-signature petition was already submitted saying that nothing but an arts use belonged in the space) or for some other set of reasons, and as the Chronicle reports, the only one of the three operators to submit a follow-up proposal by the May deadline was The San Francisco Museum At The Palace (SFMAP), which would be a public museum with a theater, a destination restaurant from the Absinthe Group, as well as a great hall space that would contain retail kiosk from local artisans and could double as an event space.

The team behind this proposal is a consortium of designers, consultants, investors, and restaurant folk, and from the outset, because it was the least commercial of the three proposals, the question was whether it could be economically viable and cover the necessary upgrade costs. Included on the team is preservation architect Jay Turnbull of Page & Turnbull, as well as architects from Skidmore Owings & Merrill.

You can see the ten-year projected balance sheet on the original proposal, which shows operating profits of $7 million or more beginning in 2018, with revenue primarily from admissions, merchandise, retail rentals, and participation revenue from the on-site theater.

Previously rejected proposals including a similar cultural concept that had Alice Waters attached called the Center for Global Arts and Cultures, and a couple of fitness center proposals.

Per the Chron, it remains to be seen if Rec & Parks is ready to accept the only remaining proposal, or if this thing might have to go out for bid again.

Previously: The Palace Of Fine Arts Will Not Become A Gym, Will Likely Be A Hotel/Event Space And Restaurant

A beloved bartender, recently employed at Absinthe, but with a long history in the S.F. bar and restaurant scene, died last week in a motorcycle accident.

His life will be celebrated at a memorial on Sunday. Erik Dean, 51, had been working back-to-back shifts at Absinthe and Sauce last Monday when he got on his motorcycle around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 8 to head home. As SFGate reports, he was broadsided by a car that ran a red light at Sutter Street and Van Ness Avenue, and died at the hospital of internal bleeding.

Dean was well known in the community both for his drink-making skills and his travel tales. Notably he once road his motorcycle from Mexico to Canada. Friends have been sharing photos and stories about him on this Facebook page for the memorial celebration, which starts on Belden Lane on Sunday, July 20, at 11 a.m. The festivities will continue at Comstock Saloon, where Dean once worked, at 4 p.m.

In addition to Absinthe, Sauce, and Comstock, Dean did stints at The Polo Grounds (then called The Park), MoMo's, Paragon, Mecca, Betelnut, The Old Ship, Gordon's House of Fine Eats, and The Caribbean Zone. Back in the 1980s, he was a bartender at infamous SOMA nightclub Club DV8.

As good friend Brent Jones tells the Gate, "He lived an unbelievably full life."

Below are a pair of videos, shot a year apart (the second one in December of 2013) of Erik Dean putting on a show as he ignited the Bacardi 151 for a Spanish coffee behind the bar at Absinthe.

[SFGate]
[Eater SF]

The noted restauranteurs from Absinthe group will bring their next offering to an attention-starved corner of SoMa sometime in the next year, Inside Scoop reports. The group, which currently owns Absinthe, Arlequin Cafe and Boxing Room in hayes Valley as well as Comstock Saloon on the FiDi-fringe of North Beach, will be the group's biggest restaurant yet and will occupy a sizable footprint in the up-and-coming 888 Brannan building.

The building at Eighth and Brannan Streets was built nearly a century ago as a battery factory, but has undergone renovations in the past few years to attract tech offices like AirBnB's funky digs.

The currently unnamed Absinthe spot will occupy 5,400 square feet of high-ceilinged, former factory space on the ground floor. Although important details are still being worked out (like a chef and a concept), Absinthe Group proprietor Bill Russell-Shapiro tells the Scoop that there will be a full bar, sidewalk seating outside, private dining areas, valet parking and bike storage for dinner guests. Although the group was reportedly looking to help turn around mid-Market Street with a restaurant there, Russell-Shapiro hopes the SoMa spot will "help the neighborhood as it evolves." The San Francisco Gift Center and Jewelry Mart, which saw a violent shootout back in July also calls the building home.

Anyhow, expect the restaurant's name to reflect the building's battery-making history, which all makes sense somehow, because where would tech be without batteries?

[InsideScoop]
[EaterSF]

Brace yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, for the dawn of a new era in breakfast. First, New York City was enthralled by the cronut, and now we have our own thing. Absinthe Group pastry chef Bill Corbett has perfected his recipe for the pretzel croissant, which just went on sale in the pastry case at Arlequin Cafe (384A Hayes Street) as of this week.

Tasting Table points us to the big reveal, noting that NYC's City Bakery may have been the first to come up with a version, but saying that Corbett's is "even better, we think, than the original."

The pretzel croissants are $3.50 apiece, and they involve the layering of a traditional pretzel dough with butter in a croissant dough fashion, then they're dipped in a solution of baking soda and salted before baking.

Someone please bring us one right now.

[Tasting Table]

Newly installed bar manager at Absinthe, Carlos Yturria (formerly of Range, Bacar and Rye), has come up with several specialty cocktails for the board in his first weeks on duty. Our favorite is this wintry take on a whiskey sour, which includes one of the best and most unsung cocktail fruits of the season, the kumquat.

Shortly this drink will be replaced on the menu by a milk punch with rum, cinnamon, and brandied cherry juice, so hurry if you want to try this, or try replicating it at home.

The Piccadilly
1 kumquat
2 oz. Dickel Tennessee Whisky
0.5 oz fresh lemon and lime juice
0.5 ounce simple syrup
Dash Pernod Absinthe

Muddle kumquat and combine remaining ingredients in a mixing glass with ice & stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass & garnish with a slice of kumquat.