So, in the pantheon of incessantly popular and trendy restaurants, the almost two-year-old State Bird Provisions may remain at the top of the S.F. food chain. The restaurant returns from a two-month renovation hiatus this weekend with two nights of no-reservation chaos (expect lines), and this afternoon they opened up online reservations for dates through December 16. And guess what? They disappeared in less than two hours.
Like The French Laundry, the restaurant only takes reservations for dates 60 days in advance, and when the book gets filled up, that means there will only be one date available at a time starting each morning at 4 a.m. As we reported earlier, this had led to some foodie techies gaming the system, essentially creating a hack that would alert them to any cancellations in the Urbanspoon database. And that kind of crap is likely to continue.
Luckily for the patient among us, the newly renovated restaurant now includes 12 to 16 more seats than before, as well as a new entrance and host stand, and 30 to 40 percent of the dining room will be left open every night for walk-ins, as Inside Scoop reports. This has led to some very long lines on Fillmore Street ever since the restaurant won Bon Appetit's top spot on their Best New Restaurants of 2012, and then subsequently won the James Beard Award for the best new restaurant in the nation.
State Bird reopens Friday evening, October 18, and continues the walk-in parade on Saturday. They'll be closed Sunday, but starting Monday, they will be open seven nights a week. Best of luck, everyone.
