High-end California barbecue spot Wexler's, which opened to pretty immediate acclaim with its rad sculptural ceiling on Sacramento Street in 2009, is calling it quits on June 26, as Inside Scoop reports. Owner Matt Wexler says he made the decision for family reasons, because "the time that takes to run a restaurant, especially a smaller size restaurant, doesn’t coincide with trying to be a dad." Wexler has two sons, ages four and eight, and he's hoping to spend more time with them.
When Wexler's opened six years ago, as a collaboration between one-time Rising Star chef Charlie Kleinman and Wexler, it was at a time when virtually no one was talking about barbecue in San Francisco, and Kleinman decided, with a small smoker and tiny kitchen, to try to bring the flavors of great Southern barbecue to a local audience in a more high-end, prettily plated context, using California ingredients and a CA sensibility. SFist included Wexler's among the best BBQ spots in town, and the place won a number of raves, including from the Chronicle's Michael Bauer.
Speaking to Grub Street as part of a national BBQ roundup in 2011, Kleinman made no claims to trying to imitate the barbecue of purist from Texas, or wherever. "Real barbecue belongs in little shacks with huge smokers that burn down every couple of years," he said. His take, he said, wasn't meant to be "high-end" necessarily, but was just his way of bringing his favorite flavors into the context of his training, and local ingredients.
In 2011 Kleinman also launched a food truck, called Wexler's Back, which remains available for catering events, however the future of that seems unclear.
For now, you've got just under two weeks to swing back into the place, before it says goodbye.
Wexler's - 568 Sacramento Street - (415) 983-0102