Leading up to the big unveiling of their annual Best New Restaurants issue, Bon Appétit did what they did last year and first gave us a Top 50 last week, just so that restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton can give props to the many good new spots across the country that he encountered in this year's eating tour and three SF restaurant are in the running, Tacos Cala (which also wins Best Taco), Lord Stanley, and The Perennial. Today we learn that the Best Design award goes to Leo's Oyster Bar here in SF as well, and owner Anna Weinberg (Marlowe, Park Tavern, The Cavalier) is surely pleased.
Like Weinberg's other restaurants, the design was done by Ken Fulk along with his associate Jon de la Cruz, and they took a relatively small, narrow space that was formerly home to Wexler's and gave it some retro tropical glamour. Per Bon App: "There are no bad seats or unflattering angles at this gorgeous oyster bar. Instead, there’s just you, your date, two glasses of Champagne, and a universe of rose-colored onyx bartops, vintage glassware, shell-shaped wall sconces, and tropical palm wallpaper. It’s a Mad Men set you get to drink in."
The restaurant was also featured, a couple months back, in Architectural Digest.
Congrats to the team, and now we look forward to seeing which of the three shortlisted SF restaurants above make the final ten, which we should know within a week or so it likely will only be one, given that Knowlton gave so much love to San Francisco in 2015, and named both Rintaro and AL's Place to the top 10 last year and called SF "the best food city in the country" he's likely going to return to giving us just one nod for 2016, if any.
Leo's Oyster Bar - 568 Sacramento Street between Montgomery and Sansome - Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight Thursday to Saturday, with lunch and dinner hours explained here.
Previously: It's About Time: Bon Appétit Declares SF The Best Food City In The Country
