Russian Hill better brace itself, because an ambitious sounding new restaurant/supperclub is headed that way this fall, and it's not like anything we have in the city right now. Not since Supperclub closed two years ago have we had a dining venue with built-in, non-musical entertainment, but that's what owners Borhen Hammami and Tony Garnicky are planning with Berber, a restaurant serving North African-inspired food and offering Cirque du Soleil-inspired performances in the main dining room.

Hammami tells Hoodline that the plan is to use the high-ceilinged front bar area for more informal, a la carte dining, with large communal tables, with the main, formal dining room in back hosting the entertainment and prix-fixe, four- or five-course dinners in the range of $75. There's also talk of using an upstairs "wine room" for private tasting experiences.

Hammami has had many years of experience in the restaurant business, having worked at Marrakech Restaurant near Union Square — a North African restaurant known for having belly dancers in the dining room — and at the two restaurants that preceded Berber in the same Russian space at 1516 Broadway, Pasha and Killer Shrimp.

Hammami is talking about offering weekend brunch as well, on Saturday and Sunday, and he says the hope is to have Berber open by September.

Stay tuned.