Fans of RN74, you've got T-minus 10 days to enjoy a last hurrah there.
As we first learned back in May, Michael Mina's RN74, in the base of Millennium Tower, is closing down after eight years to make way for a new concept from the same restaurant group: Ayesha Curry's International Smoke. Now, the Chronicle is marking the impending closure, with the last night of service being October 7, by looking back on the restaurant's splashy past, having helped launch the careers of several star sommeliers. As the Chron's Esther Mobley puts it, RN74 always had an "ambition to have a wine list worthy of a Michelin three-star restaurant, without aiming to be a Michelin three-star restaurant." And in that way, it was a new idea.
The idea came from former Aqua and Michael Mina somm Rajat Parr, who had to constantly reprint the lengthy high-end wine list at Michael Mina because they'd run out of the last bottle of this or that pricy wine. He conceived of a wine bar with a train station-like tote board that would constantly display the last bottle available of this or that wine and then he decided this was too good an idea for just a wine bar.
Fast-forward to 2009, and RN74 debuted to great acclaim and immediate crowds, despite arriving in the middle of an economic downturn. Those in SF who could still afford to dined there while quaffing rare bottles of Burgundy the likes of which you may never see outside of the Michelin-level cellars of France the restaurant takes its name from the route that passes through the Burgundy region, Route Nacionale 74. And for a while, prices were pretty reasonable given the service, food, and quality of the wine.
Times change, though, and as Burgundy prices rose to extreme heights over the next few years, and as the dish prices soared at the restaurant while the quality of the experience seemed to slip, RN74 lost its edge. As Mobley puts it, "Exhilarating in 2009, RN74 no longer makes sense for 2017. In its bright, brief life the restaurant captured the wave of excitement that was building around Burgundy wine, and then, as prices surged, got wiped out by the wave. In many ways, it was a victim of its own success."
So, you can go say goodbye through next week, and people with a passion for fine Burgundy should take advantage of wholesale-level deals: $750 bottles being sold for $250, and the like.
The remainder of the wine cellar will be getting shipped to RN74's Seattle location, which remains open.
Previously: RN74 Closing, Will Be Replaced By Ayesha Curry's BBQ Restaurant International Smoke