Michelin-starred downtown fine dining spot Aphotic is shutting its doors in December after about 20 months in business, and chef-owner Peter Helmsley sounds pretty down about the Moscone Center-adjacent neighborhood he's been operating in.
The restaurant, known for its 10-course, seafood-focused tasting menus, opened in March 23 as a pivot for Helmsley, who had been operating the restaurant Palette in the same Folsom Street space for five years. (The industrial space at 816 Folsom was for many years home to LuLu.)
Aphotic earned a Michelin star right out of the gate in 2023, allowing Helmsley to raise the tasting menu price to $200. And the restaurant was on SFist's list of the best new restaurants of the year. But still, the finances haven't been penciling out, and Helmsley was one of six chefs from around the country who spoke to Eater last month for a piece about how restaurant math just hasn't been working in the current economy. "Every check is a shock," Eater says, and subsequently, "We are eating out less often" and "restaurateurs feel their own squeeze" from the price of food, reservation sites, fair wages, and insurance.
"People are still sticker-shocked," Helmsley told Eater. "I think it just has to do with the appetite for spending on restaurants. We’ve definitely seen a downtick in a more happy-go-lucky, free-wheeling kind of clientele."
And in an Instagram post today, Helmsley writes, "As all residents of SF know, these are tough times for fine dining operators. There are few left in SF that aspire to provide services like we do at Aphotic, and the smart and lucky ones in that pack are located in the right storefront, on the right block, and in the right part of this town.
"In less than two years of Aphotic’s existence, we have developed 4 comprehensive and completely original tasting menus, earned a Michelin Star, a Michelin Green star and a Michelin distinction for accomplishments of the bar program," Helmsley says. "Even in the right part of town, those would be huge accomplishments in that timeframe for any operation. The fact that we all did this at the ugly butt end of a desolate convention center suck hole in the post-panny apocalypse, is nothing short of a small miracle."
Alas, not being lucky enough to be in one of the neighborhoods that is back to mostly thriving in 2024, but instead on a quiet stretch of Folsom known mostly for its car traffic, around the corner from a new Muni station that few people are using, and down the street from an underbooked Moscone Center, Aphotic will shut its doors on December 21.
"I invite you all to help make this small miracle’s last weeks a bustling and happy window before the closure, celebrating our team’s accomplishments, while indulging in what we do best — seafood, cocktails, wine and impeccable service," Helmsley concludes.
Photo via Instagram
