Meet & Eat at Ironside
New All Day Eatery Brings Hearty, House Made Fare to
San Francisco’s SOMA & South Beach Neighborhoods
SAN FRANCISCO—September 15, 2009—Underscoring the restaurant industry’s movement from upscale to casual, Ironside embraces the “high-low” model: high quality, house made fare served at more affordable prices in comfortable, community-oriented digs. Conceived by the team behind San Francisco’s District, Ironside will be an all day eatery offering coffee and breakfast bites, eat-in or take-out lunch and dinner, and beer and wine on tap. Ironside is slated to feed San Francisco’s SOMA and South Beach neighborhoods beginning in September.
The District/Ironside team looked within for culinary inspiration. Executive Chef Bob Cina (who also serves as the new toque at District) will cook a tasty array of options at this neighborhood eatery. At breakfast, patrons can order yogurt studded with granola and freshly cut fruit, bite-sized breakfast buns with flavors like maple and smoky bacon, or breakfast empanadas to accompany a cup of locally roasted Four Barrel Coffee. Lunch highlights include Cukes & Quinoa Salad (citrus marinated cucumbers and onions, toasted quinoa, feta), and a Porchetta Sandwich with herb-roasted pork saddle and scamorzza cheese, along with seasonal soups and a rotating selection of pizzas: try the Wild Boar Sausage with broccoli rabe, tomato, fresh mozzarella and pecorino. Vegetarians will find plenty of chow beyond soups and salads such as the Vegi Cubano or the Ratatouille pizza.
Ironside’s dinner menu includes starters like Baked Littleneck Clams with chorizo and green garlic crumbs or the native Bostonian Chef Cina’s own New England Clam Chowder with smoky bacon and Tabasco butter. Entrée options range from Latino-style Whitefish with Shrimp Escabeche to skillet-roasted Game Hen and a Flat Iron Steak. Other options include thin-crust crispy pizza, a bison burger, the house specialty Cubano Sandwich and savory sides (mac & cheese with cheddar and gruyere – add bacon if you please). For dessert: seasonal ice cream and sorbet flavors and house-baked cookies, which are sure to create a following.
Sweet-seekers who follow the restaurant on Twitter (@ironsidesf) will be alerted about the “Daily DisBatch” – the arrival of freshly baked cookies every afternoon around 3 p.m., signaling that it’s time for a coffee and cookie break. Considering the busy schedules of neighborhood workers and area residents, Ironside offers easy online ordering that allows guests to place and pay for orders online and then pop in for a quick pickup.
Beverages available at Ironside include coffee, espresso, and tea, along with sodas and lemonade sweetened with natural agave nectar (half the calories of sugar). Beer is offered on rotating taps, by the pint and pitcher, including an ale from Maine’s Shipyard Brewing Co. as a tribute to the building’s shipbuilding history. Also on tap at Ironside: wine. District Sommelier and Wine Buyer Caterina Mirabelli leveraged her close connections in the industry to negotiate with winemakers for high quality juice that can be served on tap, cutting out several steps in the distribution process and passing the savings onto customers.
“We’ve played an active role in the neighborhood’s evolution over the past two years at District, and we’ve become very familiar with the neighborhood’s needs,” said Jon D’Angelica, partner in Ironside with Ryan and Chris Vance. “Our District patrons have been pining for a casual community eatery – somewhere in between the neighborhood’s fast food and fine dining outposts. When the space in the Chronicle Books building became available we knew we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring that idea to life.”
Housed in a renovated, bi-level loft in San Francisco’s historic Chronicle Books building – which is part of the Rincon Point / South Beach Historic Warehouse Industrial District – Ironside is an airy and comfortable 49-seat space. The Ironside name honors the building’s legacy as the machine shop for the Moore Shipbuilding Company, which built and repaired thousands of ships in its day. Designer Je Anne Ettrick played off this theme using rugged walnut tables and benches, a barnwood and zinc counter, and a chandelier made from a 7-foot wooden gear. Anchored by a dramatic industrial steel and timber staircase made by Oakland-based metal artist Grant Irish, Ironside keeps it light with an oversize vintage billboard displaying a 50’s-era advertisement from an old San Francisco Brewery that proclaims “Lucky Lager is always right!”
About Ironside
Open all day, Ironside is a neighborhood eatery located on the border of South Beach and SOMA (680 Second Street). Housed in San Francisco’s historic Chronicle Books building, the space was formerly home to the Moore Shipbuilding Company. Serving up a reasonably priced menu of hearty, house-made fare, Ironside is a casual and friendly spot for breakfast, lunch, happy hour and dinner. Open continuously from morning to night, Ironside is a neighborhood destination for coffee and light breakfast, grab and go lunch (save time and order online), drinks (pitchers of beer, wine on tap), or a leisurely dinner. Ample street parking is available. All major credit cards accepted. For more information, call 415.896.1127 or visit www.ironsidesf.com. Follow Ironside on Twitter for updates and special offerings: @ironsidesf.