On 15 September 2009, the team behind the San Francisco restaurant District announced a new project, Ironside, due to open that month in the SOMA and South Beach neighborhoods.
The concept
The announcement set Ironside against a wider shift in the restaurant world from upscale to casual dining. It described a high-low approach: well-made, house-prepared food at lower prices in a comfortable, community-minded space. The plan was an all-day eatery offering coffee and breakfast bites, lunch and dinner to eat in or take away, and beer and wine on tap.
Food
Executive chef Bob Cina, also in charge of the kitchen at District, led the menu.
– Breakfast: yogurt with granola and fruit, bite-sized buns in flavors such as maple and smoky bacon, and breakfast empanadas, served with Four Barrel coffee.
– Lunch: a quinoa and cucumber salad, a porchetta sandwich, seasonal soups and rotating pizzas, plus vegetarian choices like a vegetable Cubano and a ratatouille pizza.
– Dinner: starters such as baked clams and chowder; main courses including whitefish with shrimp, roast game hen and flat iron steak; pizza, a bison burger and the house Cubano, with mac and cheese on the side.
– Dessert: seasonal ice cream, sorbet and cookies baked daily.
Followers of the restaurant on social media were to be told when afternoon cookies came out of the oven, and online ordering was meant to speed up pickup for busy workers.
Drinks
The list included coffee, tea, sodas and lemonade sweetened with agave. Beer ran on rotating taps by the pint and pitcher, including an ale from a Maine brewery chosen as a nod to the building’s maritime past. The District sommelier arranged for wine on tap, which the team said cut distribution steps.
Why SOMA
A partner explained that the District team had followed the neighborhood’s growth for two years and found that patrons wanted a casual community eatery between fast food and fine dining. When space opened in the Chronicle Books building, they took it.
The room
The restaurant filled a renovated two-level loft with 49 seats in a historic building in the Rincon Point and South Beach warehouse district. Its name recalls the building’s earlier life as a machine shop for a shipbuilding firm. Designer Je Anne Ettrick used heavy walnut tables, a barnwood and zinc counter and a chandelier made from a large wooden gear. A steel and timber staircase by Oakland metal artist Grant Irish anchors the space, and a large vintage brewery billboard adds humor.
Related reading: the home page and press coverage.