Warriors star Stephen Curry’s first-ever hospitality business – and the revival of celebrity chef Michael Mina’s modern steakhouse – are here.
The restaurant, Bourbon Steak, and adjacent whiskey bar, the Eighth Rule, are opening at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco on Oct. 10. The Union Square hotel is where Mina opened his first Michael Mina restaurant two decades ago. Mina operates 11 Bourbon Steak locations across the U.S., but hasn’t had one in San Francisco since 2016 – when it originally shuttered at the Westin St. Francis.
Bourbon Steak will resurrect popular Mina creations from the 1990s, such as tuna tartare mixed tableside with a quail egg, Asian pear and habanero-sesame oil, and a lobster pot pie. Expect classic dishes like butter-poached, wood-grilled steaks and a shrimp cocktail, plus twists such as Bourbon Steak’s version of steak tartare (a potato cake with tartare and Wagyu torched at the table). About half of the menu can be found at other Bourbon Steak outposts, including a caviar Twinkie; the rest will be localized to San Francisco. A cart will roam the dining room with fresh fish that can be grilled and served with three sauces. Also new to the San Francisco steakhouse: a six-person dining experience variously described as “large-format,” “interactive,” “communal” and “seasonal,” which is only available by reservation and limited to two per night.
The whole Dungeness crab with fregola risotto, crab fat, uni butter and Meyer lemon-glazed crab legs at Bourbon Steak. (Yalonda M. James/S.F. Chronicle)
The new Bourbon Steak will also have its own bar, Bourbon Lounge, with drinks and dishes like a burger and tuna toro “cigars.” The drinks menu references Mina’s culinary history, including a cocktail version of the tuna tartare with pine nut-infused rum, Campari, lemon, spiced Asian pear syrup and optional habanero dust.
AvroKO, a New York City firm that’s designed notable restaurants including the three-Michelin-starred SingleThread in Healdsburg, maintained the Art Deco grandeur of the hotel, built in 1904. But the moody, 120-seat dining room now has a custom marble floor, walnut millwork, green velvet-backed booths and potted King Palm trees. The steakhouse’s entrance has been moved to 335 Powell St., and a wraparound marble bar relocated to the center of the space.
The new Bourbon Lounge inside the Westin St. Francis. (Yalonda M. James/S.F. Chronicle)
The Eighth Rule, a 40-seat, reservations-only bar, is a showcase for Curry’s bourbon brand, Gentleman’s Cut. (Curry is a partner in the business, which the Mina Group will operate.) The chef and the athlete have been toying with the idea of a bar since meeting in 2017, when Mina teamed up with Curry’s wife, Ayesha Curry, to open San Francisco barbecue restaurant International Smoke.
The Eighth Rule is full of velvet, leather furnishings and amber lighting. It will offer two menus from Mina Group beverage director Anthony Attanasio. A six-course, omakase-style cocktail tasting will focus on Curry’s Gentleman’s Cut whiskey line. Expect it in “imaginative styles,” a press release states, such as a truffle-vanilla whiskey sour or seasonal highball. An a-la-carte drinks menu will include cocktails such as a honeydew-thyme gin sour and a Calabrian chili tequila highball. The bar will also be stocked with less common whiskies such as Weller Antique, Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel and Bruichladdich.
Steph Curry tastes and serves his Gentleman’s Cut bourbon at BottleRock Napa Valley on May 25, 2024. He’s now opening a bourbon bar in San Francisco. (Camille Cohen/Special to the Chronicle)
Bourbon Steak and the Eighth Rule will mark the latest openings in Union Square, which has been a focus of the city’s post-pandemic revitalization efforts but continues to struggle with low foot traffic.
After opening in 2004, Michael Mina became one of the Bay Area’s most acclaimed restaurants. It earned two Michelin stars the first year the Michelin Guide came to California, in 2007, and later moved to the former Aqua space, where Mina had started his career. The flagship Michael Mina closed in 2021 and was replaced by Estiatorio Ornos, an upscale Greek restaurant that also later closed.
Mina now runs an international food empire and hospitality group with more than 30 restaurants across the globe, from Pabu Izakaya in San Francisco and Bungalow Kitchen in Tiburon to Michael Mina in Las Vegas and Mina Brasserie in Dubai.
Bourbon Steak. 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Sunday, 5-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. The Eighth Rule: 4 p.m. to midnight daily. 335 Powell St., San Francisco. bourbonsteak.com. instagram.com/the8thrule.
This article originally published at Steph Curry’s S.F. bourbon bar with Michael Mina is here.
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