More restaurants coming to Dogpatch
23 May 2007
The SF Chronicle reports that the Slow Club will be taking over 2495 Third St., the space formally housing the Third Street Cafe.
Owner Erin Rooney got the keys to the space — it formerly housed the Third Street Cafe — just last week. She’s hoping for a Sept. 1 opening.
Slow Club chef Chris Kronner, a 2007 Chronicle Rising Star chef, will oversee the menu at the new location.
“It will be the same Slow Club style,” says Rooney. That means stylish California/American comfort food on a daily changing menu, with ingredients sourced directly from local ranches and farmers.
In the meantime, she says, there’s some remodeling to do. Eric Heid, who designed Range, Spork and Citizen Cake, is in charge of creating a look that takes advantage of the 18-foot ceilings and exposed brick walls. When the remodel is complete, the restaurant — which is still unnamed — will have 50 seats, about the same as Slow Club.
“We’ve been looking in Dogpatch for two years,” Rooney says. “It’s a very comfortable move for us because the neighborhood feels similar to the Slow Club neighborhood” — with a mix of artists’ and designers’ lofts, light industry and some residential buildings.
The folks at Tablehopper are also reporting that:
The A16 folks are currently incubating a concept that they hope to launch next year in the Esprit Park complex, a project from developer Build Inc. at 900 Minnesota. The concept is still quite up in the air (like which region they even want to focus on—I cast my vote for Calabria) and they are working out preliminary permitting matters, so stand by for more later.
• Area restaurants branch out [ SF Chronicle ]
Why is it named “DOGPATCH”?
From Wikipedia:
Lots of interesting information, but no info on the origin of the name.
Dogpatch is a neighborhood on San Francisco’s eastern side, adjacent to the waterfront of San Francisco Bay, and to the east of, and below, Potrero Hill. Its boundaries are Mariposa Street to the north, I-280 to the west, Tubbs Street to the south, and Third Street to the east. It contains housing, some remaining heavy industry, more recent light industry, and a new but growing arts district. In 2002 it became an officially designated historic district of the city of San Francisco.
Because it survived the 1906 earthquake and fire relatively undamaged, and until recently had not been redeveloped, Dogpatch has some of the oldest houses in San Francisco, dating from the 1860s. Between the 1860s and 1880s, the marshes at the edge of the Bay were filled, and the area was connected to the main part of the city by means of bridges across what was then Mission Bay (which itself has now been filled in). This permitted development of industry and housing. Waterfront-oriented industry, including shipbuilding, drydocks and ship outfitting and repairs, warehouses, steel mills, and similar industry flourished until after World War II, when it began to decline.
Dogpatch endured several decades of decline which lasted until the 1990s, when economic pressures led to modest gentrification of the existing housing stock, and new construction including loft-style condominiums, many of which were designated as “live-work” units for artists, graphic designers, and similar occupations. The conversion of existing industrial space to live-work units or other housing has been controversial.
The main commercial artery of Dogpatch is Third Street, with a number of retail and service businesses. The T Third Street light rail line operated by San Francisco’s transit agency, the San Francisco Municipal Railway. The Third Street corridor connects Dogpatch to San Francisco’s downtown, via new development zones including Mission Bay and the new UCSF research campus.
Notable features of Dogpatch include Irving M. Scott School, the oldest public school building in San Francisco, built 1895; the historic shipyards at Pier 70; Dogpatch Studios, a film studio, design center, and event venue; Piccino, a new Nothern Italian Style Cafe and Pizzeria, Just For You Bakery, a great place for lunch or weekend brunch- formerly located on 18th Street on Potrero Hill ,the headquarters of the San Francisco Chapter of Hells Angels; and numerous historical residences.