There’s only one item that’s available at both Rich Table (opens in new tab) and its cozy, 6-week-old sister restaurant, RT Bistro (opens in new tab): a bowl of porcini doughnuts. At the former, the lightly fried beignets, dusted with fine umami powder, are $13 and come with a whipped raclette. But at RT Bistro, they’re far more luxurious: For $39, they’re accompanied by five spoonfuls of Kaluga caviar over an eggy, Douglas fir ranch.
The distinction is a bit of a surprise considering that owners Evan and Sarah Rich have billed the bistro as the more casual spinoff of Rich Table, one of the most beloved New American spots in San Francisco for more than a decade. Factor in RT Rotisserie (opens in new tab), their fast-casual project with two nearby locations, and it’s tempting to use the old Goldilocks analogy, placing RT Bistro in the “not too hot, not too cold” middle.
“I mean, that’s kind of the basic idea,” Evan says. Though, he adds, they didn’t intend to create some middlebrow version of their flagship. “It’s mainly doing what we’d want to eat.”
Is that answer honest or flippant? The Riches are serious chefs who have always been guided by nonchalance and the maxim “go to the market and see what’s good.” But installing a wood-fired oven, as they’ve done at RT Bistro, is a major investment. They also own the building, where they’ve found a novel use for some of the upstairs apartments: housing employees (opens in new tab) who would otherwise have long commutes at off hours. RT Bistro is not merely another way to maximize available space or capture Rich Table’s overflow…