Come 2026, chefs Sarah and Evan Rich will have officially created their own dining district, one we’ll call SoHa (South of Hayes).
In early January, the husband and wife team — along with their longtime partner and GM Jonny Gilbert — will open RT Bistro. Located on Oak Street, it is around the corner from their lauded 13-year-old restaurant Rich Table and a short stroll from the first of their two counter-service RT Rotisseries.
Don’t let the word “bistro” confuse you. This is not a roast-chicken-and-burger kind of place. RT Bistro will be a continuation of the Riches’ signature elevated but eclectic California sensibilities. The couple knows how to cook with whim.
Todd McCrea of Fine Root Design helped them make the most of the weensy 1,000-foot-space (a mere 300 feet of which was allotted for the kitchen) that used to house sushi restaurant O-Toro. The 37-seat bistro is cozy, painted a delicious green (Benjamin Moore’s Lush, if you were wondering) and accented with blond-wood tables and a few reclaimed planks — a nod to Rich Table’s barn-chic. Oversize black, domed pendant lights hang from the ceiling; a skull with antlers is mounted on the wall. Two parklets will be built, which will extend the seating when the weather is kinder.
The tiny space conceived of by FineRoot Design gives cabin vibes.
The main elements are a mix of a delicious green and warm wood.
Early in the conception of RT Bistro, the Riches gave their designers an inspiration board for the intended “vibe.” Among other chill conceits, it contained a picture of Bob Marley smoking a spliff and one of two dudes drinking coffee in front of a graffitied wall in New York. That aesthetic appears to have been politely ignored by the designers. The mood is less urban Rastafarian, more Scandinavian mountain; think cabin with a dash of hygge thrown in. However, there are plenty of personal touches if you know where to look: On one wall is a photo of the Grateful Dead (Sarah has a dancing-bear apron to match); on another, a carved wooden topography of Kirkwood, the Tahoe-loving family’s favorite ski resort.
The bathrooms are bicoastal. One has California wallpaper; the other a nod to New York, where the chefs met while working at the legendary French restaurant Bouley. They’ve invested in a nice sound system. “We tested it out with the Cure yesterday. It sounds so good,” says Gilbert.
Not an inch has been underutilized. “I’ve been on the internet trolling tiny Paris bistros for space-saving ideas,” Evan says. Beneath the banquettes, logs of almond wood are stored, ready to toss into the squat, custom J&R grill-smoker-oven where dry-aged New York strip steak, with an armagnac-and-roasted garlic glaze, will be grilled and served with a pluot jam and a side of potato-leek mille feuille. There’s even a fryer dedicated to beef tallow, ready to crank out thrice-fried fries in the style of British chef Heston Blumenthal.
And because there’s no room for a bar, a tiny cocktail station is situated inside the kitchen, framed by a window so diners can see their drinks being shaken.
RT Bistro partners Evan and Sarah Rich and Jonny Gilbert.
“Whenever people ask what kind of food we’re going to serve at the bistro, I’m like, ‘I don’t know’ — whatever we feel like eating,” says Evan. The goal is to keep the price point a little lower, and the cooking a little simpler, than at Rich Table — though for chefs of their caliber, restraint is not easy.
Early experiments include a West Coast riff on oysters Rockefeller, baked with Shared Cultures miso, garlic, kombu, and parmesan — a delicious umami bomb. Spooned over kampachi crudo is a punchy, sweet-spicy cocktail sauce made of ginger, shallots, shoyu, and a tiny bit of ketchup, courtesy of Taiwanese chef de cuisine Bill Wang. Instead of a classic 1,000-layer lasagna, the Riches will serve a more ground-level, two-layer seasonal variation; in winter, it will have butternut squash and TomaTruffle cheese from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. In the spring, maybe peas; in the summer, some corn. Desserts, like a nod to the ice box pies Sarah grew up with, will be kept simple.
The wine list, curated by Kevin Born, will focus on local, lesser known producers, while the cocktails, drummed up by bar director Marisa Miller, will similarly highlight Northern California spirit makers. There will be a version of a rusty nail, a forgotten classic (well, forgotten until Evan’s dad ordered one on a recent family vacation), and of course, a clarified milk punch, something Rich Table has been doing before clarifying was cool. The NBD (“no big deal”) Manhattan will have Vallejo-based Redwood Empire Pipe Dream bourbon, house-preserved cherry leaves, Japanese Sakura bitters, and Laie, a Spanish red vermouth.
The efficiently designed kitchen is all of 300 square feet.
Wood-fired grilled New York steak with an armagnac-and-roasted garlic glaze. 
Two-layer lasagna with butternut squash and TomaTruffle cheese.
Chocolate ”ice box pie” with lime-chantilly cream.
The truth is, even if this is the more casual version of Rich Table, none of it seems particularly chill. You can’t take the chefs out of the bistro. With a kitchen so miniscule, and seating limited, there will be some problem-solving to be done in real time. For instance — considering that the counter space is about an arm’s length — where on earth is the food going to be plated? Clearly a veteran of restaurant-opening chaos, Sarah just shrugs. “We’re still working it all out. I’m sure the first week or so, it’ll be a lot of, ‘Oh, shit.’”
However, judging off the Riches’ previous successes, diners will be the last to notice.