{"id":187595,"date":"2026-02-21T14:29:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/187595\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T14:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:29:15","slug":"a-new-spinoff-from-an-sf-classic-proves-some-formulas-dont-need-fixing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/187595\/","title":{"rendered":"A new spinoff from an SF classic proves some formulas don\u2019t need fixing"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s only one item that\u2019s available at both Rich Table (opens in new tab)<\/a> and its cozy, 6-week-old sister restaurant, RT Bistro (opens in new tab)<\/a>: 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\u2019re far more luxurious: For $39, they\u2019re accompanied by five spoonfuls of Kaluga caviar over an eggy, Douglas fir ranch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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)<\/a>, their fast-casual project with two nearby locations, and it\u2019s tempting to use the old Goldilocks analogy, placing RT Bistro in the \u201cnot too hot, not too cold\u201d middle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, that\u2019s kind of the basic idea,\u201d Evan says. Though, he adds, they didn\u2019t intend to create some middlebrow version of their flagship. \u201cIt\u2019s mainly doing what we\u2019d want to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"From left, chefs Evan and Sarah Rich and GM Jonny Gilbert. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/The Standard\"Wood-paneledRT Bistro occupies the former O-Toro Sushi on Oak Street, adjacent to Rich Table. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/The Standard<\/p>\n

Is that answer honest or flippant? The Riches are serious chefs who have always been guided by nonchalance and the maxim \u201cgo to the market and see what\u2019s good.\u201d But installing a wood-fired oven, as they\u2019ve done at RT Bistro, is a major investment. They also own the building, where they\u2019ve found a novel use for some of the upstairs apartments: housing employees (opens in new tab)<\/a> who would otherwise have long commutes at off hours. RT Bistro is not merely another way to maximize available space or capture Rich Table\u2019s overflow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, in other ways,\u00a0 the two restaurants can be hard to tell apart. Rich Table and RT Bistro serve similar food in \u00e0 la carte format, although the former\u2019s menu changes more frequently. With the bistro, the Riches haven\u2019t chosen to break the mold but stick to an established recipe for success. It\u2019s not a bad idea considering that after more than 13 years, it can still be hard to get a seat at Rich Table.<\/p>\n

Still, there are compelling reasons to choose RT Bistro over the original. These begin with a gingery, garlicky kanpachi crudo with Taiwanese five-flavor sauce, and a mushroom-forward, deconstructed Dungeness \u201cthermidor\u201d presented inside the crab shell \u2014 much cleaner to eat, especially in close quarters. \u201cYou see those shells come back, and they\u2019re licked clean,\u201d Evan says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An open-faced, broccoli-rabe-driven Cali \u201ccroque\u201d is fine. But duck \u00e0 l\u2019orange, with mandarin sweet-and-sour sauce and a sidecar of crisped Luna Koshihikari rice, is superb, as if Julia Child staged at Mister Jiu\u2019s (opens in new tab)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ThinHamachi crudo in a garlicky, gingery sauce is among the many reasons Rich Table fans have to give RT Bistro a shot. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/The Standard<\/p>\n

The flip side of going to the market to see what\u2019s good is that fresh produce can feel almost gratuitous. Pomelo chunks on the crab thermidor and radicchio atop the rice come across like the kitchen is trying to find a home for all that bounty.<\/p>\n

But the best argument for Rich Table may be the burger. Of all San Francisco\u2019s cult burgers<\/a>, this $29 entrant may be the fanciest.<\/p>\n

Adapted from Rich Table\u2019s long-running off-menu sensation, it\u2019s a thick patty with caramelized dill-pickled onions and Parmesan-tickled cheddar on a heavy-duty bun flecked with white and black sesame seeds. There are no visible pickles, because they\u2019re mixed into the slightly spicy sauce. The accompanying wedge fries are cooked in beef tallow \u2014\u00a0something that, for all its association with RFK Jr.<\/a>, is simply too delicious not to applaud.<\/p>\n

\"AAt RT Bistro, the famed porcini doughnuts are served with caviar and ranch dressing. | Source: Courtesy Robbie Gomez<\/p>\n

Better yet, RT Bistro has a $25 rotating \u201cburger pour\u201d of red wine. During my visit, the sommelier had opened a magnum of big, hot Napa Valley merlot \u2014 the perfect accompaniment to a juicy puck of beef.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more than a decade, the Rich Table burger wasn\u2019t just a fun secret for those in the know \u2014\u00a0it was almost a badge of honor. Ordering one was a way of signaling belonging in the rustic-chic revolution, when fearless creativity swept over 2010s San Francisco. Going to the market every day wasn\u2019t just bold but practically revolutionary. It made every day an adventure for the kitchen and diners alike.<\/p>\n

Today, off-menu or not, a burger is no longer available at Rich Table. But next door at RT Bistro, chef de cuisine Bill Wang\u2019s version is listed on the menu, any pretense to secrecy abandoned. Consider this availability a declaration of independence from the 13-year-old mother ship, which casts a long shadow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s only one item that\u2019s available at both Rich Table (opens in new tab) and its cozy, 6-week-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[35067,13807,1910,412,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-187595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-eat-here","9":"tag-eat-here-now","10":"tag-hayes-valley","11":"tag-restaurants","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","14":"tag-san-francisco-news","15":"tag-sf","16":"tag-sf-headlines","17":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}