On March 30th, Birch & Rye — the Russian eatery in San Francisco that offered healthier interpretations of the cuisine — will permanently close after just two years in business.
San Francisco’s restaurant scene is in a bit of a dichotomous space as of late. One on hand (side of the table?), there’s a renaissance of pop-up eateries and fresh openings that aim to expand the city’s gastronomic landscape. But on the other hand (again… side of the table?), there’s, simultaneously, a wave of restaurant closings; the Mission’s We Be Sushi rolled its last Maki on February 29th, according to Mission Local.
Now, Noe Valley’s celebrated Birch & Rye, which opened in February of 2022, is joining the list of sudden restaurant closings this year, with its last day of business scheduled to occur on March 30th. The decision wasn’t easy, and it was founded after “careful considerations” were accessed, according to a press release announcing its imminent closing.
“We wanted to present a new and elevated lens on Russian cuisine,” tells chef and owner Anya El-Wattar-Watter in the aforenoted release. “Doing so required working with labor-intensive techniques and using premium ingredients, which made it challenging to keep this concept affordable for the neighborhood.”
El-Wattar waxes that she and her team remain incredibly proud of the work and gastronomic fare that came out of its kitchen at 1320 Castro Street — “[we] made so many of our dishes from scratch, from the rye bread and cultured butter to the smoked fish and fermented vegetables, to our line of vodka infusions.”
Alas, the concept proved “unsustainable,” and, rather than compromising on quality, El-Watter has decided to close the business.
El-Wattar notes that she’ll miss the eatery and its daily routines; “there’s so much that I’m going to miss about running this restaurant, from feeling the enthusiastic buzz of a full dining room to making individual connections with guests,” she continues.
El-Wattar plans on pursuing other new culinary ventures in the near future and will announce those as those outlines crystallize. Here’ hoping El-Watter and whatever team she brings onto those projects can experience the joy of seeing the “look on people’s faces when they try a new ingredient, like sea buckthorn, for the first time” that she fondly reminisces about.
// Birch & Rye will offer limited service to dinners only until Saturday, March 30, 2024; reservations are highly encouraged and are available on OpenTable.
