Chez Papa: not quite ready for its close-up.
1) At long last, tomorrow marks the grand opening ceremony of Mint Plaza. At 10am, Mayor Gavin Newsom, fresh off a Hawaiian vacay, will ring in the object of everyone's desire. On the speaker list with Mr. PlumpJack: Supervisor Chris Daly, Martin Building Company President and CEO Patrick McNerney, Martin Building Company Director of Development Michael Yarne and U.S. Mint Project Executive Director Erik Christoffersen.
2) Also on the jazz-accompanied menu for tomorrow's ceremony: coffee by Blue Bottle, pastries by 'wichcraft and hors d’oeuvres by Chez Papa.
3) Now the bad news. Despite aims to open on Labor Day tomorrow, Chez Papa won't be open for business when Gav graces Mint Plaza. However, the place continues to take shape, but as the above photo can attest, there's still lots of pre-finishing to be done: ceilings, paint, floors, the works. Eater tentative projection: Christmas.
4) Elsewhere in the restaurant doings, the Sushi Groove/Dolce Vita murkiness continues. Despite reports that Italian was in, now it seems sushi isn't yet out of the question and the only update we have from this front is that they are still working on Sushi Groove lease. Stay tuned.
5) Lots of work continues at the empty restaurant space, with Limon still in the negotiation phase. Quoth a restaurateur, "I find it pretty remarkable that they keep working on that space without a surefire tenant. Maybe it's crazy."
6) Rounding out the restaurant quartet is the Blue Bottle Cafe. For the complete word on the coffee doings, please do check out the most recent installment of Fall Tracking Report.
· Mint Plaza Update: T-Minus Two Weeks [~ESF~]
· Mint Plaza Extravaganza: The Homestretch (Maybe) [~ESF~]
