A Look At The Menu and Inside Dixie, Opening SOON

Grid View

• A look at the length of the space.
• This is the future bar. Those tiles are meant to look like wood. Gas lamps will stud the back bar.
• This is the future lounge area.
• See the kitchen has been closed in with the same tiles that line the back bar.
• Here's one of the pony walls put up to divide the space into more intimate nooks. That wood comes from a former Sonoma barn.
• Inside the expansive walk-in wine storage room.
• Chef Humphries stands proud at the main entrance.
• Nice patio, huh?
• A bar of sorts will be set up here in the kitchen. Tasting menu diners will sit here to enjoy the final course.
• Chef Humphries holds up one of the gas lamps that will hang inside.

Late last year, Eater shared lots of details about the future Dixie: chef-owner Joseph Humphrey's planned interactive tasting menu, Michael Brennan's big redesign, and an in-house cheese and charcuterie making program, among many other things. This week, chef offers up a tour of his future restaurant, and you can take a look inside yourself via the gallery above.

Banquettes and the rest of the furniture is coming in over the weekend, and Humphrey says the incoming "lighting is a big deal." NOLA style lamps (pictured above) and black steel antique-looking mirrors are being put in behind the bar, and similarly styled gas lamps will pepper the interior. A prominent feature will be the line of Southern-style ceiling fans running down the center of the barrel shaped ceiling overhead. Think romantic New Orleans street vibe meets expansive Southern plantation, and there you have it.

Since this is Humphrey's baby, of course the menu will reflect influences from his years earning Michelin stars at Meadowood and Cavallo Point, but it will also have continual nods to his childhood just outside Tallahassee, Fla. Bay Area, Asian and Southern influences will all be at play.

An early peek at the menu showed bar snacks ($6-9) like deviled eggs with fried chicken liver, and gulf shrimp glazed with Sopchoppy sugar cane syrup. Things continue into an "oysters" section, detailing a few raw, grilled and fried options. Then on to about seven starters ($13-15) like chicken fried quail with a roasted garlic waffle and spicy cabbage. Eight entrees include a local take on chicken and dumplings made with Marin Sun Farms birds and ricotta gnudi, and a riff on miso black cod served with bourbon, apple, leeks, farro and buttermilk. It all wraps up with chess pie, or coconut layer cake and roasted pineapple for dessert.

Humphries adds that the tasting menu will be "involved," beginning with a series of amuse, then into five courses, a pre-dessert. Final dessert and mignardise will be served in the kitchen. (See the future kitchen tasting bar in the gallery above.)

Meanwhile, Chris Wright is putting the beverage program to menus soon. Cocktails will include Southern style drinks like a gin fizz, an old fashioned and a seasonal twist on the mint julep—probably something with peaches since they'll open around June 1. There will be eight beers and two local SodaWorks sodas on tap. Since we're in the Presidio here, this also means George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch wines will be in the house.

At this point, the aforementioned fire pits are on hold due to all the extra red tape involved. But Huphries still has them and possibly a retractable roof in the long term plan. For now, he's just focused on getting open in time for memorial day.

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