Top Chef Master Suvir Saran Opening Mid-Market Spot

NYC-based Suvir Saran, who won the first-ever U.S. Michelin star for an Indian restaurant with Devi, has been out of the kitchen for the past year and a half, working on a cookbook. Now, the openly gay HIV/AIDS activist is ready to return to cooking, and as Inside Scoop reports, he's decided to move to SF. More specifically, he's opening a restaurant on the ground floor of the forthcoming NEMA complex at 10th and Market, located directly across from Twitter and around the corner from Square. The still-unnamed 9,000-square-foot restaurant will be huge, with 100-120 seats and a full bar.

Saran, who has appeared on Top Chef Masters, says that the food will be farm-to-table, filtered through his signature blend of Indian tradition and fine dining. He wants the food to be affordable enough that diners could visit every day if they chose, with cocktails and finger food at the bar for the after-work crowd. Saran had initially planned to move to L.A., but was dissuaded by Joyce Goldstein, who convinced him to choose the Bay Area instead. After examining space in Ghirardelli Square, he chose mid-Market, putting him in the company of Daniel Patterson, the AQ team, Small Foods, and other tenants revitalizing the corridor. Saran will move into one of NEMA's new apartments in January, and hopes to open sometime next spring.

· Suvir Saran Opening Restaurant in SF [Chron]
· Indian Fine-Dining Pioneer Devi Has Closed [~ ENY ~]
· Crenn, Absinthe Group Eyeing Mid-Market [~ ESF ~]
· Daniel Patterson to Open Casual Spot at 10th and Market [~ ESF ~]