Alta CA, Seasonal Elegance in Mid-Market

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Originally scheduled to arrive yesterday, Alta CA, the fifth restaurant from the Daniel Patterson Group, ended up needing one more day to find its footing, but will open tonight. The first higher-end restaurant to open on this stretch of Market, it's something of a trial balloon for the loads of tech workers currently occupying the offices of Twitter, Square, One Kings Lane, Yammer, and other tech companies transplanted to the neighborhood. Appropriately, it's a more casual space than Patterson's other SF restaurant, Coi, and designed to serve a variety of needs: power lunches, after-work cocktails, midday ice-cream cravings, and elegant dinners.

Chef Yoni Levy, most recently of Flora in Oakland, is running the kitchen, and his menu has a slight Eastern European bent, with dishes like housemade pastrami with mustard, a trio of bialys (poppy, onion, sage), and smoked trout with yogurt, beet, and horseradish. Other comforting options include a confit chicken leg with apricot and grains, a slow-cooked pork shoulder with clams, and a burger accompanied by housemade potato chips. DPG pastry chef Matt Tinder is offering The Malted at Alta, a soft-serve ice cream concept, for dessert; two flavors a day will be available twirled together or separately, and come pre-served with toppings. Diners can enjoy the ice cream at their table or the bar, or take it to go. Levy will also be offering daily pre-set to-go lunches for the local office crowd. Here's the full food and drink menu.

On the beverage side, cocktails are handled by Ashley Miller (Tres, Hakkasan), who's utilizing lots of housemade tinctures and sodas in drinks like the Mr. Ed (bourbon, clove, mint, black walnut bitters) and the Doc Holiday (vodka, huckleberry, lime, housemade ginger beer). Four local beers from the likes of Almanac and Faction are on tap, while an extensive wine program spans the globe and includes a number of vintage wines poured by the glass using a Coravin. Teetotalers and lunchers will also be able to drink well, with two kinds of housemade ginger beer, celery-yuzu soda, apple-thyme spritzes, and other concoctions.

The 65-seat space was put together by go-to DPG designer Scott Kester, and features a striking floor-to-ceiling shelving unit through which the open kitchen is visible. Wood tables, elegant lighting fixtures, and vintage Danish school chairs render the space nearly unrecognizable from its days as a Chinese restaurant. Hours will be Monday-Friday, 11 am-2 am, and Saturday-Sunday, 5 pm-2 am.

· Alta CA Gets Bar Manager, GM, and Ice Cream Shop [~ ESF ~]
· Yoni Levy Taking the Chef Job at Patterson's Alta CA [~ ESF ~]
· SF's 10 Most Anticipated Fall Restaurants [~ ESF ~]