Proposition Chicken, From Straw Team, Coming to Market

If you've been wondering where Luella chef Ben de Vries has landed since the closing of his Russian Hill restaurant, look no further than Proposition Chicken, the newest in a host of up-and-coming restaurants on Market Street. De Vries is teaming up with owners of Straw, who are launching the restaurant in the former Yum space on Market at Valencia (yes, it's within chicken-crossing-the-road distance of Martuni's).

Co-owner Ari Feingold says that the concept, like the name and logo, is all about choice. "People in San Francisco feel very strongly about their food choices," he says, and points out that the theme is all about "people taking an active stand on how they feel about chicken." The limited menu will make it possible to offer free-range chicken and the best ingredients available, and to make absolutely everything in-house.

Ordering from the menu will follow a simple matrix: first, choose your chicken from the options of fried, flipped (rotisserie) or fake (crispy tofu), then select sandwich, salad or "on the bone" for your style. Salads will be composed of kale, cherry tomatoes, minced cucumber, mint, and agrumato lemon vinaigrette, and sandwiches will come with your choice of chicken on a hoagie roll with homemade mayo, spicy slaw, and chips. The "on the bone" option comes with a buttermilk biscuit with habanero butter, plus spicy slaw. Even gluten-free types can fry hard: the restaurant will offer a gluten-free fried chicken made with tapioca flour.

The restaurant's interior has a casual red, white and wood look, with red metal stools and chicken-inspired art, as well as a large ballot-themed manifesto printed on the wall, which highlight the restaurant's essential principles (see the full ballot here). They'll be serving both lunch and dinner seven days a week from 11am-9pm, and will stay open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays to provide some much needed late-night fare. A beer and wine license is currently in the works, and Proposition Chicken has a planned opening date of October 8th.

· Luella to Close August 31 [~ ESF ~]
· All Straw coverage [~ ESF ~]