Fifth Floor's New Incarnation Will Be Called Dirty Habit

"Dirty" isn't usually a word that you want to hear in a restaurant's name, but adding a little grunge to their former fine-dining image is clearly the goal for the Fifth Floor team, which is why they've chosen the new moniker Dirty Habit. Chef David Bazirgan, bar manager Brian Means, and pastry chef Francis Ang said before Fifth Floor shuttered that they hoped to transform their former palace of fine dining into a hip bar-centric concept reminiscent of Trick Dog, 15 Romolo, and Bar Agricole, and while that's a tougher task to pull off at a Union Square-adjacent hotel, they've gotten plenty of support from Kimpton and the Hotel Palomar, which is giving them an assist in transforming the space to include an expanded bar and lounge, a fully heated patio with a fire pit, and new private dining areas in the former dining room. A release describes the new look as "sleek San Francisco film noir meets the modern-day digerati set."

"It's about as far from the Fifth Floor as you can go," Bazirgan told Inside Scoop. "Fine dining has its niche, but things have changed. We're running with the times." Accordingly, the restaurant will be rejiggered around Means' cocktail program, which promises to offer plenty of rare booze, barrel-aged and large-format options, and even a few savory drinks. For his part, Bazirgan is contributing a more approachable menu built around small and shared plates and bar snacks, at a much lower price point than Fifth Floor offered. Construction is underway now, with opening targeted for May.

· Fifth Floor to be reborn as Dirty Habit [Inside Scoop]
· Fifth Floor Is Shutting Down, Changing Concepts [~ ESF ~]
· The Best Whiskey Bars in San Francisco [~ ESF ~]