What You’ll Be Dining On In the Dark at Alamo Drafthouse at the New Mission

After years of development, the New Mission Alamo Drafthouse is mere days away from opening its doors to the movie- and food-loving public. The $10 million restoration is finally complete, as is the menu from chef Ronnie New (Comstock Saloon, Magnolia Brewpub) and cocktail menu from barman Isaac Shumway (Tosca Café).

The theater's full-service kitchen will deliver a full menu, ranging from snacky things to sandwiches, salads and pizzas, directly to movie-goers' seats by "stealth trained servers." According to New, putting together a menu that diners can eat in the dark was part of the challenge of this project. "Coming from a standard kitchen with restaurant service, it was definitely difficult to write a menu for this kind of venue," said New. "My main criteria was food that was comfortable, familiar, easy to eat in the dark, and most of all, delicious." Additionally, the menu is built for volume, considering that 320 people are essentially ordering at the same time.

As for eating in the dark, "handheld" is key (the idea of fumbling around with utensils in a darkened theater isn't very tempting), as is food that's not overly messy or loud. Despite that, fans of the Drafthouse's other locations will be pleased to know that their signature chips and queso will be on the menu, a holdover from the original location in Austin, TX. However, that's about it— San Francisco's menu is the first of the Drafthouses to run a completely original menu, tailored to suit the city's wide variety of diners and highlight local ingredients. That will include items like a vegetarian beet reuben, featuring smoked beets rubbed with pastrami spice, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, Swiss cheese and rye bread from Wise Son's Deli and a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, with spicy fried chicken and housemade pickles on white bread. "The movies we are showing are for everyone, so the food will be too," said New

Alamo Drafthouse New Mission Food Menu