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The mid-Market land grab is alive and well, with restaurants due shortly from the Mission Chinese, AQ, and Maven teams, among others. But one of the original chefs to sign on to a project in the once-ailing corridor won't be opening there after all. As Inside Scoop reports, after two years, Suvir Saran has abandoned plans to open his first San Francisco restaurant, American Masala, on the ground floor of the NEMA building, citing "unanticipated complications and endless delays" over the nearly two years he's been trying to get the restaurant open.
Saran, who earned the first-ever Michelin star for an Indian restaurant at NYC's Devi and has competed on Top Chef Masters, planned to take a less canonically Indian direction with American Masala, using Indian ingredients and spices to enliven American classics like cornbread and fried chicken. Though the NEMA plan is off the table, he still has his sights set on opening in San Francisco, and is looking for a new space. Meanwhile, the NEMA space, with 9,000 square feet, is now up for grabs.
