Family-Style Oro Opening Next Week in Mid-Market with Lots of Shared Plates

Oro, one of fall's most anticipated restaurants, is officially opening next Wednesday, September 9 (UPDATE: Oro will now open Friday, September 11) in Mid-Market's Mint Plaza with a menu that's definitely meant for sharing. Chef Jason Fox (Commonwealth) and partner Timothy Felkner (Vigilante Hospitality) created a concept more casual than Commonwealth this go round, though Fox said you can expect the same quality of food from the same local vendors. The menu, below, offers Fox's take on Californian fare with Mediterranean influences, which translates to dishes like roasted whole rock cod with cabbage, summer pepper and celery salsa and beef tartare with cured egg yolk, elderberry capers and flax seed cracker. It's all organized into bites, snacks, small and large plates so that the table orders and eats together to try as much as possible, plus there's a whole-animal charcuterie program from chef de cuisine Travis Day (Central Kitchen, Yoshi's). "This is little more rustic [than Commonwealth]," Fox told Eater. "We're doing more larger-format stuff, and for me it's a bigger space, so I can do things just a little differently."

That includes Fox's blind tasting menu, which will be a mix of specials and dishes from the menu and is designed to give diners the insider experience. "When chefs go out, we're lucky enough that we get treated really well where our friends in the industry are bringing us dishes, so we wanted to make that the experience for everyone," he explained. "It will be the dishes we really think are great that day. Maybe we'll get a cut of meat with some lamb kidneys, and we'll only be able to serve that on the tasting menu that day. We will have lots of different little surprises we can do."

Oro's bar manager Randy Mariani (Tupper & Reed, Foreign Cinema) created a craft cocktail menu with ingredients made in-house like shrubs and syrups, and wine director Kelly Evans (Saison) put together a wine list with over 100 bottles, plus local draft microbrews.

Check out the food menu below (prices aren't ready quite yet), and stay tuned next week for more details and a look inside on opening day.