Check out The Saratoga’s Posh Menu of Upscale Comfort Food

The Saratoga, the newest addition to Bacchus Management’s stable of upscale restaurants that includes Spruce and The Village Pub, opens Thursday in the Tenderloin (1000 Larkin) with a menu of upscale comfort food and shelves of rare liquors. According to founder Tim Stannard, the idea is to create a great bar that also happens to have a Michelin-quality restaurant within. That means a solid menu, and an outrageous selection of cocktails, vintage Chartreuse, and other hard-to-find booze from all over the world.

Bacchus’ executive chef/partner Mark Sullivan created the menu, which will be served both at dinner and late-night in the upstairs bar dining area, and the smaller 36-seat dining room below. Divided into snacks, vegetables, hearty, and sweets, the menu focuses on use of ingredients that are sourced from the restaurant group’s farm in the Santa Cruz mountains, SMIP Ranch. That means it will change based on whatever is delivered to the kitchen at any given time.

The snacks are a savory bunch, ranging from ‘Toga Tots with Fiscalini cheddar, chorizo, and scallions, to Hamachi crudo with pear, mushrooms and pickled chilis. And of course, a burger to rival the famed Spruce burger: The Saratoga Burger, with taleggio cheese and slaw, on an onion bun. Most appealing are the upgraded versions of French classics, like the berbere-spiced chicken paillard with labneh, and steak au poivre made with Flannery’s dry-aged NY steak.

Cocktails are from Spruce barman Brandon Clements, who has put together a serious selection of drinks like the Bijou, made with gin, green chartreuse, sweet vermouth and orange bitters, and the Walking Dead, with rum, lemon, papaya, pineapple, pomegranate and tiki bitters. There’s also a large format option for $100, the Stag Special filled with filled with bourbon, rum, maraschino, green tea, pineapple, lemon, and mint.

The Saratoga officially opens Thursday, November 10, daily from 5 p.m.- 1 p.m.

• Spruce, Cafe des Amis Team Sets Its Sights on the Tendernob [ESF]
• The Saratoga SF [Official Site]