After La Urbana closed its doors on a prime Divisadero Street location last year, it sat vacant for months. Now, SF’s most prolific restaurant group will open a new restaurant in its space almost exactly one year later. The new restaurant’s cuisine, name, and all the rest, has yet to be announced, but it is slated to open in November of this year.
Back of the House, Adriano Paganini’s empire, will have opened four new restaurants this year: A Mano, The Bird, Flores, and the aforementioned Divisadero concept. It is now a major restaurant group with a pool of talent from chefs to managers; giving them room to expand and projects to helm is part of Paganini’s growth plan, which includes many of the cities most vibrant neighborhoods.
“Once you have a big team, you have to do things to keep the big team busy,” said Paganini. “People want to advance and grow.” The space, says Paganini, is important, but the concept comes first. “We don’t usually take over a space and decide concept after; we always start with a passion.”
At any given time there are several ideas percolating, from fast-casual to full-service. “It’s a complex process,” Paganini told Eater. “I’m actually trying to stay out of trouble; lately there have been too many good opportunities. We’re only taking advantage of a very small fraction of that.”
Though the world will have to wait to find out what Paganini’s newest venture will be, it’s a safe bet that it will be a passion project from one of his chefs and collaborators. And if his other restaurants (which include Super Duper, Uno Dos Tacos, Delarosa, Beretta, Starbelly, and others) are any indication, the odds are in the favor of a casual neighborhood restaurant. “The reason we open restaurants like this because yes, they work and they make money, but we actually like the casualness of places,” said Paganini. “These are places [the team] like to eat. “
The new restaurant will join the growing restaurant scene on Divisadero, which includes the upcoming Che Fico and Theorita, recently saw the addition of Sightglass, and Namu Stonepot.
- Back of the House [Official Site]