AL’s Place Debuts New Omnivorous Tasting Menu in the Name of Inclusivity

When AL’s Place opened in the Mission in 2015, it quickly earned national accolades for its inventive focus on produce. While chef Aaron London’s Michelin-starred restaurant was never strictly vegetarian, it did put vegetables in the center of the plate, relegating meat to side dish status. But as the years have gone by, AL’s Place has widened its viewpoint — much of the menu is still vegetable-focused, but there’s far more animal proteins on the menu than ever before.

Yet, as AL’s Place has added more meat and fish, its popular family-style tasting menu — ordered by 65 percent of guests — has not caught up. That changed this month, when AL’s Place debuted a new omnivorous family-style tasting menu. Now, groups will get a selection of dishes from every section of the menu, including the larger meat-focused section, which is labeled “limited availability” because the kitchen makes less of those dishes each night. (Of course, vegetarian groups can still request a plant-based tasting menu instead.)

AL’s Place

Why the change? Apparently London felt like the set menu was no longer showcasing the best of what AL’s Place could do — and now it can also accommodate groups who want meat but don’t want to order a la carte.