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Ayala, a slick seafood restaurant at the ground floor of Union Square’s Hotel G, has quietly shuttered after a year in business, but its space at 398 Geary Boulevard won’t be empty for long. That’s because Timothy Hollingsworth, the chef who won Netflix’s The Final Table competition show, is opening a restaurant called All These Years in the space, with a contemporary American menu intended to honor “America’s diverse food culture.”
Ayala executive chef Melissa Perfit — herself a TV alum, with a brief spin on Season 15 of Top Chef — tells the SF Chronicle that Ayala shuttered last weekend, but didn’t give a reason for its closure. By Tuesday, a new tenant was announced: via press release, a Hollingsworth spokesperson says that All These Years would open there in spring of 2020.
Hollingsworth is likely familiar to those who watched The Final Table, a Netflix series from 2018 in which (this is from the show’s description page) “teams of elite chefs vie to impress the world’s toughest palates as they whip up iconic dishes from nine nations in this star-packed competition.” In an interview with Eater LA regarding his experience on The Final Table, Hollingsworth says that “the whole purpose of getting on the show was the marketing value that Netflix has,” as an appearance on the series might bolster attendance at his restaurants, which include a Downtown LA spot called Otium and a Los Angeles chicken stand called C.J. Boyds.
This isn’t the first time Hollingsworth’s work will be on display in the Bay Area, however, as his career began at The French Laundry, where he worked “his way up from commis, to sous chef, to chef de cuisine during his 13-year tenure” at the lawsuit-plagued Napa Valley spot. His accomplishments there were enough to score him a spot on the SF Chronicle’s Rising Star Chef list for 2010 (an all-male roster that included Jean Paul Carmona, Charlie Kleinman, Perry Hoffman, and Joshua Skenes), and James Beard recognition as Rising Star Chef of the Year.
In addition to these other accomplishments, Hollingsworth is also the founder of “a chef-inspired streetwear line,” his spokesperson says. It’s called “Baste Apparel” and, based on the products that appear on its website, appears to be a bunch of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats with the word “BASTE” on them so, yeah, there’s that. It’s apparently all part of Hollingsworth’s plan “to expand from just being a chef to incorporating more lifestyle brands and marketing,” he told Eater LA in January. “I definitely want to be involved with more TV projects,” Hollingsworth says, and “I would love to collaborate more on products, clothing, fashion, shoes, and other outlets.”
