Inside Saintly Fare, Ali Wong’s Fictional Restaurant From ‘Always be my Maybe’

Disclaimer: Saintly Fare is not a real restaurant; it’s a fictional one from the Netflix movie Always Be My Maybe, starring Ali Wong as celebrity chef Sasha Tran. Read more about the movie here. So no, it’s not really open, but if it were, this is probably what it would look like if Eater SF wrote about it.

Celebrity chef Sasha Tran, whose popular Los Angeles restaurant has been described as “non-denominational modern Vietnamese fusion,” is headed home to her native city of San Francisco. The chef’s eagerly awaited sequel, Saintly Fare, opens downtown in a large, airy space, following some permitting and construction delays.

Saintly Fare arrives hot off of Tran’s win for Food & Wine’s best new chef. She’s on something of an empire-building tear — Tran is headed to New York City next, where, according to Eater NY, she’s working on a small Korean-inspired bistro. But with her roots in San Francisco’s Richmond District, Tran’s local outpost promises to be a personal, emotional effort.

Netflix

Netflix

Tran has called Saintly Fare “a step up” from her Los Angeles flagship: “trans-denominational.” It’s “transgressive, transforming, [and] transparent,” says the chef.

The menu, which will be printed on rice paper, is below: Expect “elevated” Vietnamese dishes including crab garlic noodles, lemongrass chicken, and soy sauce quail egg wonton crepes. Saintly Fare’s dining room aims to emphasize the original architecture of the space with big, communal tables and GUBI chairs throughout.

Saintly Fare is also Tran’s first business after a personal and professional split with Brandon Choi: The brand manager and king-making restaurateur is reportedly working instead with José Andres and Padma Lakshmi on an as-yet-unnamed concept: Eater SF has reached out for details and will add updates accordingly.