BEESTRO BUZZES BACK
Popular lunch spot returns with new downtown location
Once upon a time, there was a place called The Beestro. It was small and operated out of a literal hole in the wall, and in the ecosystem of fine dining restaurants and fajita food carts that constitute most of the lunch options downtown, it was a fast, locally owned, grab-and-go spot that inexplicably churned out fresh falafel, salads and sandwiches in minutes for under $20. Everyone loved it. And then it closed. Usually when something dies, it’s gone forever. But for those holding out hope amid the rumors and fits and starts, their faith has been rewarded. Because two years after it shut its iron gates, The Beestro has returned bigger than ever, ready to minister to the needs of its devotees.
The new Beestro, brought to you by owner/chef Greg Menke, officially opens Wednesday in the Plaza Galeria. Locals used to give directions to it by calling it “the one with the Subway.” Now it’s “the one with The Beestro,” since it took over (and completely revamped) Subway’s former space, expanding its footprint considerably. The new Beestro, which you can get to from either the San Francisco Street/Plaza entrance or the Water Street entrance, boasts an auxiliary dining room and a patio overlooking Water Street with rail seating perfect for people-watching. The branding is identical, the flavor profile largely the same — even most of the menu items, especially the favorites, will be back just as they were.
The operation has been streamlined to remove any roadblocks to people getting their food in time to actually sit down and consume it. You can order ahead, but not over the phone — instead, log onto The Beestro website (the ordering module will be up and running in about a week) and put in your order there, even minutes before you want it. (This is also the best
way to do group orders; while Beestro will no longer cater, Menke says he can accommodate groups of up to 20 people with to-go orders placed online.)
The Beestro also will be one of the few downtown businesses to implement a no-tipping policy, paying its employees a higher hourly wage instead, a model slowly being adopted in bigger cities. Less time at the register means more time to munch falafel. Yet prices remain the same or are lower — a cup of soup and half sandwich will run you $10, a sandwich about $8-$9, a salad bowl $9-$12.
“I always called Marcy Street my ‘prototype,’ ” Menke says. “We experimented with a lot of things over there.”
Which is amazing, considering that The Beestro’s original Marcy Street space did not actually have a kitchen. All the food was prepared off-site in a commissary kitchen and brought over every day, which limited, in some ways, what could be made to order. The kitchen in the new Plaza Galeria spot is smaller than the commissary but far more convenient. Menke, wellseasoned after years of cafe ownership, wants to focus more on making things to order, honing his menu accordingly.
“We want to get more into the Mediterranean ingredients rather than the Asian and the Mexican,” Menke says. “Once you get into mixing all those things, you end up with a long ingredient list; it’s hard to keep things fresh.”
Still, most beloved Beestro favorites remain, including the pressed sandwiches and panini (the Cubano with shredded pork roast and ham, the brisket-filled Reuben, the Rachel with turkey breast and Jarlsberg, and the cheesy tuna melt, for example, have returned). The Beestro’s formerly prepackaged salad-and-grain bowls can now be made to order in a pick-your-deliciousness fashion: Choose between basmati rice or quinoa tabbouleh, then add some of The Beestro’s perfect falafel (now made hot and fresh on-site instead of served cold), hummus and/or baba ganoush, grilled chicken, steak, lamb kofta (yes, the kofta is back) or salmon brochettes. You can also get the same things as a stuffed pita topped with an explosion of fresh salad greens and tahini.
Certain things were shelved out of deference to the smaller kitchen — the spring rolls are no more (though they may return as a special) and the daily rotating soups have been replaced with regular house soups: a red lentil kabocha and a green chile chicken meatball, with additional soups of the day in the colder months.
The honey and bee imagery, once a prominent fixture, has been downplayed in this new incarnation, but the concept is still just as much about industrious, humming efficiency. Menke is particularly devoted to serving his longtime customer base of locals and employees of downtown businesses, most of whom have limited time for lunch.
“We cannot lose the speed,” Menke says. “We have to be as fast or faster. We built our reputation on speed and quality. We can’t take more of your time.”
Because Menke, ultimately, wants people to be able to get their lunch and eat it too.