Russian Hill site in store for couple’s dream spot
San Francisco is the promised land for Rupert and Carrie Blease.
After years of work, the husband- and- wife tandem are finally opening their own restaurant — right on Russian Hill’s prominent corner of Polk and Broadway.
The two chefs met more than a decade ago, in the same way that most chef couples do: in the heat and trenches of a fancy restaurant kitchen — in this case, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Raymond Blanc’s two- star Michelin destination in Oxfordshire, England.
Following years at Le Manoir, the two chefs — he’s British, she’s from California — moved to New York, finedining soldiers living the Manhattan line- cook life together. Rupert worked under Thomas Keller at Per Se, while Carrie was a short subway ride away at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill. A few years later, they traveled back to Europe to help a friend open a London restaurant.
In 2011, the Bleases decided that it was time to put down some roots — and that San Francisco was the place to start their own restaurant.
Rather than dive into a new restaurant in a new city, they opted to get acquainted with the local food scene in the only way they knew: by working in restaurant kitchens. Carrie spent a few years as a sous chef at Commonwealth; Rupert did the same at nearby Central Kitchen.
Now, they’ll finally get to be in the same kitchen once again, opening the 40- seat Lord Stanley in the space of a former Thai restaurant ( 2065 Polk St.) in June.
The moniker is not derived from a historical figure nor a Sherlock Holmes villain, but rather from the neighborhood pub that the pair frequented in England. Stanley is also Rupert’s father’s name.
Though the Bleases’ resumes are dotted with white tablecloth finedining palaces, they want Lord Stanley to be a more casual place, perhaps more along the lines of Commonwealth and Central Kitchen.
“We’re going to keep things as simple as possible,” says Rupert Blease. The dining space, designed by Boor Bridges Architecture ( the Mill, Trou Normand), will be split between a main room downstairs and a communal table on the mezzanine, and a standup bar will serve bar snacks, beer and wine.
The menu will include dishes like pickled shellfish, or confit salmon with wood sorrel, yellow potatoes and beurre blanc; there might even be some British influences here and there. The Bleases envision a format that includes both a tasting menu ( seven courses for $ 70), and a compact a la carte menu, although that may evolve to a fixed- price menu, with choices.
Lord Stanley is merely the latest newcomer to hit the Russian Hill stretch of Polk Street, which in the last two years has seen an explosion of fresh restaurants, ranging from meat specialist Belcampo to acai bowl purveyor Basik Cafe to trendy 1760. Up the hill, Stones Throw and Union Larder have become neighborhood haunts.
But it’s not a simple market, as proved by Verbena, a modern vegetable- centric restaurant that closed after just 15 months, only to be reborn as a more downscale restaurant, appropriately dubbed Reverb. And neighborhood standbys — the Bell Tower, Shanghai Kelly’s and fancier institutions like La Folie, Acquerello and House of Prime Rib — remain strong.
Later this year, the area will also see a new patisserie from the Mission’s Craftsman & Wolves, as well as a new bar/ restaurant in the former Pesce space, named House Rules. Banking on Bluestem: For many young chefs, including the Bleases, the dream is a restaurant to call your own. But Jeffrey Banker is singing a slightly different tune these days.
Banker closed his Pacific Heights restaurant, Baker & Banker, last year, citing the difficulty of doing business as a small restaurant in San Francisco — not to mention a desire to spend more time with his kids.
Next month, he will start a new professional chapter as the chef of Bluestem Brasserie ( 1 Yerba Buena Lane).
Bluestem owners Stacy and Adam Jed hope Banker’s arrival solidifies the kitchen as they start to consider new projects.
“As we prepare for growth and development within our organization, there’s something we had to do — bring in somebody who can help hone, tighten up and bring our product to the next level,” says Adam Jed, who worked with Banker at Postrio in the late 1990s.
The division of labor — letting chefs cook, letting owners run the business — is an appeal for all parties at the 220- seat downtown restaurant.
“It’s exciting to take what I was doing at my restaurant and not have the noise of running day- to- day operations, and really focus again on cooking,” Banker says.
“Owning a restaurant, I learned a different perspective on things. It made me understand the need to work in unison to make it a sustainable business that grows.”
Jed concurs: “So often people get into the restaurant business and they get freaked out, because, gosh, you have to run a business and learn about all these policies, learn about labor laws, build a website, and set up your Quickbooks. ... ( We want) to be able to say, ‘ Go create.’ That’s the whole reason you got into the business.”