More news and notes

Nightbird flies: Kim Alter has opened her longawaited Hayes Valley restaurant Nightbird. The endeavor, along with an adjacent six-seat cocktail bar named Linden Room, takes over two former restaurant spaces at 330 Gough St. Nightbird offers a five-course menu for $125 that currently includes an heirloom tomato dish with oysters poached in dashi broth, as well as main meat course of deboned, rolled and roasted rabbit served with summer squash, house-made vadouvan, and roasted, pickled and raw peaches. (415) 829-7565. www.nightbird restaurant.com Anthony Strong leaves Delfina: It’s been 11 years since Anthony Strong joined Delfina Restaurant Group. In 2005, the chef was newly arrived to San Francisco when he spent his last $50 on a meal at Craig and Annie Stoll’s 18th Street flagship. It was love at first bite. Since snagging that first job in Delfina’s kitchen, he’s evolved into the role of the restaurant group’s executive chef, helping open Roman-inspired Locanda on Valencia Street, as well as Pizzeria Delfina, which now has four locations around San Francisco and the Peninsula. However, at the end of September, the onetime Chronicle Rising Star Chef will be leaving. “I know it’s time,” says Strong. As far as what’s next, well, that’s up in the air. He wants to open a restaurant of his own, the exact shape of what that project will take is still to be determined. Keller alums go south: Former French Laundry master sommelier Dennis Kelly and former French Laundry sous chef Anthony Secviar are plotting a new restaurant of their own. According to Palo Alto Online, the pair have signed a deal for the ground-floor space of a 26,000-square-foot threestory office building at 260 California Ave. in Palo Alto. For now, Kelly is staying mum on the details of the aptly named Protege Restaurant, but according to the restaurant’s website, look for a late 2016 opening.