The new restaurant from the couple behind Michelin-starred Lord Stanley (RIP), Carrie and Rupert Blease, and their friend, chef Tommy Halvorson, is coming into focus, and the reservation books are now open.
Wolfsbane, which we first heard hints of in the spring as Lord Stanley was closing its doors, and which had a few more details trickle out in July, is going to be a second act in San Francisco for the Bleases after they created a refined and respected hit right out of the box with their first restaurant in Polk Gulch.
The new Dogpatch spot, in the former digs of Serpentine (2495 Third Street), has now set an opening date of October 15, and reservations are now available.
The name comes from a plant that, according to folklore, healers would give to werewolves so that they could maintain their humanity a bit longer on nights when they felt a change coming on. The team sees Wolfsbane as a kind of metaphor in ever-changing San Francisco, as they say in an announcement, "Not to cast spells, but [the restaurant] will offer the community something just as transformative: a meal that feeds the spirit as much as the body."
The Bleases are teaming on the project with Tommy Halvorson of The Fire Society, who formerly was the chef at Serpentine (the restaurant closed in mid-2020 after 13 years in business). And the space, in a historic industrial building, is being remodeled with the help of Seth Boor of Boor Architects.
"I love that the three of us are completely reimagining this space," says Halvorson. "I am looking forward to welcoming back old friends and having new ones discover Wolfsbane."
Halvorson adds, "I am excited that we are part of the re-emergence of genuine culinary experiences in San Francisco."
The culinary experience at Wolfsbane will center on a seasonally changing, nine-course tasting menu, anchored by a reportedly showstopping heritage chicken baked in a sourdough bread shell, with truffle and poultry jus. Rupert Blease earlier told the Chronicle that the dish took a lot of trial and error, based on historic recipes, to get just right.
"It's a dish that has its place in history, but can be revisited in a more beautiful, modern kind of way," Blease said.
The menu will also feature a couple of Lord Stanley staples, including a George Orwell-inspired "pain au jus," a dish of fresh sourdough with red wine sauce for dipping, in a nod to Orwell writing about living in Paris and subsisting only on bread and wine. The Bleases said it was one of their favorite things to eat after service at Lord Stanley, so it has made its way here.
Also familiar to Lord Stanley diners will be a dish of onion petals in sherry vinegar, slightly reinterpreted.
Other dishes will include a scallop baked in its shell, with verjus braissage, celery root, and vanilla.
Blease promises the food will remain "delicious, surprising, and playful," and that Wolfsbane will be a "creative, warm and relaxing restaurant that showcases the best the region has to offer."
A brief a la carte menu of small dishes will be available to accompany cocktails at the bar as well. And the new beverage program will draw in part from Halvorson's Kentucky roots, with a well-curated selection of bourbons and whiskeys.
The team also says that the Turntable at Lord Stanley practice of inviting visiting chefs to create pop-up experiences at the space will continue at Wolfsbane as well.
Wolfsbane will be open Tuesday to Saturday, and it will be an intimate dining experience -- with just 18 seats in the main dining room, and 20 in a private dining room. The tasting menu is $248 per person, exclusive of beverages, and according to OpenTable, after tax and service charges, that comes to $339 per person.