One of San Francisco’s most lauded omakase restaurants is set to open a Japanese-influenced bar in the 100-year-old Art Deco building that once housed Mourad.
The yet-to-be-named bar at 140 New Montgomery St. in SoMa is a project from the team behind The Shota, a 6-year-old, Michelin-starred restaurant in the Financial District where dinner at the chef’s counter can run to $300 or more per person.
A representative of 140 New Montgomery declined to comment, but a liquor license application under the name Comorebi indicates that the business is attached to Ingi “Shota” Son, chef-owner of The Shota.
Son confirmed an opening likely in March. The bar will have Japanese influences and focus on a variety of liquors, he told The Standard. While it will serve food, it won’t be the omakase fare, such as bluefin tuna handrolls, that fans of The Shota might expect. “It will be simple bar food,” Son said, adding that the space has a patio that will open at a later date.
The building is a marquee address that has been home to several high-end bars and restaurants, including Mourad, which Mourad Lahlou operated for 10 years before abruptly closing it in October with a blistering attack on San Francisco. However, Shar Guillermo, a manager at The Shota, confirmed that the forthcoming bar will occupy not the former Mourad space but one that housed the bar Trou Normand, owned by Thad Vogler, who also ran the defunct Bar Agricole.
A 26-story Art Deco tower, 140 New Montgomery was designed by renowned San Francisco architect Timothy Pflueger. Son has an apparent fondness for statement buildings, as The Shota is located on the ground floor of 115 Sansome St., a 14-story Beaux Arts structure built in 1912 as the headquarters for Standard Oil.