Beloved by decades of mayors, a Taraval Street icon reopens after 2 years

Dominic Di Grande of The Gold Mirror (opens in new tab), the old-school Italian spot on Taraval Street, had a problem on his hands.

Ahead of the 56-year-old restaurant’s grand reopening on Saturday, he and his brother Roberto were given strict instructions by just about everyone they know: Don’t touch the menu. “We’ve had hundreds of emails saying, ‘Please don’t change anything!’” Dominic says. “Everyone’s got their favorite thing. They’re like, ‘Hey, is it still gonna be on the menu?’”

Loyal patrons want things to stay the same, but every restaurant has to evolve. And the interior of The Gold Mirror, a staple of the city’s west side, underwent a top-to-bottom transformation during the 2-year closure. So some changes to the menu were in order, too. Old-timers may be stunned at the magnitude of the upgrade by design firm Cult Revival (opens in new tab). Almost every aspect of the interior is new, from the chandeliers to the seats to the marble bar top. Gone are the faux-stone walls and oversized lanterns; in their place are dark paint, sculpted seashells, and elegant sconces.

The brothers, both chef-owners, did their best to listen to their legions of regulars, but some changes to the . Fan favorites like petrale sole, calamari with garlic and pepperoncini, and veal saltimbocca will still be available when the restaurant begins serving diners on Oct. 29. But a few dishes — they’re coy about exactly which — have indeed come off the menu, though they will reappear occasionally as specials. Plus, the brothers aren’t against satiating their fans’ cravings for nostalgia. “If we have the ingredients, we’ll make it for them,” Dominic says.

There are additions, as well, including house-made Sicilian fennel sausage and a “fior de carciofo” agnolotti filled with artichokes sourced from Castroville. It’s a time-consuming dish. “I take the whole sheet of pasta and wrap it in a spiral, then stuff it so that it becomes an artichoke rose,” Dominic says. 

He confesses to a bit of trepidation after spending 22 months away from a kitchen he’s worked in since the seventh grade under his father, Giuseppe, who opened The Gold Mirror in 1969. Apart from occasional gigs at Sonoma County’s exclusive Bohemian Club, Dominic has been off since January 2024. “I have to get back in shape before I can execute a menu this large,” he says. “It’s like a half-marathon.”

The renovation also saw the restrooms updated and the upstairs dining area given extra breathing room by lowering the floor three-and-a-half inches — a herculean undertaking and much of the reason the renovation took longer than the initial estimate. Framed proclamations from politicians of all stripes remain on the walls, a display of affection from decades’ worth of supervisors and mayors. 

The Di Grandes invited every dignitary they could to Saturday’s opening party, and yes, Mayor Daniel Lurie is confirmed to attend. So is Ethel Davies, 104 years old and the youngest sister of former Mayor George Christopher, who left office in the 1960s. “She’s my next-door neighbor,” Dominic says. “She’ll sit at a bar and have a martini.”

Then there are the gold mirrors themselves, which dominate the dining room and are intertwined with the space’s history. A previous renovation, a quarter-century ago, uncovered two additional reflective surfaces, each depicting a gold-colored nude admiring herself — a mirror in a mirror, in other words. They came from a long-gone Fillmore jazz club that, as it happens, was also called The Gold Mirror. One nude figure occupies a pride of place at the end of a corridor near the restrooms, and Roberto says it was Lee Houskeeper, a well-connected San Francisco public relations veteran, who named her Goldie. (“Confirmed,” Housekeeper says, adding that he’s thrilled to try the veal.)

In the meantime, both Di Grandes are looking forward to working in a brand-new kitchen, newly filled with toys. Which piece of equipment are they most excited about?

“The cash register,” Roberto says.