Super Fly

the tablehopper | 11:24 am | August 7, 2008 | Foodie 411

Chef Hoss Zare, formerly executive chef at Ecco, Aromi, Zaré, Bistro Zaré and Zaré Napa, is the new chef-owner of San Francisco’s famed Fly Trap, now calling it Zaré at Fly Trap. The new all-day bistro menu will be available from 11:30am until midnight. There will also be not one but two ten-top communal tables.

Stylistically, it will merge Mediterranean influences with the Persian flavors evocative of Zaré’s Iranian upbringing, and will include salads, hot and cold appetizers, large plates and sides. A few potential dishes may include pistachio meatballs with harissa-spiced honey-pomegranate glaze; warm salad of grilled baby octopus and calamari, frisee, borlotti beans and roasted shallots in a lemon-pulp vinaigrette; saffron and yogurt-marinated Alaskan black cod with herb couscous and chorizo tzatziki; and braised single-bone short ribs with bone marrow and saffron-baked fennel.

Marisa Churchill, former pastry chef of Ame and Yoshi’s, is the executive pastry chef. Here are a few sample items from Churchill’s dessert menu: “Greek yogurt & honey”: Fage panna cotta served with white truffle honey, clover honey tuile, and red flame grapes; goat cheese cheesecake with fresh figs, lavender blossom syrup, and toasted pistachios; and “rocky road” dark chocolate torte topped with homemade Tahitian vanilla marshmallow, chocolate ice cream, curried candied peanuts, and soy salted caramel.

Chris Blanchard, master sommelier and former wine director at Redd in Napa, is the consulting wine director; and Reza Esmaili, the current bar manager at San Francisco’s Conduit restaurant, will be the bar manager. Esmaili plans to put together a list of classic “Barbary Coast cocktails,” honoring the restaurant’s century-long history, and is also putting together some Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cocktails, utilizing ingredients from the main menu, like saffron, fenugreek, cardamom, and citrus.

• 606 Folsom St. at 2nd Street, San Francisco, 415-243-0580.

Marcia Gagliardi writes a popular weekly e-column about the SF dining scene, “the tablehopper.” Subscribe for free at www.tablehopper.com and get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Got news? Email Marcia at taste@sanfrancisco.travel.