Diner highlights regional fare; shiny independent takes San Francisco by storm

Nation's Restaurant News, August 5, 1985 by Alan Liddle

Diner highlights regional fare

Shiny independent takes San Francisco by storm

Stories about the cost of its stainless steel shell are exaggerated, but tales of a seven-day wait for a seat in the new Fog City Diner are apparently on the mark.

The 3,000-sq.-ft. diner is described by Bill Higgins of parent company Real Restaurants as a 1980's interpretation of a 1930's eatery. The elongated silver-skinned and neon-trimmed establishment opened June 16 near Levi Plaza, and reservations for prime lunch and dinner hours are now being booked a week in advance.

Bill Upson and Cindy Pawlcyn are Higgins' partners in Real Restaurants, which also operated two other successful California restaurants: Mustards Grill in Napa and The Rio Grill in Carmel.

Pawlcyn, the corporate chef, and Steve Pappas, kitchen boss at the diner, have created a menu rich in regional American fare, including crab cakes ($6.50 for three); crayfish with a spicy dipping sauce ($1 each); "garlic custard,' a sautee of wild mushrooms, chives and chopped seasoned walnuts ($4.30); and fried catfish with hush puppies ($9.95).

In general, the menu consists of:

A large number of appetizerlike "small plate' items, including Tuna Carpaccio, or raw fresh tuna rolled thin and enhanced with virgin olive oil, pickled onions and avocado, for $3.70. Prices of the items range from $2.75 to $6.90.

Also included on the menu are:

Some standard offerings, such as sandwiches, cheeseburgers and chili dogs, priced from $5 to $8.75.

A variety of salads ranging from avocado and mango with basil aioli to cold rare sirloin, priced at $2.75 to $6.90.

Entrees, including chicken breasts rubbed with a pepper and citrus juice paste, grilled and served atop a bed of black beans, onions and bell peppers prepared in a veal stock with fresh ground cumin, priced at $6.25 to $12.50.

Desserts, such as a chocolate brownie topped with ice cream and raspberry sauce, and eclairs, priced $1.05 to $4.75.

"It's somewhere between American Dim Sum and grazing,' Higgins said of the menu.

Echoing reports of other restaurateurs who have recently opened mix-and-match cuisine concepts, Higgins said the Crowds at the Fog City Diner indicate "it's a little more exciting to go to a restaurant and enjoy a number of tastes compared to making a commitment to one large entree.'

Changes will be made to the menu regularly "but not daily' to keep it attuned to the diner's broad customer base and to take advantage of appealing seasonal ingredients or unusual fixings that become available for a short time, he said.

Though hesitant to discuss volumes because the diner is not much more than a month old, Higgins said first-year sales "should be just shy of $2 million.'

"Two million dollars for 80 seats--that's about as good a per-seat volume as you'll see in this industry,' he remarked when asked if that revenue was enough to make a profit in San Francisco, a market where the cost of doing business and competition have proved prohibitive to many a food-service entrepreneur.

Higgins said labor costs at the diner are "high,' with much of the increased expense attributed to the diverse menu. Management is working to keep payroll between 25% and 28% of total sales. Food costs are also on the high end, he conceded. They run 35% to 40%.

Preliminary surveys indicate the per-person average, excluding beverage, is $9 at lunch and $15 at dinner.

Food sales represent about 70% of total sales at the diner, which has a full bar and is open from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. or midnight, depending on the day of the week. Higgins said there is not enough room to generate much of a bar business right now, but he added that a patio might be built to relieve the crowding.

Some San Francisco newspaper columnists have reported that the "chrome' on the outside of the diner "cost a half million [dollars] . . . alone.' Not so, said Higgins, explaining that such estimates are closer to the entire cost of remodeling the building, which began life as a temporary Navy mess hall during World War II.

Photo: Stainless steel exterior of the Fog City Diner. Inset: coowner Bill Higgins.