Dining at Nightbird
![A riff on takoyaki, capped with uni and truffles, at Nightbird.](https://www.foodgal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/5.-takoyaki-744x1024.jpg)
It’s elegant yet whimsical, with a name inspired by the chef-owner’s fondness for owls.
Kim Alter’s Nightbird celebrates eight years this year in San Francisco with an exciting development. Alter took over a space next door in late November, allowing the restaurant to expand its footprint. The new space will be used for private dinners, as well as occasional pop-ups by Nightbird’s pastry chef, vintage boutiques, and potentially even members of La Cocina’s food incubator.
It joins the restaurant’s other adjoining business, the Linden Room, a swank cocktail bar perfect for a pre- or post-dinner libation.
Last Saturday, my husband and I enjoyed the $195 tasting menu and $130 optional wine pairing. Alter added a few extra morsels on the house. The restaurant does include an automatic service charge, which is an increasingly common practice at many fine-dining restaurants. What’s out of the norm, though, is that it’s only 16 percent.
![General Manager Ron Boyd and Chef Kim Alter.](https://www.foodgal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Kim-and-Ron.jpg)
The minimalist, graceful dining room is compact and intimate. There’s a good number of staff, overseen by General Manager and Director of Hospitality Ron Boyd, that delivers an attentive yet unobtrusive service experience.
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