8 Asians

What do you get when you mix the flair of two San Francisco based Asian American entertainment gurus with a chef duo from two James Beard Award-nominated restaurants?

That would be Spire Restaurant and Bar, a place that inspires your palette to come alive as you experience the zest of your daily comfort foods.

Locally sourced ingredients and fresh produce that you would typically find at Ferry Building’s Farmer’s Market, infused with global influences and a splash of Michelin Star innovation, allow Executive Chef Laird Boles to blend a bi-coastal style entirely his own.

During their first soft opening lunch, my friend and I tasted their soothing sweet corn soup topped with crème fraiche and chili oil paired with a delightful corn fritter, crunchy Country Line 5 lettuces with creamy Laura Chenel Chevre goat cheese, mouth-watering house-made fennel sausage with red thumb potato salad, and a tasty Spire Freshly Ground Burger on an Acme bun surrounded by lightly salted wedge fries.

The good people at Eater SF were wondering about who are the creative minds that put together Spire. The investment team includes general managers Richard Huang, Sean Hung, Roger Lwin, who are of Chinese, Burmese, and Vietnamese heritage.

The executive team with over 50 years of combined experience nationwide hail from twice-nominated James Beard Award Charleston Grill with Michelin Star Chef Bob Waggoner, James Beard Award nominated Lucia’s Restaurant in Minneapolis, four diamond restaurant Delfino Riviera, Orlando’s The Beacon, San Francisco’s Waterbar, Bacar, and Yak Sing, East Bay’s Eccolo, Kelly’s Mission Rock Café, and San Francisco’s premiere Asian American entertainment companies including Synergy Productions and Entertainment, Nexus Events, Beyond Entertainment, Genesis Entertainment, all of which have worked with at least 50 Bay Area entertainment venues.

After the fun-in-the-sun of summer has concluded, Spire will be opening its lounge area upstairs, where customers can expect international deejays and local musical talent, as well as signature cocktails with global influences to flow aplenty from this San Francisco 685 3^rd Street venue.

In the next couple weeks, right before you head to out to your next San Francisco Giant’s game, walk two short blocks over to Spire, and add a little zest to your burger and have a casual drink with fantastic company. I already know I will be having their shaved roasted leg of lamb on house-made naan.

You never know, you might even get to meet the hip general managers. If you do, let them know that you heard about their zesty comfort food from 8asians.com.

This is Joseph Yeh’s first blog post for 8asians.com. He loves French and Japanese food, but misses being able to eat seafood. He can be reached at [email protected]