Tyler Florence is on a mission to save San Francisco’s downtown

San Francisco restaurateur and celebrity chef Tyler Florence has a full plate these days. 

At the moment, it’s a whole French Dover sole, which I ordered at his upscale Chase Center-adjacent steakhouse, Miller & Lux. The celebrity chef tasked with saving San Francisco’s downtown — he’s opening two Union Square cafes this week, with a slew of other projects in the works — is bent over the $95 fish, which he’s about to debone, tableside, on a vintage cart.

With the precision of a surgeon, Florence makes an incision and in one swift motion pulls out the entire spine and ribs, in one piece. He turns on the cart’s stove and heats the sole, rapidly spooning buttery lemon sauce over its white flesh before plating and serving it. Why would a TV-famous chef who rubs elbows with the Warriors and is currently taking over three downtown spots make time to debone my sole?

“I’ll debone anyone’s sole,” Florence told SFGATE, laughing. “I think being on television it would be really easy to be the celebrity chef who, like, opens restaurants but is never there. I want us to be part of the lore of San Francisco food, and it’s important to be here as much as possible. Plus, I love being a chef. This is what I do.”

Florence, 52, has already made San Francisco restaurant history. His 13-year-old Financial District restaurant, Wayfare Tavern, which is moving into new digs at Battery and Pine streets at the end of 2024, not only survived the pandemic but continues to draw crowds for its buttermilk fried chicken, which has been “knocked off 100,000 times,” he said.

Then, in 2021, he pioneered Mission Bay by opening Miller & Lux, a swanky, 7,000-square-foot steakhouse, and quickly filling it with regulars like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Alice Waters, who come for the bestseller: a 46-ounce Tomahawk rib-eye served on a silver platter for $190.

“What an amazing opportunity to dust off one of the most iconic places in the world and reshape it for the next 10 years,” Florence told SFGATE. 

While questions have arisen about the generous funding allocated to these businesses — Florence’s Greater Organization is getting a quarter of the $2 million earmarked to “jumpstart up to 10 new tenancies” along Powell Street, according to a letter sent to SFGATE by supervisor Aaron Peskin — the cafes are set to open Monday, Florence’s publicist said. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Miller & Lux Provisions on Stockton Street promises a “contemporary American picnic experience.” Like Tyler Florence Fresh in SFO’s Terminal 2, it will offer spit-roasted Rosie Organic chicken with crispy potatoes and other picnicky side dishes. Expect rosé and lemonade on tap, cheese, charcuterie and, eventually, an outdoor oyster bar, though the spot is collectively referred to as a “rotisserie.”

At the Powell Street location, look for a showroom-style patisserie featuring all-day brunch including pastries, Oprah’s favorite Model Bakery English muffin breakfast sandwiches and gelato-filled croissant cones. Florence hopes diners will take advantage of the menus’ QR codes to order the cafes’ food from anywhere in Union Square Plaza and have it delivered. 

“We’re going to have a newsstand vibe with real newspapers and flowers, like a Parisian sidewalk cafe,” he said. Of the unique spot that is San Francisco’s downtown center, “We can’t wait to plug it back in,” he added. “Not only will the city of San Francisco be proud of this, the world will pay attention to this.” 

Lofty words, even Florence admits, but he firmly believes that the restaurant industry is “the economic powerhouse capable of shaping culture and saving the city.” And he’s got so many irons in that fire, it’s almost difficult to keep up. He wants to host a huge food festival with the Warriors. He wants to plant a satellite campus of his alma mater, Johnson & Wales University’s College of Food Innovation & Technology, in downtown SF and turn empty real estate into student housing.

“There’s a 30% vacancy rate in San Francisco right now,” Florence said. “You have to start somewhere. I really feel like the city should fortify from an education standpoint so that you can come to San Francisco and learn how to make beautiful California-inspired cuisine at a world-class culinary institution, and live and work in the city while you’re here.” 

In the meantime, even more Florence restaurants are in the works. The owners of SoMa’s Town Hall announced last month that they’re handing over the reins of their celebrated New Orleans-inspired restaurant, which had been open for 20 years, to him. The plan is to refresh the interior and stay true to an Americana-focused menu, which resonates with his own South Carolina roots, Florence said. The revamped restaurant is expected to reopen to the public in early 2024.

“My team and I look forward to carrying on the tradition of this cherished institution,” he said. “We would never dare change the name of Town Hall the way no one would change the name of Tadich Grill, Sam’s Grill and Seafood or Swan’s Oyster Depot.” 

Back at Miller & Lux, we’ve nibbled through the Dover sole and quite possibly the best Caesar salad I’ve ever tasted. It was also prepared tableside, though not by Florence. A server whipped up an emulsion of egg, Meyer lemon juice and two different kinds of anchovies with fresh olive oil from Fresno to dress the delicate lettuces on my plate, which a local farm grows specifically for this salad. From there, we dug into that Tomahawk, which Florence made me sniff when it was still raw to note the cheeselike aromas that result from the 45-day dry-aging process. 

“I want to ruin you for steak,” he said. “I think this is the best steak in America.”

At $190, he might be right.