San Francisco might already have its best new restaurant, and it's only January |
One of San Francisco’s best restaurants, Rich Table, once had a fabled off-menu burger that was the envy of all who entered the former Michelin-starred hot spot in Hayes Valley.
They only made about a dozen per night because they didn’t want the burger to be what defined the menu. If you scored one, you felt like you were part of a secret club. Indeed, the famed restaurant that held on to its star for eight consecutive years (from 2014 to 2021) was meant for bigger things than a meat sandwich. And that ever-changing burger — sometimes one patty, sometimes two, just to keep people guessing — hasn’t been available at Rich Table since before the pandemic.
Now, with the opening of their newest restaurant, RT Bistro, the burger is back full time, and it’s already selling faster than the San Francisco foodie power couple of Evan and Sarah Rich can keep up. In the opening two weeks, they prepared only 40 house-made buns each day. They are now making 55 to keep up with demand.
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“When we finally started planning our menu before opening, people kept asking us, ‘What’s gonna be on the menu? What’s gonna be on the menu?’” Evan Rich recounted to SFGATE in an interview. “We really didn’t know what the menu was going to look like, except for the burger.”
The dining area at RT Bistro in San Francisco on Jan. 20, 2026.
The menu at RT Bistro in San Francisco on Jan. 20, 2026.
RT Bistro opened on Jan. 9 at 205 Oak St., just around the corner from Rich Table. It is the third concept from the heralded couple, who also own and operate two fast-casual chicken spots called RT Rotisserie in Hayes Valley and near Divisadero Street.
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In their words, RT Bistro is like an extension of their acclaimed flagship restaurant — and they mean it quite literally: They knocked down walls and connected two basements below the buildings to bring the bistro to fruition. In that same way, the food at RT Bistro is just another way to showcase the couple’s brilliance in the kitchen.
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