Whoever designed the restaurant couldn't have asked for better weather for the opening ? much of Lure + Till's seating is al fresco along Hamilton Avenue. Even for indoor diners, sliding glass doors might be totally open on warm days and nights, as it was this weekend.
Passerbys also have a full view of the restaurant's bar, which is serving up 10 craft cocktails to start off.
Drinks range from the "Peninsula Punch" (kappa pisco, lemon and pineapple) to the "Schmandy" (brandy, mint, angostura bitters, lemon, scrimschraw pilsner). Prices range from $8 to $12 per drink. The Peninsula Punch and "Cava Punch" can also be ordered in pitchers for a group at $40 a pop. Lure + Till's cocktail program is run by Carlos Yturria, who's already well-established in the San Francisco bar scene.
The opening food options are wide-ranging, with combinations and ingredients you probably won't find elsewhere downtown. Starters come in the form of various soups and salads: baby beet salad with apple smoked yogurt, wheat barriers and mustard greens ($14); kale salad with ricotta salata, currants, toasted almonds, sprouting legumes and a sherry vinaigrette ($14); green garlic soup ($8); Caesar salad with roasted chicken thigh, boquerones, romaine lettuce and parmigiano reggiano ($17); chopped salad with house-made pickles, hard-boiled eggs, asparagus, fennel, carrots, and quinoa dressed in a sherry vinaigrette ($14) and a baby greens salad pear, walnuts, shallot confit and radish ($8). The more expensive ones come at the same prices as entrees so probably can be ordered as such.
Other small bites include deviled eggs with chive, shallot, mustard and aioli (three for $5) and flatbread with various spreads.
Current entrees ("Sandos and mains") are tagliarini (egg noodles, narrower than tagliatelle) with braised hen jus ($14), mafalde (ribbon pasta noodles) with pancetta ($15), a burger and fries ($12), fish and chips ($17), roasted chicken breast with cucumber and kale panzanella ($16) and a hanger steak sandwich ($15).
Lure + Till also serves one Southern-style side: baked heirloom grits (that's an heirloom I've never heard before) topped with a slow-cooked egg and house-made siracha ($6).
The kitchen is headed up by Patrick Kelly, previously executive chef at Gitane in San Francisco and Michelin-starred Angèle in Napa.
Lure + Till also covers room service for the hotel.
Hours: Open Monday-Friday: 6:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Sat-Sunday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m.
