New Mexican Restaurant 'Maria Isabel' Opens in SF
Chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz are opening Maria Isabel, a new Mexican restaurant in San Francisco. The establishment promises a deep exploration of Mexican cuisine, building on the chefs' previous culinary successes. The opening adds another high-profile option to the city's dining scene.
- The restaurant is named Maria Isabel in honor of chef Laura Ozyilmaz's mother, Isabel, and sister, Maria, and the menu is a tribute to the food of her childhood in the coastal Guerrero state of Mexico. - This opening marks a shift for the chef couple, whose previous acclaimed San Francisco restaurants, Dalida and the now-closed Noosh, focused on the Eastern Mediterranean cuisine of Laura's husband and co-chef, Sayat Ozyilmaz. - The menu will feature both an à la carte offering and a $90 tasting menu, with dishes like sweet corn tamales with sea urchin, duck confit enmoladas, and chicken milanesas stuffed with poblano chiles and Oaxaca cheese. - Maria Isabel aims to fill a perceived gap in the Bay Area's dining scene, positioning itself between casual taquerias and Michelin-starred fine dining establishments like Californios. - The restaurant will nixtamalize its own heirloom corn in-house to create fresh masa for tortillas and other dishes like triangular tetelas stuffed with artichoke and mole blanco. - The bar program will showcase a wide variety of agave spirits beyond tequila and mezcal, including lesser-known options like raicilla, bacanora, and sotol. - Located in the former Ella's American Kitchen space, the 56-seat restaurant's dining room is split into two distinct designs: one side is bright and pink, representing 'Maria,' while the other features darker, earthy wood tones for 'Isabel'. - Before opening their own restaurants, the chefs gained experience at some of the world's top culinary destinations, including Mugaritz, Eleven Madison Park, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and Le Bernardin.
