By Justin Phillips via SFGate
Manny Torres Gimenez is coming back.
Two years after a fire cost him his Mission restaurant The Palace, the wide-smiling chef known for his Venezuelan cooking and affordably priced tasting menus is going to reopen the space as Francisca's, a restaurant specializing in seasonal California cuisine.
He said the location is going through final inspections and the plan is to have it open sometime in the next month or so.
Francisca's will have a la carte menu (offered in the dining room)and a 10-course tasting menu (only at the bar) with dishes like pasta and fish.
Right now, Manny Torres Gimenez and his wife Katerina De Torres are hosting an Italian-style pop-up at Oakland's Spice Monkey, serving lunch and dinner. The pop-up's four-course tasting menu goes for $50 and $25 for wine pairings.
The news bookends a vow the chef made last year to reopen a concept in the Palace once repairs were completed, although at the time he didn't specify what it would be. He told Inside Scoop the old Palace space at this point has been completely redone from top to bottom, including upgraded equipment.
"It's going to look really nice. We did a really good job. We've been making everything new again. New floor and bars new kitchen. Everything is going to be new," he says.
About a year ago, once the work got underway,the couple hit the road, traveling through Aruba, Italy, France, and Spain, looking for food inspiration as much as they were simple adventures.
The new restaurant will feature some of the dishes he discovered while traveling the world. The vacation, he said, gave him a more relaxed perspective on creating dishes.
"In the U.S., Euproean food gets cooked with so many rules. There are rules for everything. In Europe, there are no rules. Nobody follows rules and it's just much more relaxed," he says.
