One of San Francisco’s most world-renowned chefs, Dominique Crenn, is about to have a very busy month. Crenn is the pretty French owner of Atelier Crenn, a two-Michelin-star fine-dining restaurant in the Marina, and Petit Crenn, in Hayes Valley. In March she is opening a new wine bar, planning a large boutique, and launching a female-driven series of chef’s dinners.
Bar Crenn, her luxe wine bar and lounge, will open first, on March 13. The much-anticipated concept is located next door to Atelier Crenn on Fillmore Street. Crenn is envisioning the wine bar to be an extension of her home. Inspired by the wine bars of Paris in the 1930s, its decorated with fur, velvet, and moody details. The food menu will pay homage to the dishes found in classic French gastronomy.
Boutique Crenn is a larger project that will live in the Salesforce Tower. It won’t be a traditional restaurant, but part boulangerie, part patisserie, part event space. Crenn wants it to be a destination of sorts that combines food with fashion, art, and film. The ambitious project, on the first floor of the new tower, will debut later this year.
Crenn has also partnered with Ketel One Family-Made Vodka and Resy to host a series of special dinners. The Women of Food Dinner Series starts March 27 at Petit Crenn. The chef will be joined by top female chefs and mixologists and together they will create a thoughtfully paired menu of food and spirits. Participating chefs—like Barbara Lynch, April Bloomfield, and Judy Joo—are coming from across the globe to cook in Crenn’s kitchen.
At the first dinner, Einat Admony and Nancy Oakes will join Crenn. The point of the not-to-be-missed series? Crenn hopes to create “a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, and a lot of time to cook together, making people happy and telling a story. There are a lot of great chefs out there, many of whom are female. We need to continue the conversation, that’s how the world will change.”
