Another week brings the debut of another fine-dining establishment in Mid-Market. Tonight marks the launch of The Perennial, the eagerly anticipated, sustainability-focused restaurant from Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz, the couple behind Mission Chinese Food and Commonwealth, and former Mission Chinese Food chef de cuisine Chris Kiyuna.
Located on the ground floor of the AVA apartment complex at 59 Ninth St., The Perennial is an experiment with a single goal: to create the most sustainable restaurant imaginable.
The restaurant has already scored lots of press for the three major sustainability practices it's using to produce and source ingredients and reduce waste in the kitchen. The first is a 2,000-square-foot aquaponic greenhouse in West Oakland, which turns food scraps from the restaurant into food for the fish it serves and compost to grow the produce it uses.
On the meat side, The Perennial is sourcing organic grass-fed beef and lamb from Stemple Creek Ranch in Marin, which uses the experimental practice of "carbon farming" to reduce carbon emissions. And the flour used for its fresh-baked bread is roughly 40 percent kernza, a new grain developed by the Land Institute. Kernza has deep roots that draw carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil, while providing an ecosystem for carbon-storing organisms like bacteria, insects and worms.
Inside The Perennial's hydroponic greenhouse in West Oakland.
But being a sustainability junkie isn't required to enjoy a meal or a drink at The Perennial. “Our goal is to offer as much information as diners would like to hear about—to not push it forward, but be responsive to questions,” Leibowitz said, noting that servers are trained to meet patrons at their interest levels. “If somebody wants to have a nice date, it’s a nice place to have a nice date, and you know in the background it's going to be environmentally responsible. Or, if you want to learn about what we can do with food waste, then you can find out about that.”
The Perennial also commissioned local artist Wendy McNaughton to create quirky illustrations that explain its complex work visually. “The whole concept [of The Perennial], in a way, is to make climate-change discussions less scary and more enjoyable, and to suggest positive impacts, positive ways of contending with this in the city,” Leibowitz explained.
One of three postcards illustrated by Wendy McNaughton.
The restaurant's menu "is a kind of accessible fine dining, drawing on traditions from California cuisine, but also some international influences, reflecting the diversity of the whole Bay Area," Leibowitz said. "Sometimes I call it progressive American; sometimes I call it progressive agrarian, because it really focuses on how food is cultivated, using agricultural methods that are concerned with the future. Not only with climate change, but with soil health and sometimes even economic systems."
That also means less meat. While The Perennial isn't a vegetarian restaurant, its dishes are "pretty vegetable-forward," Leibowitz said. "Meat is not the centerpiece of any dish. It's kind of a supporting player."
McFarland Springs trout with bone marrow, mussels broth, parsnip, and horseradish.(Photo: Christina L./Yelp
Celeriac gnocchi with cheese, grilled apples, nettles and preserved sudachi. (Photo: Christina L./Yelp)
The Perennial will serve its full dinner menu in the reservations-only dining room, along with eight unreserved seats at the bar. A smaller bar snacks menu will be available for patrons at the larger bar just inside the front doors, pictured above.
For those thinking of stopping in for just a drink, rest assured that environmental responsibility doesn't end with the kitchen. Beverage director Jennifer Colliau, who also runs The Interval at Long Now at Fort Mason, has her own tricks for reducing waste behind the bar as well. Those include things like sourcing from sustainability-focused producers, using highly efficient appliances, and pre-batching and chilling cocktails and offering them on tap.
As newcomers to the SoMa/Mid-Market neighborhood, Leibowitz said she and her husband, longtime Mission District residents and business owners, are still getting used to their new surroundings. "It feels very different to open a restaurant in another neighborhood," she said. "We definitely have the attitude of 'we're still learning the neighborhood.' We don't have any preconceptions."
She assures neighbors that casual walk-ins are more than welcome. "We see ourselves as available to people who want to come in for a snack and a drink. It doesn't have to be a huge, pre-reserved big deal."
Starting tonight, The Perennial will be open for dinner Mondays through Thursdays 5:30-10pm, and Fridays through Saturdays 5:30-11pm. Reservations are available on OpenTable. Lunch service will also come down the line, once the kitchen is fully ramped up.
Paramo Coffee, which shares The Perennial's space, is set to open today as well. It will be the second location for the Oakland-based roaster, which also has a shop at Four Embarcadero Center. Hours are 7am-5pm Mondays through Fridays, and 8am-3pm this Saturday, Jan. 23rd.
