San Francisco standout Che Fico is packing up its Cal-Italian playbook and settling into Texas, taking over the kitchen at Soho House Austin in a long-running hotel residency that stretches through the end of 2026. The Nopa favorite is spinning out handmade pasta, sourdough pizza, live-fire cooking and a distinctly California spin on Italian food for the private club’s Austin members and their lucky guests.
According to CultureMap Austin, the residency quietly kicked off in June at the South Congress Avenue property and is scheduled to run through December 31. Steering the project is executive chef and co-owner David Nayfeld, a 2023 James Beard Award semifinalist whose résumé includes heavy-hitter kitchens such as Eleven Madison Park, Nobu, and Joël Robuchon, making this more than your average pop-up.
Back home, Che Fico is still very much a San Francisco restaurant at heart. As described on the Che Fico website, the original spot bills itself as an Italian taverna in the Nopa neighborhood, where Roman-Jewish cooking traditions are filtered through Northern California ingredients and a distinctly Bay Area point of view.
What Che Fico Is Serving In Austin
Soho House says the Austin menu borrows heavily from the San Francisco original, then layers on a few dishes created just for the Texas run. The nightly lineup includes antipasti, handmade pasta and sourdough pizza, with dinner service starting at 5 p.m., according to Soho House Austin.
At a media preview, diners worked through a spread that started with pillowy focaccia and whipped mascarpone, then moved into chopped salad, house-made mozzarella with golden osetra caviar, corn pudding with tomatoes and an herb-loaded chicken parmigiana. CultureMap Austin also called out wood-oven-roasted lamb, manicotti with bolognese and béchamel, tiramisu and a panna cotta sharpened with balsamic vinegar.
The bar program is just as busy. One option, the Odd Even Rule, is a tequila cocktail that layers watermelon, quinquina, tarragon, Chareau, lime and Pica Limón. Another, the Viaggiatore, combines makrut lime aperitif, fig leaf, pineapple rum, prosecco and citrus.
The Catch For Nonmembers
There is, of course, a catch for anyone who is not already in the club. To sit down for Che Fico’s Austin residency, nonmembers must either book a nightly stay at Soho House Austin or show up as the guest of someone who belongs, while the club’s own dining page lists the restaurant as open to members and their guests.
For Bay Area regulars, this looks more like a high-profile side trip than a goodbye. The Che Fico site still lists its home base at 838 Divisadero Street, giving San Francisco diners a familiar address to return to while the restaurant’s Cal-Italian experiment spends its seasons working the Texas circuit.
