English Downtown San Francisco has seen some questionable additions to its horizon over the last few years, from the unbalanced, just recently renamed Nancy Pelosi Federal Structure to LinkedIn’s”great void” to the tilting Millennium Tower.
But pretty much everybody agrees that Mira– designer Jeanne Gang’s white, 39-story tower one block from the waterside– is quite cool. And the twisting, four-year-old mid-rise that captures commuters’ eyes as they cross the Bay Bridge is about to get even cooler with the addition of Mili Red wine Bar, a task from newbie restaurateur Shubhra Sarkar.
Sarkar and her other half are a set of well-traveled empty nesters who desired a change, so they purchased an apartment in Mira and ultimately approached the ownership about inhabiting a commercial space in the building that she called an “empty shell.” In spite of having no no experience developing out a dining establishment, they got it– a testament as much to the Sarkars’ interest for gathering wine regarding Downtown’s parlous economic state.
Their inspiration came from Vintage Wine Bar, a well-regarded spot along San Jose’s Santana Row.
“We like that, and we travel a lot. We’ve been to 50-plus nations,” Sarkar stated. “We like fulfilling people– especially when you go and talk and you make good buddies and connections with a perfect complete stranger.”
The term “wine bar” has become significantly flexible, including high-end, full-service kitchens and multipage red wine lists as well as places that serve affordably stylish orange red wines or creatively oxidized experiments alongside crackers and tins of seafood. Sarkar sees Mili as skewing towards the latter, a casual area for individuals to find out a little bit while enjoying cheese boards and osetra caviar.
“We are trying to accommodate individuals who do not have much experience,” she said, “however we will likewise have extremely great white wines.”
Sarkar, a veteran Silicon Valley engineer as well as a visual artist who holds an MFA, mentions Gary Danko, Nopa, Possibility and La Mar Cebicheria as locations she’s delighted in exploring.
Mili is set to open in early February, pending its last evaluation and the crossing of its final t’s. As for the name, Sarkar says she picked it since it’s easy for individuals from any cultural background to pronounce– and no one had taken it yet.
“In Sanskrit, ‘Mili’ suggests gathering,” she said. “It talks to our heritage and it simply seems the best.”
Mili Red Wine Bar
110 Folsom St., SF
miliwinebar.com
English