S.F. restaurant that held Michelin star for 11 years has closed
The upscale Mediterranean restaurant inside the InterContinental Hotel at 88 Howard St. has served its final dishes, a hotel employee confirmed. Ownership was not available to comment.
Luce, which debuted in 2008, is known in part as a culinary launchpad. Its opening chef, Dominique Crenn, went on to open her own Michelin-starred restaurants. Later, Luce was led by chef Melissa King, who went on to 'Top Chef' fame. Luce won a Michelin star from 2009 to 2020. It reopened after a temporary pandemic closure in 2021 under chef Rogelio Garcia, who now helms the Michelin-starred Auro in Calistoga.
Bistro888, the hotel's bar, will remain open.
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She said it was frustrating to residents who have 'been through excruciating renovation projects and followed the rules' to see certain projects get a pass. City codes, she said, 'need to be applied consistently in order to preserve this village in the forest.' During the six-hour meeting, the City Council delayed making a decision on the appeal, putting everything on hold again. Ian Martin, one of the appellants, said in an interview Friday that the push-back against Pastor's projects is 'absolutely nothing personal at all' and that longtime locals also go through the same long process. 'Of course, Clint Eastwood was so frustrated with the planning process that he ran for mayor,' Martin said. 'Pastor is not being singled out.' Eastwood, who was mayor in the 1980s, ran for office after fighting with the City Council over what he said were unreasonable restrictions on the design of an office building he wanted to erect. Pastor now owns that building. Martin said that of the 11 appellants, two are former City Council members and three, including himself, are former planning commissioners. They are 'very well versed in the general plan and the municipal code and the design guidelines,' he added. The group, he added, is 'not opposed to the project.' They just believe it has to play by the rules. Chris Mitchell, managing director of Esperanza Carmel LLC, the local branch of Pastor's international real estate company, said in a statement that 'this process has made a mockery of the city's own rules.' 'Our project was reviewed for six years, redesigned five times, and approved by the Planning Commission and City staff,' he wrote. He called the appeal a 'last-minute' political maneuver and stall tactic. 'The message from City Council is clear: it doesn't matter how much you follow the rules, if your business is not wanted here, you won't be treated fairly,' Mitchell wrote. The city administrator, city clerk and members of the City Council did not respond to requests for comment. Karyl Hall, co-chair of the Carmel Preservation Assn., said Pastor has bent over backward to listen to the community and to design — and redesign — his projects with the town's traditional architectural styles in mind. Hall, a retired research psychologist, is an adamant supporter, albeit a surprising one. Hall believes modern architecture — which she describes as 'Anywhere, USA' buildings with sterile facades and box-like structures — poses an existential threat to Carmel-by-the-Sea. She co-founded the preservation association in response to the first proposal for The Pit: a contemporary design approved by the Planning Commission for the previous owners that she called 'the ice box.' Hall said she was heartened by Pastor, who proposed more traditional buildings. In an interview Thursday, she said some in town believe 'that one person who owns so many properties is kind of scary.' But the billionaire, she said, has been treated unfairly. 'The one thing we can always count on with him, which is why I've been supportive, is he's done quality work and he's done work that reflects Carmel's character,' Hall said. 'You can't say that about most of the developers who move in here. They just want to make big bucks.' It remains unclear what Pastor means by 'leave' Carmel. Will he halt his ongoing projects? Or sell his properties? Tim Allen, a real estate agent who has handled most of the billionaire's local purchases, said Thursday that Pastor is weighing his options. 'We need new infrastructure. We need new housing — it's mandated by the state. He's building these things,' Allen said. 'I hope this town rallies around Patrice, or he's gone.'
