a day ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Hip S.F. wine popup returns with a permanent location
A San Francisco wine bar popup that closed earlier this year has opened its permanent home in Nob Hill, taking over the space that once housed the decades-old Italian eatery Ristorante Milano.
Bar Bibi, previously known as Haibibi Bar, opened Aug. 2 at 1448 Pacific Ave. The wine bar is owned by Bahman Safari, a trained chef who began the pop-up in 2020 with his friends Essam Kardosh and Andrew Nelson, who have since moved on. The new rendition of the business is open 6 days a week and offers a food menu in addition to its wine selection, which is focused on natural wines.
The old Milano space is also the home of Better Half Coffee, a cafe that began as a pop-up within Habibi Bar. Better Half, which operates from 8 a.m.- 2 p.m., serves coffee and desserts from Bellaria Dessert Studio, a shop previously known for its tasting menus.
Safari says Ristorante Milano was one of his favorite Italian restaurants — so its classic dishes are not going away entirely. Some of the original cooks from the restaurant are still working in the kitchen and are keeping pasta dishes onto the menu.
Right now, Bar Bibi serves a version of Milano's spaghetti vongole ($25) that Safari has slightly tweaked , served with clams in white wine and garlic sauce. Overall, he envisions the food menu as a diverse selection of dishes.
'I wanted to create a menu that was something exciting, delicious, that isn't necessarily easily put into some kind of cuisine,' Safari said. 'Something that takes influences from all around the world.'
This new, bigger space gives Safari the freedom to get creative. The popup, which was housed in the Russian Hill wine bar Bacchus, only had an induction burner and a toaster oven.
The updated menu includes a halibut crudo with chili oil and pickled shallot ($22), and an eggplant toast with tomato stew and a sunny-side-up egg on top ($14).
Bar Bibi was originally set to open in May — only a month after Milano closed its doors for good — but cleaning and setting up the restaurant took a little longer than Safari originally anticipated, he said.
The rotating wine list features 14 options by the glass, including sparkling, white, lightly macerated and red wines. Bar Bibi continues to feature small producers with a 'hands off' approach: Safari looks for winemakers who practice organic or regenerative farming. The bottle list will expand in the upcoming weeks, and Safari said he's always on the hunt for new flavors.
'There's a whole big world of wine out there that is really exciting and I can't help myself,' he said. 'If I taste something good, I get excited and want to share it with folks.'
