PROMOTION: SOMA's Fifth-Floor Restaurant in Hotel Palomar Recools Itself, Thrillist Says

This article is brought to you by Thrillist.com, our homies.

There's a rich tradition of classic institutions dialing back their stuffiness to stay relevant: Rolls Royce stopped designing ceilings to accomodate top hats, and Orson Welles voiced "Unicron" in 1986's animated Transformers movie. Borrowing from that playbook: The just-reopened 5th Floor.

Related Content

• The First Cut Is the Deepest
  September 1, 2010
• Nostalgia and the Curious Collector of 78 RPM Children's Records
  September 13, 2011
• Arthouse Movie Listings October 5-11
  October 5, 2011
• Arthouse Movie Listings July 13-19
  July 13, 2011
• San Francisco International Film Festival: What to See
  April 20, 2011

More About

• Orson Welles
• Seafood
• Foods

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Dining Newsletter: The week's top local food news and events, plus interviews with chefs and restaurant owners, dining tips, and a peek at our print review.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Thrillist - 5th Floor
Relaunched after a culinary and aesthetic overhaul, the Hotel Palomar resto is stepping back into the opulent date-spot fray, minus the swarms of obsequious servers and table linens so white they seared the naked eye. Decor's similarly tweaked, with modern, vaguely asian appointments, a marble communal table, and loungey leather chairs/banquettes as overstuffed as your wallet will soon not be. But the modernized Gascon fare, cheffed up by Aqua and Ame vets, is nonetheless top-notch: chestnut soup, cured sea scallops w/ caviar, and "poule au pot" -- poached free-range chicken stuffed with foie gras and a starry-eyed dream to convert Cambodia into an agrarian utopia.

Further eroding the monolith of pretention, 5th Floor's front room's been reorganized as a no-reservations café, perfect for a casual bite -- a shift on par with a T-top Rolls, or Orson Welles voicing "Unicron" in 1986's animated Transformers movie.

Step up to the menu

"Thrillist is a free daily email that sifts through the crap to find the best of what SF's hiding. Get on the list for free at Thrillist/sfweekly