This Acclaimed Korean Chef Bets Big on Union Square With New Steakhouse

Globe-trotting chef Akira Back will open his first-ever San Francisco restaurant early next month, promising a “high-tech take on a classic Korean BBQ experience,” a press release shares.

AB Steak opens on Tuesday, October 8, in a massive, 6,500-square-foot space inside Hotel Fusion at 124 Ellis Street. It’s the second location of the Korean steakhouse brand in California, with an outpost in Los Angeles, and features custom-designed tabletop grills utilizing smokeless Japanese binchotan charcoal. On those grills, diners will sear premium cuts of meat such as wagyu and dry-aged beef — artfully displayed in a glass case at the center of the dining room — paired with banchan, sauces, and condiments. Beyond the beef, there will be luxe dishes to choose from such as the AB wagyu pizza topped with wagyu tartar and truffle oil (with a premium add-on of caviar, if one chooses); 45-day, dry-aged New York striploin marinated in ssamjang, or fermented soybean paste; and ganjang gejang, the Korean specialty dish of soy-marinated, raw female crabs.

AB Steak

AB will have a cocktail program and a local wine selection from Napa Valley to pair with the food. The wines will get their own star treatment, with a 112-bottle circular wine display alongside the meat case as the restaurant’s centerpiece.

The interior is designed by the award-winning Hong Kong-based firm Kinney Chan & Associates. The large space will incorporate a bar and lounge area, as well as a number of private dining rooms, with artful touches by Back’s mother, who’s infusing the restaurant with a watercolor design that will be seen on the menu, plates, and paneling behind the bar.

The San Francisco location of AB Steak is the latest ambitious restaurant opening from Back, who operates 28 restaurants around the world, including spots in Seoul, Singapore, Riyadh, Toronto, London, and Paris. Stateside, Back’s (now closed) Las Vegas restaurant Dosa earned a Michelin star in 2017, and it’s also where he operates the acclaimed Japanese restaurant Yellowtail inside the Bellagio, along with restaurant outposts in San Diego, Delray Beach, and Orlando. Following the San Francisco restaurant opening, the professional snowboarder-turned-chef has an ambitious restaurant-opening schedule, with 10 more restaurants planned to open across Europe and Asia in the next two years.

AB Steak (124 Ellis Street, San Francisco) debuts on Tuesday, October 8, and will be open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Reservations are available via OpenTable.

AB Steak