Last night marked the opening of One Up, the new bar and restaurant at the Grand Hyatt at Union Square, as well as the reopening of the newly renovated lobby level. One Up replaces the top-floor restaurant, Grandviews, which had lost its luster in recent years, and it’s all part of a total remodeling of the entire hotel, 600+ rooms included. Cass Calder Smith of CSS Architecture, the same firm responsible for Twenty Five Lusk — which is widely considered one of the best designed restaurants in the city — redesigned the lobby and added the new, open mezzanine-level eating and drinking space, bookended by big windows onto the street below, and anchored by a floating, wood-lined central walkway with a glass-enclosed wine and liquor library. And we’re glad to know there’s a new bar with decent drinks near Union Square, which is always handy when choosing a meeting spot in the neighborhood.
The bar program, as we reported earlier, is being helmed by Scott Beattie, who’s lately been running the show up and earning raves at Goose & Gander in St. Helena. Beattie’s brought along some of his antique liquor bottles for display in one of the library cases, too — all part of a trove of unopened and/or barely drunk booze from 1934 that he bought not too long ago from the family of a former Marin County bar owner. He’s doing twists on classics like a Manhattan made with rye and bourbon and three kinds of bitters; an Old Fashioned with orange bitters and a huge chunk of hand-cut ice; and a Pimm’s cup with St. George terroir gin and bay laurel.
The food, which will center on Northern California sources and bistro fare, comes from executive chef Ian Libberton, who’s been with Hyatt Hotels for a number of years, and chef de cuisine Adam Nichol who has just moved from the Grand Hyatt New York. There’s a communal chef’s table overlooking the open kitchen, a bunch of wood-lined booths, as well as a cozy little room for private dining. See all the new menus here.
One Up - Grand Hyatt San Francisco, 345 Stockton Street at Sutter - 415-848-6187 - Open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Live music nightly.