SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – San Francisco's newest fine-dining eatery has a four legged twist – it's for canines only.
The new gourmet restaurant for dogs, which opened last month in the Mission District, offers lavish, artisanal meals for your favorite good boy or girl priced at up to $75.
"Dogue," which first began feeding Bay Area pets on Sept. 25 at 988 Valencia St., is run by Rahmi Massarweh, a San Francisco chef classically trained in French cuisine, along with his wife, Alejandra. "Dogue" is French for "Mastiff," which Massarweh said is a nod to his culinary roots and the breed of one of their dogs, "Grizzly."
The couple's mission with "Dogue," according to their website, is to "change the lives of as many dogs as we can" by feeding "fresh, seasonal, quality whole food one meal at a time."
"What we do doesn’t generally exist," Massarweh told the Los Angeles Times. "My approach is as if it were a human restaurant. It’s as if you have come into my restaurant, and the star guest is your dog."
He added that "Dogue" may be the first restaurant in the country to offer a tasting menu exclusively for dogs.
The food is made exclusively with locally sourced, organic and human-grade ingredients, both raw and fresh. Massarweh told the paper he even consulted a veterinarian when crafting his menu to ensure his food is safe and contributes to a balanced diet.
During weekdays, the establishment serves seasonal, hand-crafted pastries and "Doguccinos" (priced at $4.95) from their "Pawtiserrie." They also offer packaged to-go meal plans which are specially tailored for each individual dog's diet based on their weight, activity level and special needs.
However, the most five-star experience is on Sundays, where the restaurant serves full three-course, dine-in meals at their "Bone Appetit Cafe." Massarweh told the paper the pre fixe menu rotates often, but can include delicacies like organic beef chuck steak with fermented carrots and beets or green-lipped mussels with fermented carrots and wheatgrass.
Their first ever Sunday meal experience on Oct. 2 started with a chicken and chaga mushroom soup appetizer, followed by a second course of chicken skin waffle and charcoal flan, and a main course of grass fed steak tartare – hand cut cut pasture raised grass fed filet mignon, dressed with quail egg and organic broccoli sprouts.
"Dogue" is open Monday through Friday from 1:30 to 7:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.