Michael Guthrie’s dramatic glass-fronted display kitchen helps the showy new Midi in San Francisco straddle the line between a high-energy casual concept and a more refined fine-dining restaurant.
“The trend is toward casual dining, but in places like New York and L.A. and San Francisco and Chicago, there is a desire for a somewhat upscale version of that,” said Guthrie, of the San Francisco-based architectural firm Michael Guthrie & Company. The firm has credits for restaurants such as Bix, Tra Vigne and Myth in San Francisco and environs in its design portfolio.
The display kitchen, enclosed in butt-joined, or frameless, glass, filters out cooking clatter while giving a glimpse of the culinary action.
What is the rationale for the glass-sheathed display kitchen of Midi?
We’re trying to change the perception that a display kitchen has to be a display cooking line. The display cooking line to me implies that old line where you are watching the chef’s back as he cooks something on the grill and you don’t even really speak to him. We’re just trying to give the public an understanding that cooking today is an art form. So we put it behind glass, as one would treat a valuable art object in a museum.
How important is it to avoid excessive noise and unaesthetic sights in a display kitchen?
In the [Midi] kitchen you essentially are looking more at the expediter and the waiters than at the cook line. Again, it is not a display cooking line. It is a display kitchen. It is more a glimpse of activity, rather than watching someone pan-fry the rock cod. It is a somewhat more refined approach.
People today are eager to know where their food comes from. Does that explain why many like to dine in restaurants with display kitchens?
I think so. On a subconscious level, it helps you believe that everything is handled properly—otherwise they wouldn’t let you look into it. I think a lot of the subconscious perceptions that customers make are the difference between success and failure in the restaurant world.