Bar Crenn
Daniel Boulud counts Bar Crenn among his favorites in San Francisco, and in 2026 Dominique Crenn closed the starred counter inside it to expand the bar's menu.
Why go
Dominique Crenn opened Bar Crenn on 13 March 2018, next door to Atelier Crenn on Fillmore Street. She called it her Parisian salon. The first menu was French classics, with recipes donated by Alain Ducasse and Yannick Alléno among others. Guy Savoy's iced poached oyster was on it. So were pommes moulées with smoked trout roe after Guillaume Gomez, and a brioche with cultured butter and whipped beef fat from the kitchen next door. That is the room Boulud praised in 2019.
Le Comptoir came later. It was a French omakase counter inside the bar, a handful of diners a night at a marble top, pescatarian and dairy-free. The MICHELIN inspectors gave it one star for plates like a salt-brined beet tartare under caviar with a Mendocino sparkling rosé beside it. Crenn closed the counter in June 2026 and the star came off at that month's California ceremony. She wrote that the lounge has grown into an essential part of Bar Crenn and has been embraced and celebrated by our guests, friends, and community.
3 The bar is what remains, and it is growing its menu.
Florian Thireau runs the drinks. He came from Cheval Blanc in Paris and the Peninsula in London. The plates are Crenn's kitchen at bar size: scallop tartare, crab rolls with caviar on both ends. Walk-ins are welcome.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the olive-oil cocktail, then whatever Thireau is proudest of that night.
- Order: the crab rolls and the scallop tartare.
- Avoid: arriving hungry. The plates are bar plates.
What locals & experts say
- Daniel Boulud, chef and owner of Daniel in New York, to SFGATE, November 2019:
Bar Crenn, a casual side of Atelier Crenn, with all the creativity of Dominique Crenn, offers wonderful creative adaptations of French classics. Another favorite of mine.
1 - Julia Chen, The Infatuation, July 2025:
it's where to go when you want fine dining-level hospitality without committing to the latter's $395, 17-course tasting menu right next door.
On the plates:They're lovely, but aren't meal-sized, and you can easily have a great time with drinks alone.
6 - Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF, June 2026, on the ceremony: Le Comptoir at Bar Crenn
had their one-star designation removed,
andBar Crenn itself remains open.
5
Good to know
- Hours: evenings, Tuesday to Saturday, into the night. The pattern is from the Chronicle's 2018 opening report; the venue's page carries none.
- Getting in: walk in.
- Next door: Atelier Crenn at 3127 Fillmore, three MICHELIN stars in the 2026 California selection and No. 29 on the Chronicle's 2026 Top 100.
- Sites: this page is 3131 Fillmore Street. Petit Crenn on Hayes Street closed for good in September 2024.
Verdict
could-visit — Walk in for Florian Thireau's cocktails and a plate or two before dinner next door. The French classics Boulud came for belonged to an earlier menu, and the starred counter inside the bar closed in 2026.