This is the first time Tavern on the Green has stretched beyond the boundaries of Central Park in New York (if you don't count the Tavern brand dipping oils and sauces). And it's moving into San Francisco in a big way: more than 40,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor restaurant space in the Metreon.

The Metreon could use an infusion -- a more hopeful utilization of real estate, against the beautiful space of Yerba Buena Gardens. Will Tavern on the Green be the medicine? According to the San Francisco Business Times the move is, in part, an effort to revitalize the space and, of course, to give the famous Tavern on the Green brand a new venue in our [tough] culinary town.

I'm keeping an open mind in this cynical realm. It's not easy to dismiss 13,000 square feet of outdoor drinking and eating space. We'll see what develops as Tavern on the Green makes its moves on SoMa.

^{Pictured: Yerba Buena Gardens
Photo © Ingrid Taylar}