Fine-Dining Restaurant… For Dogs

Another story from the "I can't believe this is a real thing" department. This time the reporting from Elena Kadvany at the SF Chronicle details a high-end restaurant for dogs complete with a $75 tasting menu.

Dogue opened last week at 988 Valencia St. with pastries and “dogguccinos” served during the day and a $75, three-course tasting menu on Sundays. Passersby could easily confuse this for San Francisco’s hottest new all-day cafe. A glass case is filled with elegant pastries, like a rose-shaped cake filled with wild venison heart and a doggy petit gâteau modeled after the creations of acclaimed French pastry chef Cédric Grolet. (Dogue’s version swaps butter and sugar for grass-fed cream and braised chicken.) On Sundays, Dogue transitions into Bone Appetit Cafe, where chicken-mushroom soup is poured tableside — and then promptly licked up by the eager diners.

SF Chronicle

The chef and owner, Rahmi Massarweh, worked in the restaurant industry and then moved on to open a doggie daycare. While running that business, he served some of his personal pet-friendly treats he'd been giving his dogs to the dogs of the daycare.

The rest is history.

I know people love their pets. Don't get me wrong, I loved the years I had dogs too. You would do anything for them. And in some parts of this world, there are people who take that to the next level. Those are the owners who bring their fluffers to dine at Dogue.

Kadvany filed a follow-up piece to this tale with people's reactions as the story went viral. While there is a fair share of critics, many were supportive. Massarweh has taken it all in stride and I personally think you have to know there's some weird blowback you'll get for opening a business like this. But, as Kadvany notes, he isn't the only business doing this in SF.

He’s not the only one catering to local dog owners; San Francisco restaurants including the high-end Angler, the Cavalier and chain Lazy Dog offer separate dog menus.