Michelin-starred restaurateurs taking over Ferry Building’s Slanted Door space

A new tenant will set up shop at the Ferry Building to take over the Slanted Door’s former outpost in San Francisco’s iconic waterfront building, building officials announced Tuesday.

The team behind Sorrel, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Pacific Heights , will open its next eatery at the Ferry Building Marketplace early in 2025 after it signed a 15-year lease. The Slanted Door, which shuttered at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, decamped from the Ferry Building two months ago, citing high costs associated with renovating the space.

Alex Hong, Sorrel’s owner and chef, and director of operations Joel Wilkerson said they plan to bring a large, full-service restaurant with “a seasonal ingredient menu” to the Ferry Building, according to building officials.

In a prepared statement, Hong and Wilkerson said they “are excited to bring our next restaurant to the Ferry Building.”

“Opening here is not just about serving great food,” they said. “It’s about becoming part of a historic landmark and the narrative of San Francisco as a culinary destination.”

Hong and Wilkerson said they also want to open a connected bakery that will specialize in making laminated-dough pastries, which have alternating thin layers of butter and dough.

Sorrel opened in Pacific Heights in April 2018 and went on to earn one Michelin star in 2019, which it has held onto in subsequent years.

Hong and Wilkerson said their menu will be built around seasonal ingredients that are “rooted in the bounty of the California coastline.” They said they share the Ferry Building Marketplace’s “emphasis on sustainability and community,” and they plan on the restaurant operating seven days per week.

Following the Slanted Door’s departure in May , Ferry Building officials told The Examiner that the Vietnamese restaurant’s former space was already attracting interest from a bevy of prospective tenants.

In a statement, Ferry Building General Manager Jane Connors lauded the duo for “their exceptional talents and commitment to quality.” She said the duo’s “new cornerstone restaurant in the Ferry Building will draw more evening visitors, providing a significant boost to our community of merchants and enhancing the vibrancy of the entire waterfront.”

City officials welcomed the Ferry Building’s announcement with optimism, particularly as it pertains to assisting in San Francisco’s continued post-pandemic tourism rebound . Earlier this year, the San Francisco Travel Association said that it forecast The City returning to pre-pandemic visitor levels in 2026 at the earliest.

In a statement, Mayor London Breed said that she was “overjoyed” to see Hong and Wilkerson creating a concept that will be “opening up in one of the most iconic restaurant locations in the Bay Area.”

She said the duo’s investment in both The City and the waterfront was “just another building block in downtown’s dramatic comeback.”

The new space, which has yet to be named, will include an open kitchen and a seated bar. Floor-to-ceiling windows and outdoor seating will capture views of the Bay Bridge, just in time for a popular light installation’s anticipated return to the structure in March 2025.