The inland Tri-Valley area is about to get a refreshing sea breeze with Alora, an upscale coastal-Mediterranean restaurant whose owners have Michelin cred.
Alora is scheduled to open in late January at San Ramon’s City Center Bishop Ranch, a shopping/dining center whose other eateries include LB Steak, Curry Up Now and The Slanted Door. It is the second location for the restaurant; the original opened last year on San Francisco’s Pier 3.
The upcoming Alora “will offer a more casual and laid-back vibe while maintaining the signature flavors and hospitality” of the flagship, according to the group AVB Hospitality. That “AVB” stands for owners Anu and Vikram Bhambri, former techies who’ve been on a restaurant-building streak. They’re behind four locations of ROOH Progressive Indian — which the Michelin Guide recognized as one of the “Best Indian Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area” — Pippal in Emeryville, and the Indian grill-lounges Fitoor in San Jose and Santa Monica.
The kitchen at Alora is helmed by Nicholas Peters, a Culinary Institute of America veteran who’s worked at Walnut Creek’s Lita as well as Grace at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A chef who’s cooked in kitchens in Italy, Peters seems like a good choice for this departure from AVB Hospitality’s wheelhouse of Indian cuisine. The menu will draw from the diverse Mediterranean cultures, the group said, with small plates — think mezze — as well as housemade pasta, seafood and skewers.
The San Francisco location offers intriguing dishes like pan-seared branzino with smoked-olive tapenade, confit-octopus souvlaki and Spanish adobo shrimp cooked over a Turkish charcoal grill. Non-pescatarian dishes on the winter menu include pistachio-crusted rack of lamb and smoked-rabbit cannelloni with pecorino fonduta. There are wines from California and across Europe and cocktails that incorporate ingredients from the Mediterranean, like olive oil, Turkish tea and “gray wine” — a Moroccan rosé made with the tiniest bit of skin maceration.
Though a staffer at the San Francisco location said he didn’t know an opening date yet, a report from the Bay Area Telegraph says it’s estimated for Jan. 25.
Details: Scheduled to open in late January at 6000 Bollinger Canyon Road, Suite 1100, San Ramon; visitalora.com.