Bluestem builds momentum, buzz on Yerba Buena Lane

While the Metreon readies for a big Target revamp, there's also plenty of action across the street on Yerba Buena Lane.

At long last, Bluestem (1 Yerba Buena Lane) is back on the table. Roughly three years in the works, the 6,700-square-foot steak house from former PlumpJack director of operations Adam Jed has finally commenced construction.

Next door, Amber India (25 Yerba Buena Lane) has had its fair share of press lately. The Indian standout made waves last weekend as the alleged site of a carbon monoxide leak that sickened several people in the adjacent San Francisco Marriott Marquis hotel. Owner Vijay Bist says he was a fall guy.

"It had nothing to do with us," he says. "As a precaution, we volunteered to shut down our water heater, but inspectors couldn't find anything. So far, there is no indication that it came from us."

But don't feel too bad for Bist. He says business is still growing, and he's got expansion on his mind.

It's not yet fully approved by the city, but he's already planning the "high-energy" Amber Dhara (680 Valencia St.), a 200-seat Indian tapas restaurant and bar due next to Luna Park this summer. He's also eyeing possible branches in Berkeley, Oakland and Walnut Creek.

One place he's not considering is Yerba Buena's Jewish Contemporary Museum (736 Mission St.), where the public cafe remains closed and up for grabs.

Drinking age: Napa Valley fine dining institution Terra - est. 1988 - turned 21 a few years ago, but this month the restaurant (1345 Railroad Ave.) from Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani gets to have liquor, having obtained a full license.

Thus, when Terra emerges from its annual winter break, there will be a new twist: Bar Terra. The natural split of the restaurant afforded the opportunity to dedicate the north half to what Doumani describes as "a more casual, drop-in kind of place." Half the seating reserved will be reserved for walk-ins, and offerings will include seasonal cocktails and a bar menu featuring some Terra favorites plus new dishes. Hirotini, anyone?

In the dining room, the menu will now be all fixed-price, with many options.

Terra re-emerges from vacation Friday. Bar Terra will open Jan. 21.

Break time: Chef Anthony Paone has left his longtime role with Berkeley's Sea Salt (2512 San Pablo Ave.) and K2 Restaurants. Paone helped open K2's Fonda in 2001, followed by Sea Salt and T-Rex, both in 2005, and has been running Sea Salt since 2007. He has no immediate plans other than to take some extended time off for the first time in nine years.

Lights, camera, saute! Don't be fooled by the signs for Cinquecento in the old Zinnia space (500 Jackson St.). It's a temporary set for a film called "Trattoria," described, according to the production materials, as a "drama/comedy set in the exciting San Francisco restaurant scene about a chef and his son that reconnect and heal their past through cooking."

Southern exposure: The weekend was the swan song for Zitune in Los Altos (325 Main St.), with chef-owner Chafik Larobi citing the area's difficult business climate as the main factor in the closure.

Not too far away in Los Gatos, Michelin-starred Dio Deka (210 E. Main St.) landed itself a shiny new executive chef in Marty Cattaneo. His experience reads like a laundry list of some of the Bay Area's most forward-thinking restaurants: sous chef at Manresa and Aziza and chef de cuisine under Jeremy Fox at Ubuntu.

Loco for Pollo: The Internet exploded last week when Scoop broke word that Pollo Campero is seeking approval to open a full-service Bay Area location at 2740 Mission St. The Guatemalan fried chicken chain has a huge, cult-like following, but has only been a myth locally, until now. There are still several hurdles to jump and, as American Apparel discovered, it's no small feat for a chain to open in the Mission. Stay tuned.

End of an era: Cafe Kati (1963 Sutter St.) opened in 1990, at a time when chef-owner Kirk Webber was one of the city's pioneers in East-West fusion cooking. The restaurant celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year, a fete punctuated by Webber surviving the tissue-destroying disease necrotizing fasciitis.

Unfortunately, Webber is still undergoing constant surgeries as part of his recovery. He's almost done with the regimen, but has decided to close the trailblazing restaurant.

"I want to reinvent Kati, but I don't think I can do it," he says. "Physically I'm great, but I still have a year of surgeries, so I decided to sell."

And so Cafe Kati will probably close in mid-March, when the sale to a new regime (DBA: Roostertail Rotisserie) is complete. Once he's recovered, Webber says he'd like to move to Japan for a bit, and maybe even open a restaurant there.

More scoops: Check The Chronicle's Inside Scoop SF website for breaking restaurant news and features. Go to insidescoopsf.com.

Paolo Lucchesi is a Chronicle staff writer. Send tips and notes to plucchesi@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle