As for American Box, Newton said that, while he and Klein are looking for a city home thick with lunchtime traffic, they're also seeking nationwide spots, though he wouldn't say what cities were coming under scrutiny.
For Parcel, Newton's vision of what he called "really good Southern barbecue done in a traditional manner" could end up going south ― as in South Bay.
"Everybody knows how hard it is to operate in San Francisco," Newton said. "We're actually looking at spaces from San Francisco down to Palo Alto, maybe somewhere on the Peninsula." Complicating matters might be Newton's commitment to old-fashioned wood smoke ― he called his vision "meat and smoke," the former sourced from upmarket suppliers such as Becker Lane and Prather Ranch. Zoning restrictions in many municipalities can make wood smoking tricky, if not impossible ― challenges Wexler's chef Charlie Kleinman no doubt knows intimately.
Newton's last day at Fish & Farm is April 17. Newton's replacement: his awesomely named long-time sous Obed Ix Yah, originally from the Yucatan.
