Firefly opened on 24th Street in Noe Valley in 1993, founded by chef Brad Levy and Veva Edelson, who met while working at San Francisco's Embarko Restaurant. They took over a tired former Latin seafood spot and rebuilt it themselves, with Edelson, an artist, shaping the dining room into something eclectic and whimsical rather than polished.
The menu reads as American comfort food filtered through a lot of other places: fried heritage chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, horseradish slaw and a buttermilk biscuit; okra and kale gumbo z'herbes with crispy mushrooms and sweet potato–poblano fritters; Moqueca Baiana of rockfish, shrimp and scallops over jasmine rice; furikake-crusted ocean trout with a tahini-miso glass noodle salad; crêpes Florentine with a Tuscan butter bean stew; and a meatloaf finished with parmesan polenta and red wine jus. The Mayfair salad, built on romaine, beets and a garlic-anchovy dressing, has stuck around as a regular order.
The kitchen states its ingredient choices are guided by sustainability, both for the body and the planet, and the room has kept its original, homespun character since opening.
The menu reads as American comfort food filtered through a lot of other places: fried heritage chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, horseradish slaw and a buttermilk biscuit; okra and kale gumbo z'herbes with crispy mushrooms and sweet potato–poblano fritters; Moqueca Baiana of rockfish, shrimp and scallops over jasmine rice; furikake-crusted ocean trout with a tahini-miso glass noodle salad; crêpes Florentine with a Tuscan butter bean stew; and a meatloaf finished with parmesan polenta and red wine jus. The Mayfair salad, built on romaine, beets and a garlic-anchovy dressing, has stuck around as a regular order.
The kitchen states its ingredient choices are guided by sustainability, both for the body and the planet, and the room has kept its original, homespun character since opening.