Red Medicine

They say that good things come to those who wait, but let's face it: the best they're gonna do is manager, and those hours still suck. Not making you wait any longer, Red Medicine

Finally opening today in the old Hokusai spot after literally months of teasing, RM's a cavernous, mainly Viet-influenced Asian-staurant featuring reclaimed barn wood and exposed concrete walls, an eight seat stained-wood bar and cushy window banquettes, run by two Michael Mina vets and the Umami guy -- a man everyone wants to meat. Vittles are ever-rotating but should include stuff like Chinese sausage w/ kambocha, burnt onion, creme fraiche, and edible ferns; crispy spring rolls stuffed w/ dungeness crab, calamari, pea pods, fine herbs, & okra leaf; and a brown-butter soy milk/verbena/pomelo/raw chestnut wild striped bass -- you could eat it, but then what's Gene Simmons supposed to play? A kazoo?? Their cocktail program is all order-by-number, with options including a joint w/ Campo de Encanto Pisco, pineapple syrup, lime, grapefruit peel, & Old Fashioned bitters; another w/ gin, maurin, lemon, & orange; and still one more w/ vodka, grapefruit, lime, anise-chili shrub, Peychaud's bitters, basil, and ginger beer (a beverage to enjoy once you've had your kicks).

As an added bonus, once they're in gear, Red Medicine'll be open right up until 2am, which -- if you're hungry -- may be a long time to wait, though if it makes you feel better, think of the old chicks who've been doing it for years.