Fire is the whole kitchen.
Every plate at Cinder passes through wood, coals, or embers — vegetables, seafood, and meat cooked by the same element, at temperatures we choose on purpose.
Smoke isn't a flavor we add. It's a range of techniques — from a whisper of cold smoke to the hard char of an open flame — and each one does something different to an ingredient.
Most restaurants treat fire as decoration. We treat it as the primary tool. A cabbage buried in coals turns silky and sweet; a fish laid over spent embers cooks gently, without a hard sear; greens thrown onto live flame blister in seconds. Same element, five different results. The menu is organized around that idea, not around "starters and mains."
Heat, smoke, ember.
We don't sort the menu by protein. We sort it by what the fire is doing. Move along the spectrum — from raw to open flame — and see what each method makes, and why.
Temperatures and times are approximate and illustrative — live fire is cooked by eye and feel, not to the minute.
Built for the middle of the table.
Order a few things to share. Vegetables aren't sides here — several of them are the reason to come. Prices are demonstration content.
Whole cabbage, buried in embers
A whole cabbage cooked directly in the coals until the outer leaves char and the inside turns silky and sweet. Dressed with brown butter, chili, and a sharp herb sauce. The dish that explains the restaurant.
Whole fish over spent embers
Cooked low over dying embers so it stays gentle and just-set, never hard-seared. Finished with lemon, capers, and a spoon of the fat it rendered. Market fish; ask your server what's in today.
Whole fish and some cuts are market-priced and change with the season — we quote them at the table rather than list a price we can't hold. Ask about allergens; our kitchen uses dairy, wheat, fish, and shellfish, and everything shares a live-fire surface.
One hearth, three heats.
The kitchen is built around a single wood-burning hearth. We burn hardwood down to coals on one side and cook over them on the other — moving food between live flame, glowing embers, and cooler ash depending on what it needs. No gas line runs to the cooking surface.
Wood isn't a marketing word here; different woods burn at different speeds and leave different smoke, so we choose them by the dish.
The base fire
Burns hot and clean into long-lasting coals. Our everyday wood.
Gentler smoke
Apple & cherry for fish and vegetables — softer, sweeter.
Fast & high
For the quick, hard char of flatbread and greens.
The cool end
Dying coals for gentle, low cooking — nothing wasted.
Built to cut through smoke.
A short, sharp list made to sit next to fire-cooked food — acid, bitterness, and bright fruit. Smoke stays in the kitchen, mostly.
Low & bright
Fire-adjacent, not smoke-drenched — one drink leans smoky, the rest cut the other way.
- Ember & citrus — mezcal, grapefruit, lime$15
- Charred-lemon spritz — aperitivo, sparkling$13
- Coal-vodka martini — dirty, bracing$16
For the table
A living list that favors high-acid whites and juicy reds — the wines that love char.
- Skin-contact & crisp whites, by the glassfrom $12
- Chillable reds, by the glassfrom $13
- Local & import beer, cider$7
Not an afterthought
Made with the same care as the bar — real drinks, no alcohol.
- Toasted-barley & citrus soda (house)$7
- Verjus & herb spritz$8
- Zero-proof ember & grapefruit$9
Book the room, or the whole fire.
Tables are bookable through our reservation partner; the bar and counter seats by the hearth are kept for walk-ins each night. For buyouts, the chef's counter, and private dinners cooked entirely over the fire, send an inquiry.
Opens our reservation partner (Resy / Tock-style) in a new tab.
Find the fire.
Warehouse district · street parking & a lot behind
Dinner 5–11
Bar till late Fri–Sat
Tables via partner · hearth counter & bar for walk-ins · step-free entrance
hello@cinderfire.example
Hours & location are demonstration content.