San Francisco eatery serves only dogs

A new fine-dining restaurant in the Bay Area has gone to the dogs.

While some eateries may welcome customers’ furry companions during a sit-down meal, Dogue — which opened Sept. 25 in San Francisco’s Mission District — serves only canines.

Owner and head chef Rahmi Massarweh said Dogue may be the first restaurant in the country to serve exclusively dogs. It offers meticulously crafted pastries from its in-house “pawtisserie” and French-inspired courses made with locally sourced, organic ingredients.

“What we do doesn’t generally exist,” Massarweh said. “My approach is as if it were a human restaurant.”

During the week, Dogue serves Parisian pastries and “dogguccinos” that start at $4.95. A $75 three-course meal — which is seasonal and rotates frequently — is served only for Sunday walk-ins. Massarweh said pet owners can choose from a variety of dishes to serve their faithful companions, such as organic beef chuck steak with fermented carrots and beets or green-lipped mussels with fermented carrots and wheatgrass.

Massarweh prepares and presents every dish — even the ones he cooks nightly for his dogs: Grizzly, Luna, Achilles and Sir Wellington.

Burned out from working in the restaurant industry for nearly a dozen years, Massarweh stepped out of the kitchen in 2015 to open a doggy day care center with his wife. He continued preparing fresh-cooked food for his dogs daily and eventually began prepping the same portions into weekly doggy bags for his day care clients.

He said he asked his veterinarian for help in refining the dishes to ensure they’re complete and balanced and contain dog-safe ingredients.

“Food is a love language, and I think it’s another way to kind of express and share love with your dog,” Dogue customer Jason Villacampa said.