Justin Simoneaux’s cooking is influenced by the Cajun and Creole dishes of New Orleans and coastal Louisiana. He plans to couple traditional techniques and recipes with seasonal Northern California ingredients, for the fare he will offer at Boxing Room as Executive Chef.

A Southern Louisiana native, Simoneaux’s affinity for coastal Louisiana cuisine originated from years of hunting and fishing and enjoying frequent family gatherings around seafood boils, fish fries, barbecues, pig roasts, and simple pots of gumbo. He recalls a precocious appreciation for good food as a child, and spent many moments in the home kitchen absorbing recipes from his mother and grandmother. Simoneaux began cooking in a New Orleans seafood restaurant at age 15 and worked his way up to line cook and then kitchen manager by age 18. Realizing he needed to gain further experience and training, he moved to San Francisco and enrolled in the California Culinary Academy in 2005.

While attending the CCA, he worked under the direction of Chef Robert Cubberly at the now-closed Le Petit Robert in San Francisco and was promoted to the position of sous-chef after only one year. Simoneaux says Chef Cubberly set his foundation for cooking and was a great mentor in his culinary progression. In 2007, Simoneaux joined Coco500 as sous-chef, working with Chef Loretta Keller, where he remained one year before she hired him to open The Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences in 2008 as her chef-de-cuisine. While he was there, the restaurant received three stars from Michael Bauer at the San Francisco Chronicle, and was featured in the publication’s “Top 100 Restaurants” list in 2009. He was also named a San Francisco Chronicle 2009 “Rising Star Chef.”

At the Boxing Room, the menu will include many of Simoneaux’s personal favorites, such as Cajun Boiled Peanuts; Louisiana Seafood Gumbo with brown rice and house-made tasso; Deep Fried Alligator; and New Orleans-Style Stuffed Artichoke.

Simoneaux lives in San Francisco.

As the opening General Manager for Boxing Room, Zach Pacheco is responsible for all aspects of the restaurant’s operation, including business development, hiring the initial staff, employee training, and creating the extensive beer program. With more than a decade of restaurant experience, he is excited to play an integral role in establishing Boxing Room from the very beginning.

A Northern California native, Pacheco began his restaurant career at the age of 16 and quickly realized that he was meant for hospitality. “I fell in love with the inevitable camaraderie that comes when working with others in such an intense environment,” says Pacheco. “There is always a new challenge to deal with, which keeps me consistently learning.” Inspired by the bustling atmosphere of restaurants, he went on to hold multiple front-of-house positions, including server, bartender, manager and assistant general manager, at Seasons, Paragon, and Town Hall, all in San Francisco.

In 2008, Pacheco opened The Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences as assistant general manager. He was promoted to general manager shortly after and worked with chef/owner Loretta Keller to solidify the restaurant’s goals, hire and train all front-of-house employees and oversee the day-to-day operations. While there, Pacheco also worked with then chef-de-cuisine Justin Simoneaux, now Boxing Room’s executive chef. “I’m thrilled to work with Justin again,” says Pacheco. “We’ve put a lot of heart and soul into this concept and look forward to offering guests a lively atmosphere with exceptional service, food, and beverage selections.”

Pacheco lives in San Francisco.

On the bustling corner of Gough and Grove Streets in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, a new restaurant will open mid-June 2011. The latest project from The Absinthe Group is Boxing Room, on the former site of Citizen Cake. It offers traditional Cajun and Creole dishes of New Orleans and coastal Louisiana from Chef Justin Simoneaux, in a welcoming space to dine, socialize, and relax throughout the day and night. The name is taken from the original use of the room in the 19th-century former Standard Shirts Factory.

“We hope we’ve created a place where people will enjoy hearty, casual food all day, including pre- or post-performing arts, have a glass of wine or some of our cold beers on tap at the bar, or try a variety of Justin’s Bayou food in a multi-course meal,” says Absinthe Group founder and proprietor Bill Russell-Shapiro.

The 3,300-sq.-foot space in which Boxing Room comprises dates from the 1800’s. San Francisco-based Sagan Piechota Architecture, who remodeled Arlequin Wine Merchant for Absinthe Group, spearheaded the restaurant’s design and its restoration, by Bernardini Construction. Dramatic but understated and informal, Boxing Room’s interior exposes the structure of the historic building’s original materials, including Douglas-fir walls and steel bracing, still in place. Natural light pours in during the day, while at night the room is suffused with the glow of three custom-designed 5-foot-diameter chandeliers. To take advantage of the length and height of the space, a long zinc-top beer-and-wine bar, including a raw bar and seating for 24, stretches through the main dining room, separating it from the white-tile-and-stainless-steel open kitchen. Furnishings include bar stools with faux-alligator-skin fabric, table tops of reclaimed Monterey cypress, and cherry-wood upholstered booths situated along the nearly floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Gough Street. Several new street trees will be planted on the Grove Street side.

Executive chef Justin Simoneaux, a Southern Louisiana native, follows his heritage with a menu featuring traditional techniques and recipes, many with fresh, seasonal Northern California ingredients. The 2009 San Francisco Chronicle “Rising-Star Chef” was most recently the chef-de-cuisine of The Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences, working with chef Loretta Keller, and helped to earn the restaurant a three-star review from the Chronicle. He is joined by Zach Pacheco, who was with him as Moss Room general manager, and will perform the same role at Boxing Room.

Rather than reinterpreting traditional recipes, Simoneaux is refining techniques for Cajun and Creole staples. “My career has come full circle in a way I never dreamed possible,” Simoneaux says. “I’m very happy to offer dishes that I grew up eating and enjoy to this day.”

Menu highlights include many of his personal favorites, such as Cajun Boiled Peanuts ($5); Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo ($8 or $13); Deep-Fried Alligator with Creole Rémoulade ($11); and New Orleans-Style Stuffed Artichoke ($10). Additional items include Louisiana Shrimp Po’ boy ($15); Southern Fried Chicken with black-eyed peas and collard greens ($18); and Crawfish Étouffée ($18). Also, just-harvested oysters on the half-shell and many other selections will be available at the raw bar.

Absinthe Group Executive Pastry Chef Bill Corbett, newly arrived from his tenure at Coi, adds to classic New Orleans desserts with fresh Northern California ingredients in such offerings as Bourbon ‘Bananas Foster’ Cake ($7); Praline Ice-Cream Sundae ($6); Peach-and-Berry Cobbler ($7); and Warm Beignets with Espresso Anglaise ($7).

Absinthe Group Wine Director Ian Becker, also the manager for nearby Arlequin Wine Merchant, co-directs the beer-and-wine program with Pacheco. The two have crafted extensive selections available by the glass, carafe, pitcher, or bottle, with six wines and twenty beers available on tap.

Boxing Room will be open seven days a week, from 11:30 am to 2:00 am (last food order at 1:00 am). Reservations and walk-ins are welcome. Ample street parking and nearby garage parking are available.

The Absinthe Group (TAG), founded and managed by food-industry veteran Bill Russell-Shapiro, creates and operates unique, high-quality food and wine enterprises. TAG includes a carefully built collection of six businesses, five of which are located in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. They are overseen by seasoned restaurant- and wine-manager Eric Vreede, and by TAG executive chef Adam Keough, executive pastry chef Bill Corbett, and wine director Ian Becker. These include Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, recently named a San Francisco Chronicle “Top 100 Bay Area Restaurant” under executive chef Keough, Absinthe Private Dining, Arlequin Café and Food-To-Go, Arlequin Wine Merchant, and, in partnership with former Absinthe head bartenders Jonny Raglin and Jeff Hollinger, Comstock Saloon in North Beach. TAG is associated with Mad Will’s Foods, specializing in bottled-foods production at Auburn in the foothills of the Sierra, directed by Tim Sullivan.