“I think Russian culture and Russian cuisine have so much to offer, and I think they’ve been so underrepresented,” El-Wattar said. “I really want to tell the story of what is the soul of Russian cuisine.”

The traditional beef Stroganoff gets a makeover with noodles made with einkorn, ancient wheat, as well as wild mushrooms and a drizzle of fennel oil. Instead of the classic stuffed cabbage, the restaurant tops the Wagyu steak with charred cabbage and a spicy tomato sauce. The salted salmon is accompanied by cultured beet butter, the sour berry known as sea buckthorn and rye bread.

This bread, listed on the menu as “little rye” but known in Russia as Borodinsky bread, is something El-Wattar is particularly happy to present to diners. It is the most traditional rye bread in Russian history, with an origin story dating back to the 1800s. In the 1930s, the government standardized the printed recipe, and it is the same recipe as Birch & Rye uses.

The bread undergoes three stages of fermentation, starting with an overnight sourdough sponge. El-Wattar then boils the rye malt to release the sugar, then 12 hours later adds it to the sponge. It is flavored with coriander and served at the restaurant with smetana butter (smetana is a Russian version of sour cream) and fleur de sel.

“It’s 100% rye, so you’d expect it to be brick,” El-Wattar said. “But it’s light, with a chocolate flavor.”

Small rye and smoked salmon will also be offered during brunch, alongside rye waffles with hazelnuts and sour cherry compote; sirniki, soft cheese pancakes with smetana, candied orange peel and bee pollen; and grain bowls showcasing buckwheat and millet. For dessert, there’s a bright purple birch sap jelly made with gooseberries and caramelized Siberian pine nuts. The restaurant refused to share the prices because they are still under construction.

Acclaimed bartender Jennifer Colliau (Here’s How) scoured the drink menu, creating nine infused vodkas in flavors including horseradish, orange-pine-apricot and linden blossom, a flower El-Wattar associates with summers growing up in Russia smelling of honey. These vodkas are also found in otherwise classic cocktails, such as a blackcurrant martini. The wines come from California, France and the country of Georgia in the Caucasus region.

The 49-seat restaurant has been radically changed from its days as Malaysian restaurant Mahila. It sports a minimalist color palette of grey, white, and black, with new tiles, hand-blown glass fixtures, and an exterior mural of a birch forest. The covered rear terrace can accommodate 15 people.

There’s not a ton of Russian food in the Bay Area, though San Francisco’s Little Russia neighborhood in the Richmond District offers plenty of markets and bakeries for imported Russian cheeses and chewy Russian dumplings. But the offerings tend to be traditional, which makes Birch & Rye’s upscale creative dishes stand out.

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy for El-Wattar. The restaurant had previously announced three different chefs – including Amiran Tskhvaradze, a former graduate of famed Georgian restaurant Bevri – before appointing El-Wattar as the sole executive chef. Tskhvaradze declined to comment on the split, but El-Wattar described the changes as his desire to find a better “cultural fit.”

“I hired a new chef for the culture – I wasn’t looking for Michelin stars,” she said. “I’m very proud, not only of the food we cook, but also of the culture we cook in the kitchen.”

Editor Elena Kadvany contributed reporting.

Birch and rye. Opening on 9 Feb. 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday. Brunch service, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, will begin on February 20. 1320 Castro St., San Francisco. birchandryesf.com

Janelle Bitker is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]: @janellebitker