Three years ago, Josh Harris and Nick Amano-Dolan stood on what was basically rubble at a desolate former parking lot on Third Street, just south of Lefty O’Doul Bridge. Rebar protruded from the bases of cement columns and bulldozers sat idly, waiting to be put to work. The Mission Rock redevelopment plan, spearheaded by the San Francisco Giants, had barely broken ground.

Harris, the owner of Trick Dog, one of San Francisco’s most awarded cocktail bars, overlooked McCovey Cove as the stadium lights glistened in the sunset. Hands in his pockets with one foot perched on a pile of bricks, he stared with pride at Oracle Park, the home of his beloved Giants.

“I saw him taking a moment to himself and realizing this was it, this was the perfect spot for Quik Dog,” Amano-Dolan recounted in an interview with SFGATE. “I told him, ‘This right here, this is your destiny. It’s destiny.’”

For more than a decade, Trick Dog has racked up countless prestigious awards, including being named one of the best bars in America by Forbes in 2015 and a top-10 bar in the country by Food & Wine just this year. Harris and Amano-Dolan, who are famous in the bar world, are now set to debut their first restaurant.

Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Quik Dog, at 1023 Third St., Suite E, is slated to be a quick-service restaurant on one side and a full bar on the other. The plan is to feature Quik Dog classics such as the famous kale salad, which is a small mountain of the leaf cabbage dusted with parmesan cheese like a snowy peak; a rectangular hamburger akin to the ones made famous by Hot Dog Bills; and a deconstructed Mission hot dog, which, if you’ve ever been to a Giants game, you can’t miss as you leave the yard. These all were beloved by patrons of Trick Dog, who could regularly be seen munching away while sipping world-class cocktails.

But by bringing a new chef on board, one who has experience working with world-class Argentinian chef Francis Mallmann, Harris and his team were able to expand the menu from its roots. They added other quintessential diner foods like a grilled cheese and tomato soup, a finger-food version of a wedge salad, milkshakes using Mitchell’s Ice Cream, vegan frozen Irish coffee and garlic fries that put the ones inside the ballpark to shame.

The original plan was for Quik Dog to open in May, but as the Giants season started to dwindle — showing less and less hope for a postseason berth — Harris decided that they should take their time to get everything just right. The restaurant is scheduled to officially open on Tuesday, Nov. 11, just in time for baseball’s offseason.

“We actually like to joke that Quik Dog will have two opening days,” Amano-Dolan said. “These first few months will be a time to dial in and get ready, because we know when the Giants open next season, it’s going to be bats—t crazy around here.”

Quik Dog first started as a pop-up operating out of the Trick Dog kitchen during the pandemic, while the bar was still closed. Although many thought it was a way to make ends meet, that was actually not the case for Harris.

“It 100% was not just a way to get through the pandemic. It was actually completely the opposite. It cost us money to try and incubate that concept,” he said. “But it was worth it to explore what that concept could be.”

Harris saw a bright future for Quik Dog back in 2020 — one with far more reach than his award-winning bar. He envisioned Quik Dog as a food truck, a window in the Financial District, a place in the Sunset like Hook Fish Co. or a pop-up in a brewery. He sent that vision to Larry Baer, president and CEO of the San Francisco Giants, and Baer rewarded him with a prime location at the Mission Rock development. While those other ideas are still possibilities for the future, for now, his team is focused on its first brick-and-mortar restaurant.

“This is the mothership. This is the beginning of something new and we couldn’t be located in a better place,” Harris said.

For the born-and-bred San Franciscan, Harris’ first restaurant is a love letter to the diners and burger stands he grew up eating at. Think Bill’s Place, Hamburger Haven, Whiz Burgers, Beep’s and others. His memories of eating at those old-school joints with his parents — sitting in red booths or on pleather stools — have informed Quik Dog’s aesthetic.

Although Quik Dog is meant to evoke the nostalgia that left an impression on Harris, from the elementary school-style chairs made of hard plastic to the neon red accent lights that reminded me of Mel’s, or even In-N-Out, the goal of Quik Dog is to become a destination for generations to come. It’s meant to be a place where new families can make their own lasting memories, just like Harris did.

“This is rooted in my experience — enjoying Doggy Diner, Clown Alley, those types of places. But this is not a caricature of those places,” Harris said. “We don’t want people to walk in here and be like, ‘Oh, it’s a throwback or it’s like Disneyland.’ Quik Dog doesn’t feel old-timey, but it has that inspiration.”

The setup inside is quite unique. On the right side of the 4,133-square-foot space is the diner section, with a walk-up counter for ordering and where bobbleheads from all eras of San Francisco sports teams will be displayed. To the left, behind obscured perforated plastic that looks like narrow reeded glass, is the bar section, where Amano-Dolan has concocted several new favorites such as the Real White Negroni, with gin, Luxardo Bitter Bianco, Martini & Rossi Bianco Vermouth, salt and a grapefruit slice, and the Mojito Royale — a striking bumblebee-yellow drink tart with passion fruit, mint, lime, sparkling wine and two types of rum.

But I suspect the go-to drink for future patrons will be the bright pink Super Paloma, a smoky riff on the classic cocktail with mezcal instead of tequila. It goes down so smoothly. Paired with fun takes on classic cocktails like a spicy margarita, an old fashioned, a daiquiri and a Manhattan, many of the drinks will be premixed and poured on tap.

“We gotta live up to the name Quik Dog,” Amano-Dolan said, laughing.

The food should also be coming out quickly from the kitchen, thanks to the expertise of chef Gonzalo Guerrero. A Bay Area native who grew up in San Bruno and graduated from San Francisco City College’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies program, Guerrero has learned from some of the best chefs in the world. At San Francisco’s Delfina he worked under Craig Stoll; he later moved to New York and learned from Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen, just after it became famous from Netflix’s hit show “Chef’s Table.” Guerrero then moved to Argentina and learned from Francis Mallmann, who has several acclaimed restaurants across the world, but became a fixture in the celebrity chef zeitgeist after his own appearance on “Chef’s Table.”

While Quik Dog will be a full-circle moment for Guerrero, since his first cooking job was flipping burgers at the now defunct Custom Burger, formerly at Seventh and Mission streets, he will also get to expand his culinary wings when Trick Dog pivots to a more “chef-y” menu early in 2026.

“I never thought I would be working burgers again like this, but I was just like, ‘I know after a long bike ride or snowboarding or whatever, this is what I want to have,’” Guerrero said. “So I was like, ‘Let’s try it.’”

As the setting sun peered through the giant floor-to-ceiling windows, just four days before the grand opening of Quik Dog, unopened boxes of merch (designed by Ferris Plock) were stacked in every corner. The staff of 50 wrote down tasting notes for the food and drinks. Harris, a fitness buff, couldn’t stop picking at the garlic fries, which are intentionally called Good Garlic Fries on the menu.

“We all know Gilroy garlic fries (in the stadium) are just not good anymore. They’re always soggy and limp and almost have too much garlic,” Harris said. “What we’re trying to do here is really great takes on food that everyone knows and loves. We just upped the ante a little bit in terms of quality.”

Between bites, he turned to his friend and business partner Amano-Dolan with a giddiness that can only be described as childlike, in the best way possible.

“Can you imagine what this place is going to be like for us as owners of this place when it’s baseball season?” he said to Amano-Dolan. “Can you imagine what it’s gonna be like the next time the Giants win their next World Series? There will be nothing more crazy than that. I can’t f—king wait.”