Akop Paronyan knows the restaurant business. Once the general manager at the San Fransisco Palomar Hotel’s Fifth Floor, and opening general manager at 3 Michelin-starred French chef Dominique Crenn’s Atelier Crenn, Paronyan broke out on his own this year, with the opening of his pop-up restaurant, Total Meltdown, which operates in the evenings out of Mission Picnic on Valencia Street.
Recently, Paronyan and his partners found a permanent home for Total Meltdown — known for its unique, international twists on grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and cheesy tater tots — at 1830 Union Street, in the space that used to be Caffe Union. The plan is to get the ultra-cheesy, fast-casual restaurant up and running shortly, but that’s not where Paronyan’s culinary dreams end.
He hopes, in the future, to run his pet project, Roaming Goat, out of the same location. Offering a Mediterranean and South Caucasus-style menu inspired by his Armenian heritage, Roaming Goat will be more of a traditional taverna, serving beer, wine, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “The food of the South Caucasus is sort of an untold culinary story in San Francisco,” Paronyan says. “I want to start telling that story.”
In this version of the future, Paronyan imagines serving Total Meltdown’s cheesy snacks in the evenings, while operating Roaming Goat in the space full time. But for now, while dreams of Roaming Goat are just starting to solidify, the new space will be dedicated solely to Total Meltdown.
According to Paronyan, the space itself is all but open. They’ve tested the kitchen equipment, scheduled the inspections, and are doing some final touch-ups to the interior, and once they get the green light, Total Meltdown will be up and running . Hopefully by June, you’ll be able to head there any time of day for a cheesy, Gochujang-glazed meal.
