Fresh catch
Galinette, new Inner Mission listings, FOUND Paris & London, Caruso's at Rosewood Miramar Beach, best tiki bars, San Francisco Fall Show, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Surf’s up
Galinette, a fabulously fishy new French bistro in the Outer Sunset, swung open in June, just in time for a brisk summer in San Francisco. The (actually French) owners, who are also behind Union Square small plates spot Bouche, are diving headfirst into the chill and fun surfer scene, with big bowls of shellfish, minerally whites, and mermaids swimming across the walls.
Situated in the former Hotline space, at the corner of Taraval St and 46th Ave, the bustling bistro woke up a sleepy end of town. Slide in early to avoid a wait for its house specialty, bourride, a Provincial fisherman's stew brimming with clams, mussels, fish, squid, potatoes, and fennel. It comes with a couple of toasts balanced on top of the shells, but you’ll end up asking your server for more baguette to soak up the garlicky, aioli-based soup broth. Seafood starters include anchoiade (mashed anchovy paste) and brandade (salt cod and potato spread). The menu rounds out with classic bistro fare: steak frites, Lyonnaise salad, and a ham baguette studded with cornichons.
A chalkboard behind the bar runs down a changing daily by-the-glass wine list, which always seems to include some excellent options for bubbles, with cremants pulled from Jura and Alsace.
While we mopped the last dregs of broth, a small crowd gathered outside on the sidewalk, waiting it out in the fog for a table near the open kitchen. It’s nothing if not a great primer: What better way to warm up than with a big bowl of bourride? –Becky Duffett
→ Galinette (Outer Sunset) • 3554-3560 Taraval St • daily 930a-930p • walk-ins only.
SF RESTAURANT LINKS: To handle its phone calls, Flour + Water hires bots… also announces a Mission Bay pizza shop • Arsicault Bakery is opening a third location there, too • After fits and starts, Bar Agricole closes for good • Hung Ling is glad it left Chinatown for Tenderloin and Bernal Heights outposts • LA Times critic assesses SF’s dining scene, makes map • Why so many chefs don’t want restaurants anymore • The time to start aging your eggnog is now.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Sponsor
Water & all that we love
Ryan and Arjan here, the co-founders of Jolie, a beauty wellness company focused on purifying the quality of one’s shower water for better skin and hair. We’re both fans and readers of FOUND, which is why we decided to sponsor this newsletter to reach like-minded folks like you.
As much as we love discussing water’s impact on skin and hair, we’re equally enamored by the connection of water to all else that we love in life — art, coffee, surfing, food, oysters, ceramics, and so much more. That’s why we created a fun video series, Water &, which looks at these topics through the lens of water. Some highlights:
We spent an early morning in Montauk with artist Joe Henry Baker who used the salty ocean water to paint with and wet his canvases, resulting in a crystallization in the painting as it dried.
We spent an evening with Esben Piper, the founder of the renowned Danish coffee company, La Cabra, at their Soho location in New York. Did you know that the parts per million of minerals in water (or the water’s “hardness”) made to brew La Cabra’s coffee is finely tuned to extract flavor while not making the coffee taste sour?
We joined designer Cynthia Rowley for a morning surf out east on Long Island, where the water is both a calming force for her and “balance” to her planned out, calendared work days.
We’ve always loved oysters, but we loved them even more once we started spending time with both the Billion Oyster Project and Montauk Pearl Oyster’s Mike Martinsen. Oysters clean the water by filtering water as they eat, removing ecosystem-destroying pollutants such as nitrogen. They also act as a natural storm barrier and help foster biodiversity. (The Billion Oyster Project, our non-profit of choice, is restoring the oyster reefs in New York’s harbors to clean the Hudson and East Rivers. Last we checked, 122 million oysters have been restored in New York’s harbor over the last 10 years.)
You can watch all of our Water & videos on our website here.
We worked with these partners because we think they are the best at what they do. If you are thinking about buying a Jolie, we encourage you to do so via the link below. We are picking five FOUND buyers to gift a year’s worth of La Cabra coffee to make at home.
The role of water is all around us. –Ryan Babenzien & Arjan Singh
→ Shop: The Jolie Filtered Showerhead (Jolie) • available in brushed gold, modern chrome, brushed steel, jet black, and vibrant red • $148.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Mission, possible
San Francisco’s Mission District comprises a series of smaller neighborhoods, but the Inner Mission is likely the best known of the bunch: Bordered by 101, Dolores Street, and Cesar Chavez, it’s an area packed with arts, culture, and nightlife. Mostly flat, it’s one of the most walkable and bikeable parts of the city, and readily accessible via Muni and BART.
It’s also one of SF’s oldest areas, with homes that remained standing even after the 1906 earthquake decimated other parts of the city. Walking down most streets, you’ll see single-family Edwardian and Victorian homes shoulder-to-shoulder, with glossy modern new constructions and character-laden mixed use buildings. The area is popular enough that home sales move fast from market to close, with only 17 houses changing hands in the past year at a median price of $1.63M, per Compass. Condos are an easier score, with 59 moving in the past year at a median of $998K. Here, three listings that run the Inner Mission gamut:
→ 828 Alabama St (Inner Mission, above) • 2BR/2BA, 1435 SF home • Ask: $1.195M • remodeled Victorian with back deck • Days on market: 5 • Agent: Lucas Sorah, Compass.
→ 2600 18th St, #23 (Inner Mission) • 3BR/2BA, 1936 SF condo • Ask: $1.595M • penthouse loft with EV-ready garage space • Days on market: 12 • Agent: Sean Komarmy, Pacific Edge.
→ 1900-1904 Folsom St (Inner Mission) • 8BR/3.2BA, 4369 SF mixed-use • Ask: $1.85M • two updated residential units and vacant, remodeled commercial space with optional liquor license • Days on market: 242 • Agents: John Antonini and Daniel Foley, Compass.
SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Cow Hollow (non-bit) coin shop rakes in the dough • Forest Hill might get a gondola • SF Counterculture Museum to open at Haight and Ashbury next spring • 138-unit development opens on Treasure Island • Are directors of founder-led companies being set up to fail • Some of the carbon credits were fake.
WORK • Going Global
Onward to Paris & London
Another lifetime ago, when we were building Curbed, Eater, and Racked, we fanned out across the country, eventually launching local sites in 30 markets. There was Eater Nashville and Curbed Detroit and Racked Philly, each dedicated to obsessive coverage of their respective markets.
There were also national versions of all three brands, which we created in part to establish credibility with advertisers, who we thought were more apt to spend on EATER than on Eater PDX.
After we sold to Vox Media, the local sites kept chugging along (some of the Eater locals still exist), but VC-backed Vox was mostly interested in scale. The advertising team (and management) had a hard time figuring out how the city-specific approach fit with the business. (This was in a time before digital subscriptions, except at a few outliers, like the NYT, which launched their offering in March ’11.) Over time, the national gloss drowned out much of the local flavor.
We created FOUND to return to our earlier approach of meeting readers where they are. In New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami, we wake up every morning thinking about how we can help our subscribers get more out of these great cities.
But this time, instead of dotting the U.S. map with local sites in vibrant secondary markets, we’re going global. The world is smaller than it was then, and as much as we love Charleston and Austin, we’ve got our eyes on Paris and London next.
In fact, we’re planning launches in both markets this winter. As of right this second, we’re looking for savvy local contributors in Paris and London who have something to say about restaurants, shopping, real estate, getaway travel, culture and leisure, and the modern workplace. If that’s you, hit reply or email us at found@foundny.com. (Or, if you know someone who fits the bill, pass this along!)
In the meantime, we haven’t sworn off FOUND Nashville; if our friends at Vox are reading and are ready to give it up for good on the local Eaters, drop us a line. –Josh Albertson
GETAWAYS • Montecito
Spiny lobster sunsets
In a state with 840 miles of coastline, I always wondered why it was impossible to find an excellent seafood restaurant with beautiful views of the Pacific. Then I discovered Caruso’s at the Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito.
The best tables are undoubtedly on the terrace, which offers front-row seats to crashing waves and pink sunsets, while the dining room resembles the inside of a yacht — bedecked in navy blue and crisp white, with teak wood floors and leather booths. Despite a dress code (strictly elegant) and Caruso’s corresponding top-tier service, a warm and inviting atmosphere persists.
Regional flavors and locally sourced ingredients drive the Italian-influenced menu. Highlights include chilled Santa Barbara spiny lobster, gnocchetti with uni (from esteemed local diver Stephanie Mutz), and Channel Islands halibut served underneath a parsnip puree. For dessert, buttermilk mousse made with honey from, of course, the property’s own beehives.
After an exceptional dinner, stay the night at the hotel. This allows for a nightcap at The Manor Bar, with its library-like setting and cocktail menu that nods to iconic literary villains: The Dorian Gray is fruity and Hennessy-based, while the spicy Shere Khan contains both mezcal and Aperol. And, finally, a good night’s sleep in a Rosewood Miramar Beach bungalow, marble bathrooms and Diptyque amenities included. –Victoire Loup
→ Caruso's at Rosewood Miramar Beach (Montecito) • 1759 S Jameson Ln • Sun-Thurs 530-9p, Fri-Sat 530-930p • Reserve.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Yosemite shuts reservations system down early • Tahoe’s Homewood Mountain Resort won’t open this winter • Delta rolling out all-new look for cabins • Largest In-N-Out ever planned for Las Vegas • Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel demolished on Hawaii • Inside the new luxe resort coming to Canada’s heli-skiing capital.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Big Ideas
San Francisco Fall Show • opening gala • Fort Mason (Marina) • Wed @ 6p • Enthusiast, $1050 per
Remi Wolf • Frost Amphitheater (Stanford) • Fri @ 7p • GA, $50 per
The Exorcist • on 35mm • Balboa Theater (Outer Richmond) • Mon @ 730p • GA, $15 per
ASK FOUND
First, a quick primer on how this works: You send us the pressing questions of the day (on dining, services, living in the Bay Area). We all put our heads together (us, FOUND, + you, FOUND subscribers, who are also FOUND) in search of truth and beauty.
Three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:
Are you opting for any spooky season events??
Is there a Bay Area yoga instructor we should know about??
Which SF sushi spot do you rely on for date night?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundsf.com.
BARS • The Nines
Tiki bars, Bay Area
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of SF’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundsf.com.
Trad’r Sam (Richmond), Polynesian paradise slinging potent grogs since 1937