Popping bottles

Lilah, best champagne bars, Reliquary, Kolo Japanese House Shoes, Telegraph Hill listings, Crimson Horticultural Rarities, FOUND Advertising, MORE

Jan 22, 2025

∙ Paid

BARS • First Round

Low booze, high vibes

The Skinny: A vibey Marina bar focused on low-ABV drinks, Lilah is the latest from bartender Elmer Mejicanos and chef Adam Rosenblum of neighboring burgers-and-booze spot Causwells.

The Vibe: A few tables tucked inside a cozy square, while stools at the window allow for Chestnut Street people watching. The paint job is a grown-up version of millennial pink (mature rose?), paired with a jungle green floor, lots of live plants, and whimsical animal wallpaper.

The Drink: Mejicanos is shopping the farmers market, getting colorful and creative with seasonal produce. Spritzes, sours, tiki drinks, all get a less boozy take; over-the-top kakigori — like a riff on key lime pie, with zest dusted over the shaved ice — are big fun.

The Food: Perfectly fine! Snack on crispy peanuts scented with fragrant lime leaf. Skip the pork belly buns, which were a little too chewy. If you drink up an appetite, consider sliding next door to Causwells for that famous burger. –Becky Duffett

→ Lilah (Marina) • 2336 Chestnut St • Tues & Wed 430-930p, Thurs 430-10p, Fri 430-1030p, Sat 11a-1030p, Sun 11a-930p • Reserve.

Photo: Nicole Parisi

SF RESTAURANT LINKS: Slanted Door founder Charles Pham dies at age 62 • Lion West Portal eschews “deep fried things or basic B stuff” • Chronicle savages recently reopened Park Tavern in North Beach • Sam Wo to shutter its Chinatown doors Sunday • Classic Mission bar Dovre Club shuttered by errant driver • Sheepsfoot knives confuse local diners • Former Bar Agricole chef now toils at New York Times • So long, chilled reds: the Big Red renaissance is upon us.

WORK • FOUND Advertising

More like Q fun

FOUND Advertising kicked off in earnest last quarter, with campaigns from our friends at Corcoran, Jolie, Gotham, and Vital Farms & Black Seed Bagels. For getting in early, each earned the added value of a special place in FOUND lore.

If you manage or represent a brand that would like to reach our very attractive audience here in SF (and also in NY, LA, Miami, and soon, Paris & London), there’s no time like the icy depths of Q1 to start a conversation. A reminder on just how attractive FOUND readers (across all markets) are:

53% have HHI of $250K+; 7% are above $1MM
52% have net worth of $1MM+; 9% are above $10MM
33% are 35-44, 23% are 25-34, and 19% are 45-54
Top work fields: technology (17%), media (17%), law (8%), finance (8%)
42% expect to take at least five leisure trips in the next 12 months
93% recommend products/services/experiences to friends/family/colleagues

At FOUND, we subscribe to the theory that the right kind of sponsors — from top-tier real estate firms to innovative direct-to-consumer brands to high-end local retailers and service providers — can make media better. So far, so good! We’re excited to welcome the next wave of on-brand brands to the FOUND family.

Drop us a line at sales@itsfoundsf.com and we will get to work on your next great campaign.

REAL ESTATE • On the Market

Step up

Single-family homes are hard to come by in Telegraph Hill. Folks who manage to score property in the area tend to hang on with an iron grip and a watchful eye, which makes for an especially vibrant Nextdoor community, frustrating renovations, and a tight property market.

The great news is that Telegraph Hill’s condo market has blossomed in recent years, making it easier to get a foot in the door of this desirable district. According to Compass, 23 condos changed hands there in the past year, at a median price of $1.285M. Here, three listings to consider:

→ 101 Lombard St #803W (Telegraph Hill) • 2BR/2BA, 1532SF condo • Ask: $1.5M, down from $1.725M on 8/17 • North-facing 1983 build • Days on market: 158 • Agent: Mary Fenton, Level S.

→ 101 Telegraph Hill Blvd #A (Telegraph Hill) • 2BR/2BA, 1538 SF condo • Ask: $2.7M • Fully remodeled 1940 build with Coit Tower views • Days on market: 5 • Agent: Payam Ghafoori, Compass.

→ 407-411 Greenwich St (Telegraph Hill, above) • 7BR/5BA • 3798 5-unit building • Ask: $3.598M, down from $4.248M in since-rescinded 10/22/21 listing • 110-year-old building never before offered for sale • Days on market: 263 • Agent: Luke Schemmel, Vanguard.

SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Legal battle between SF Quinces quietly settled • JP Morgan expanding downtown footprint • Waymo can stay in SF • Downtown office sales trending up • 2025 Milken Institute best-performing cities list ranks SF 126th • A vibe shift at Davos.

WORK • Wednesday Routine

Green thumb

ALLISON FUTERAL • owner • Crimson Horticultural Rarities
Neighborhood you live in: North Oakland/Longfellow

It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I head to the nursery around 830a with a cup of strong coffee. I typically spend about three hours there, depending on whether I’m restocking the shop for the week, sourcing for interior plant installs, or looking for the perfect specimen that a customer requested. Once I’m back with the order, it takes about two hours to get everything out onto the floor after unloading the van, unpacking and labeling the plants, and adding them all into our system. During wedding season, you’ll often find us at the San Francisco Flower Market (where we source for floral events) on Wednesdays.

What’s on the agenda for today?
Today I have a meeting with my bookkeeper and an accounting consultant to review new systems we’ve put in place to better track what's coming in and out of the business. Then back to the shop where I’ll organize our back room, make in-house goodies like terrariums and Japanese kokedama, consult with a prospective client, and work on the sales floor.

Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I took the girls to Pizzaiolo for our holiday party this year. We ate way too much delicious food and laughed a lot.

How about a little leisure or culture?
I recently went to a book release at 111 Minna with old friends of 20-plus years. We were celebrating a book our friend Anna made called Hail Murray! — it’s a collection of photos that our friend Murray took before he passed away documenting the punk scene in the Bay Area going all the way back to the ’80s.

What was your last great vacation?
A trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage and rented a van that we camped in for a couple of weeks. We stopped in Seward & Kenai Fjords, Denali National Park, Fairbanks, Whittier, Home, Valdez, and Chena Hot Springs. It was all spectacular and wild.

What store or service do you always recommend?
If you’re a plant person, I always recommend Flora Grubb Gardens when you’re in SF. Flora has curated the most amazing space and has impeccable taste. My favorite clothing boutique in SF is Reliquary. Leah has a great eye. And I love The Gardener on Fourth Street in Berkeley, where I can easily mill around for an hour just looking at all the pretty little things.

GETAWAYS LINKS: Tourists love Los Angeles — could the fires change that? • Napa wine ranch hits market for $100M • Italian museums will watch your dog for free • Are flights “laptop purchases”? • 50 holidays to take in 2025.

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object

Inside shoes

I first visited the Cambridge, MA, location of Topdrawer in search of Japanese notebooks and pens to sate my stationery obsession. But instead of leaving with paper goods, I walked out with a pair of color-blocked corduroy house shoes.

With a plush, cloudlike lining, these shoes are designed for the Japanese tradition of removing outdoor shoes before entering the home and replacing them with clean, comfortable indoor footwear. Topdrawer, which has Bay Area outposts in the Mission and Berkeley, carries a wide range of house shoes, produced by their in-house brand, Kolo, in materials like linen, suede, wool, and corduroy — all with the same modern, minimalistic aesthetic. For frequent travelers, the house shoes fold flat for easy packing, in accordance with Topdrawer’s “Tools for Nomads” ethos. They’ll make you feel at home wherever you are. –Phoebe Fry

→ Shop: Kolo Japanese House Shoes (Topdrawer), $95.

CULTURE & LEISURE • On The Prowl

Los Lobos: Disconnected • The Fillmore (Fillmore) • Fri @ 8p • GA, $71 per
Why Are You Single? with Marie Faustin • SF Sketchfest • Cobb's Comedy Club (North Beach) • Sat @ 7p • Preferred, $55 per
66th Annual White Elephant Preview Sale • Oakland Museum (Oakland) • Sun @ 9a • GA, $50 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:

What new fitness/wellness trend/class will you take on in the new year?
What’s your new winter bar?
Tell us a secret about your favorite ski mountain!

Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundsf.com.

BARS • The Nines

Champagne bars

The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of the Bay Area’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundsf.com.

San Francisco Champagne Society (SoMa), reservation-only lounge for private tastings of rare, small-batch bubbly