Wine and roses
Wine and roses
Saison Cellar & Wine Bar, Pasta Supply Co, best plant shops, Bernal Heights listings, Guittard Chocolate, Bolinas, the end of WFH, MORE
BARS • First Person
Bright light
San Francisco is brimming with neighborhood wine bars of all stripes, for all moods, but SoMa’s new Saison Cellar & Wine Bar boasts, to its credit, a few extra perks. Chief among them are the two dozen fine French and California wines by the glass selected by Mark Bright, the owner and longtime beverage director of nearby Saison. There's also the added option to join as a member, thus reaping the benefits of the next-door clubhouse and "cellar" space: your own temperature-controlled wine locker and a place to hang out with friends.
The cozy, dark blue-paneled main room, heavy on molding and taxidermy, is meant to evoke a tavern in Burgundy, featuring a long marble bar as well as table seating for about 25 people. The music is uptempo, and of a piece with Saison's soundtrack — anything from Steely Dan to The Killers might be in the mix. That next-door cellar, which isn't yet open, features more of the same (and then some), including a full-size taxidermy ram by the entrance, and a poker room in the basement.
The by-the-glass list ranges in price from $11 for an Alsatian white "Gentil" from Hugel and Fils, to $75 for a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée Champagne. In between are plenty of terrific options, like a crisp 2023 Sauvignon Blanc from Mendocino's Polemonium ($25 per), or a rich 2014 Cabernet blend from Chateau Faugas in Bordeaux ($18). If you want to taste your way through a region, there are Burgundy and Bordeaux flights on offer.
The full menu of food selections comes from Maison Nico in the Financial District, including cheese and charcuterie boards, duck or pork belly pate en croute, and one of the best croque monsieurs around. There are also three tiers of caviar service, ranging in price from $98 to $165, and (in a nod to one of Bright's first jobs in SF hospitality) Michael Mina's signature caviar parfait makes an appearance on the menu ($48 per).
Opening this wine bar — one of two that Bright now has under the Saison name, joining a location in Scotts Valley — is a return of sorts for the operator, who ran a different cafe and wine concept in this space, Les Clos, a decade ago. Tucked away on a quiet stretch of Townsend Street, the place has already attracted a neighborhood following in its first few months, and on a weekend night especially, you'll want to reserve or risk jockeying for a seat. –Jay Barmann
→ Saison Cellar & Wine Bar • 234-238 Townsend St • Tues-Sat 2-10p • Reserve.
SF RESTAURANT LINKS: Deferred maintenance delays Cliff House reopening • Tartine, Gary Danko alums opening Jules pizzeria in Lower Haight • Luxe Korean barbecue AB Steak opening next month in Union Square • 26-year-old Le Colonial shutters • Michelin-starred Rasa returns in Burlingame • The mai tai will be named Oakland’s official cocktail.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
After the gold rush
There was a mini Gold Rush in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights in the late 1800s, after con artists seeded the south-of-the-Mission hill with bits of gold. These days, it’s the knoll’s unique assortment of residences that attract people to the neighborhood — with earthquake shacks, Victorians, and modern multi-families sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. Its temperate microclimate and swift freeway access sure doesn’t hurt.
In the past year, 87 houses and 16 condos have changed hands in Bernal Heights, at median prices of $1.52M and $1.03M, respectively, per Compass. Here, three current listings to consider:
→ 830 Moultrie St (Bernal Heights) • 3BR/2BA, 1750 SF home • Ask: $1.388M • Updated 1917 single-family with attached garage and yard • Days on market: 36 • Agent: Aminta Sevilla, Montclair.
→ 147 Bronte St (Bernal Heights, above) • 4BR/3.1BA, 2452 SF home • Ask: $3.8M • Renovated 1908 home with indoor/outdoor access • Days on market: 20 • Agent: Dale T. Boutiette, Compass.
→ 117 Manchester St (Bernal Heights) • 4BR/4BA, 2276 SF home • Ask: $3.395M • Modernized three-level Edwardian • Days on market: 146 • Agent: Masoumeh M. Pahlbod, Engel & Völkers.
SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: SF condo prices bouncing back • But HOA fees remain nation’s second-highest • SF Ballet gets new boss • Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s therapist is ChatGPT • Open AI plots huge Mission Bay campus • Inside Oakland’s church of magic mushrooms.
WORK • Wednesday Routine
True confections
AMY GUITTARD • chief marketing officer • Guittard Chocolate Company
Neighborhood you live in: Inner Richmond
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
It’s buzzy. The air smells like chocolate, the roses lining our sidewalk are blooming, and Guittard trucks are coming and going. The cocoa tree in our lobby is working hard to grow a few tiny pods — it likes the summer sun and tends to mimic the harvest seasons, even though we couldn’t be farther from the cocoa belt. We all smell like chocolate by the end of the day — the longer you’re out in the plant, the stronger it is. We taste chocolate daily, whether it’s a new bar someone found at the grocery store, a product off the line, or liquor made from a new bean we’ve just received.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Wednesdays are our all-hands meeting, so there’s team energy floating through the office. I’ll do some new-product-development brainstorming and a little marketing strategy. Our front office is attached to the factory, and I usually pop out to the production floor between meetings. I describe Guittard as a 150-year-old start-up, meaning we all wear a lot of different hats. That’s the beauty of a small, family-run company. We’re a tight-knit team spanning generations and job functions, all striving to make the best chocolate in the world and laughing a lot along the way.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
We live near many amazing restaurants, most within walking or biking distance. We rotate through Fiorella, Outerlands, Kitchen Istanbul, Pizzetta 211, Pearl, and Patisserie on California on the regular. We can’t go a single weekend without a trip to Arsicault Bakery on our way to the Clement Street Farmers Market. Some other SF favorites: Rintaro, Kokkari, Che Fico, Flour + Water, and Cotogna.
How about a little leisure or culture?
We have a 22-month-old and a two-year-old chocolate lab, so most of our weekends are spent outdoors walking, riding bikes, lounging on the beach, or just sitting in a park somewhere. It’s been surreal taking my daughter to the same spots I went to as a kid, like Mountain Lake Park in the Presidio. It’s also been fun exploring new places together. The Presidio Tunnel Tops playground is genius. Catching a live show at the music concourse in Golden Gate Park on our way to Cal Academy is always a nice surprise, too.
Any weekend getaways?
There’s nothing better than summertime in Tahoe. It’s so special — the smells, the water, the mountain air. You don’t need much other than time on the lake and a few tree-lined hikes.
Another family favorite is a trip up the coast to Bolinas. Leave early to avoid weekend traffic, make a pit stop at Good Earth in Mill Valley for some car snacks, and then catch a few waves (just to be sure to hit the tides right). On your way out of town, stop at the farmstand for local produce and flowers — honor system and cash only.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Napa’s Feast it Forward to become private club • Road trip waystation Pea Soup Andersen’s to reopen • Alaska Air completes acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines • West Marin chef opens London’s hottest bakery • The world’s best bar.
WORK • RTO
Thanks, team
The best part of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s memo to employees last week, shared publicly by the company on AboutAmazon.com, is the way it begins: “Hey team.”
Uh oh.
Nine paragraphs about culture-strengthening and bureaucracy-trimming follow before the bomb: Team, You’re going back to the office five days a week.
Next, six grafs of understanding (you’ve got three months) and thanks in advance (because “the work won’t be trivial and it will test our collective ability to invent and simplify”), followed by the signoff: “Thanks, Andy.”
The WSJ says the breezily delivered change in policy (most Amazon employees had been on a three-days-in-office plan) signals the end of “the work from home free-for-all,” pointing to a recent KPMG survey, which showed a marked increase in CEOs expecting a return to five days a week in the next three years.
But just because you wish it doesn’t make it so. The current reality is that most companies are still offering some flexibility, because that’s what workers want and — whether office-straddled bosses like it or not — it generally boosts productivity and helps retain talent. (They should like it!).
The good news is that Amazon’s plan and its aftermath will make us all smarter about remote and hybrid work’s durability. But, for the love of Nick Denton, let’s hope they also make us smarter about writing sharper corporate memos. –Josh Albertson
CULTURE & LEISURE • Dress Up
Creative Growth 50th anniversary gala • SFMOMA (SoMa) • Wed @ 530p • $250 per
Open Time • opening night • Z Space (Mission) • Fri @ 8p • patron, $60 per
Usher • Oakland Arena (Oakland) • Sat @ 8p • VIP pit, $804 per
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop
The Italian job
After launching last year, the lines at the Pasta Supply Co in the Richmond were so long, they prompted chef Anthony Strong to open a second location in the Mission this spring. It was a bold move for Strong, who used to run the late, great Locanda and Prairie and once said that as much as he loves the Mission, he never wanted to open a restaurant there again. Now, we all get to eat his words.
Well, kind of. Pasta Supply Co isn’t quite a restaurant. It’s more of a pasta shop with creative extras. During the day you can step up to the counter and choose from about 38 different types of fresh and filled pasta to take home, from bucatini and rigatoni to sweet corn ravioli and pork belly “buttons.” They’re ready to mix and match with around 20 sauces, like fresh pestos, spicy vodka, and rich ragu.
In the evening you can sit down for dinner, with affordable plates of pasta ($18 to $25 per) and bottles of wine for (basically) retail price. Don’t underestimate the mafaldine served simply with “butter and cheese,” which Strong once described as having “the slurpability of a strand pasta while a tongue tickler.” He also just dropped a “hot mess” spaghetti and meatballs for the red sauce diehards. Get in line. –Becky Duffett
→ Shop: Pasta Supply Co (Mission) • 3233 22nd St • Retail 10a–6p, Dinner 5–9p daily.
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GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines
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Plant shops
Clement Nursery (Outer Richmond, above), SF’s oldest nursery, housed in a former dairy farm, c. 1904