Pasta Supply Co’s second location, which opened in June in the Mission, is the Rihanna of the San Francisco dining scene. Like the singer-actor-mother-philanthropist-entrepreneur, the restaurant is a multi-hyphenate sensation — only in the case of Pasta Supply Co, it’s a casual restaurant, compact shop, private party space, and venue for pasta-making classes, which are often sold out weeks in advance.
“The old standard model — an 80-seat dining room, full bar, a host — that’s pretty difficult to pull off, especially now,” says Anthony Strong. So, like a growing number of restaurateurs, Strong is rethinking what a restaurant is “supposed” to be. A veteran of the San Francisco food scene who has cooked at lauded restaurants including Prairie, Locanda, and Pizzeria Delfina, the chef-owner-visionary (a multi-hyphenate in his own right) feels confident that consumers have become more open to what a restaurant experience can be.
This kind of flexibility has become a necessary attribute for restaurateurs in a city where dining levels have failed to return to pre-pandemic heights. Instead of relying on a traditional 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. dinner service as a sole source of revenue — which, as Strong puts it, “is more like 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in San Francisco, because everybody [has] to make it to yoga in the morning” — this business model gives customers reasons to come back beyond the occasional sit-down meal.
Case in point: those pasta-making classes. On any given Saturday, students apprehensively enter the light-filled space on 22nd Avenue. Three hours later they emerge triumphant, each holding a bag loaded with six types of pasta made with their own two hands. It’s usually enough to spark a passion, driving these students to return to the shop-slash-restaurant, where they throw around terms like “radiatore” and “corzetti” with offhanded ease.
Showa, a Japanese fine-dining restaurant in SoMa, has adopted a similarly flexible business model. In addition to serving a 12-course, $150 tasting menu at night, the owners operate a donburi- and udon-focused takeout restaurant by day, Ginto Express, which developed a loyal following during the pandemic. The reasoning behind opening Showa as an 18-seat fine-dining restaurant while reserving valuable kitchen space to operate a takeout window was equal parts financial and creative.
“Ginto Express pays the rent for most of Showa’s fixed costs,” says co-owner and maître d’ Joe Chang. Sharing overhead means Showa can focus on providing a high-end yet relatively affordable dining experience instead of looking to maximize profit. That means chefs can source the quality ingredients the menu demands — and more, like the “nice plates” that add to the elevated-but-never-fussy ambiance and one of the most exceptional restrooms in San Francisco. (Charcoal-infused floss pick or individually portioned mouthwash, anyone?)
In short, Chang says, “Showa wouldn’t look like Showa without Ginto Express.”
For Carrie Blease, co-owner of the one-Michelin-star Polk Gulch restaurant Lord Stanley, diversifying meant adding a bread bakery and the takeout option the Window, which serves a rotating menu of comfort food like pork ribs and a popular fish fillet sandwich. Consider the Window the fun, casual alter ego of Lord Stanley that you can, unapologetically, visit daily.
Lord Stanley continues to serve its tasting menu of modern California-French cuisine at night and launched the Window during the pandemic to give the neighborhood another excuse to pop by. “It’s different than when people come in and dine,” Blease says. “They’re excited about the [menu] changes. We’ve met a lot of people through the community just by chatting with people at the Window, which I really love.”
Kim Alter, chef and owner of fine-dining restaurant Nightbird, didn’t plan on a multi-hyphenate business. But in 2019, she signed a lease for the space next door, with plans to expand her bar, Linden Room. With only eight seats, the bar had long struggled to keep up with demand and requests for private events. Then the pandemic hit, and she had to pivot.
Alter turned the space into NightJar, a multifunctional space that can be a private dining room for Nightbird or a venue for pop-ups. NightJar hosted a House of Prime Rib-inspired pop-up called Primebird, and Alter has offered it for free to former sous chefs, members of La Cocina, ceramicists, jewelers, and other creatives.
Like other chefs and owners, Alter sees the flexible space as an investment in the neighborhood — a way to build back foot traffic and, thus, vitality in the area. “I’ve been in Hayes Valley for eight years, and it’s nice to see new things,” she says. “It makes people want to come down. It’s what brings new people around. It’s good. It helps everybody.”