Hidden luxury
Eight Tables by George Chen, $10M club, Nick’s Cove, Tallboy, best East Bay bakeries, August effect, MORE
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
Golden glow
The Backstory: For six years, Eight Tables by George Chen has been a luxurious hideaway in the heart of Chinatown. It’s the fine dining restaurant buried within China Live, that huge, multi-story emporium dedicated to Chinese cuisine. There’s good eating and drinking to be found on every level of China Live, from crispy-bottomed dumplings downstairs to the second floor’s whisky cocktails. But it’s especially worth seeking out this underappreciated star.
The Experience: Diners enter through a back alley, and ride a dedicated elevator upwards towards what feels like a private chateau. As advertised, there are eight tables — and only eight tables — generously spaced in a sea of soothing neutrals, separated by columns and screens. The tasting menu showcases Chinese American ingredients and dishes across a lucky eight courses ($300 per). The “essential flavors” of China register sweet, sour, smoky, and numbing sensations; a chili-rubbed lamb chop comes with a stuffed morel mushroom; a chocolate dessert pops off with salted peanuts and boba pearls.
Why It’s FOUND: There are plenty of fine dining stars across San Francisco, and several specifically offering upscale Cantonese fare in Chinatown. But Eight Tables offers a distinct experience in the golden glow of its modern dining room with a procession of thought-provoking dishes. It’s a deep journey into Chinatown, worthy of any special occasion. –Becky Duffett
→ Eight Tables by George Chen (Chinatown) • 8 Kenneth Rexroth Pl • Tues-Sat 530–9p • Reserve.
Photo: Michael Webber
SF RESTAURANT LINKS: Celtin Hendrickson-Jones’s Prelude to open in FiDi hotel The Jay next week • California’s Michelin Guide star awards event was a little weird • Everybody loves stone fruit season.
REAL ESTATE • Market Report
Luxe life
Conversation starter for this weekend’s cocktail party: How many $10M+ homes traded across the country in the first half of 2024?
Who guessed 838? Winner! That’s a 3.9% increase over last year, per Compass’s mid-year report. Ten markets accounted for over 75% of all sales, with Silicon Valley and the Peninsula in the eighth slot.
The full top 10:
Greater Los Angeles CA • 135 sales (-15.62% YoY)
Manhattan NY • 121 (-2.41%)
Palm Beach County FL • 79 (46.29%)
Miami Dade FL • 74 (21.31%)
Orange County CA • 51 (96.15%)
Southwest Florida FL • 41 (46.42%)
The Hamptons NY • 37 (8.82%)
Silicon Valley & Peninsula CA • 35 (12.90%)
Big Island, Kauai, Oahu & Maui HI • 32 (18.51%)
Aspen CO • 29 -9.37%
Elsewhere in the (loosely defined) ultra-luxe neighborhood, ski towns Telluride (11 sales, 83.3%) and Snowmass (six sales, 50%) each made the report’s list of 20 markets that saw year-over-year increases. And to the south, Palm Springs cracked double digits, with 10 sales over last year’s six.
Final stumper for your cocktail party friends: Which ultra-luxe market saw the largest percentage increase in sales YoY? Nashville, with seven transactions over last year’s one, thanks to (in no particular order) its moderate climate, good food and music, and tax-free livin’.
SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Condo available in the Buena Vista Park mental hospital from Vertigo • Downtown boutique retail wooed by free rent • SF hotels buckle under bad debt • SF Bay’s only private island hits the market.
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Live long and prosper
DEIRDRE STEINMETZ • CFO • Longevity Media
Neighborhood you live in: El Cerrito
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I’m fortunate enough to not have a morning commute in the Bay Area — a luxury. I roll into my living room with my cup of slow drip Philz coffee and sit at my desk. It faces a floor-to-ceiling window that has a tremendous view of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay.
What’s on the agenda for today?
We recently came off our first Livelong Summit focusing on health and wellness. Brad Inman, a longtime Bay Area entrepreneur recently started a new media company around the concept of longevity: How can we live healthier and longer? Most of that information gets debated between doctors and scientists, but we’re trying to make those best practices accessible and digestible for everyone, so individuals can make good choices around their health.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
My brother and sister-in-law live in Marin, so I’ll pop over there. We love eating at Sushi Ran in Sausalito. The miso glazed black cod isn’t to be missed. We've also been loving Fish in Sausalito — great atmosphere by the water, incredibly fresh seafood.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I love going to see the 49ers and Warriors, and am so disappointed Oakland is losing the A's. I caught a concert in Stern Grove recently; Lyle Lovett was fantastic. But most weekends, I can be found hiking at our nearest national seashore, Point Reyes, or in my own backyard at Wildcat Canyon (above), with incredible 360-degree views of the Bay Area.
Any weekend getaways?
One of my favorite weekend getaways is Esalen in Big Sur. I've been to a couple incredible yoga retreats there recently. The hot tubs that sit on the cliff overlooking the ocean are filled from natural hot springs. You can relax in a claw-foot tub and watch the otters play and dolphins swim by — unreal.
What was your last great vacation?
I spent the month of January at a yoga retreat in Goa, India. Purple Valley is an Ashtanga-based Shala that attracts world class teachers from all over. Such a beautiful setting in the jungle, wonderful outdoor living, delicious food, and close enough to get to the beach a few times a week, for long walks and warm ocean swimming. It was heaven.
GETAWAYS • Tomales Bay
Nick of time
A fire destroyed the historic boat shack at Nick’s Cove on Tomales Bay this winter. Plans to rebuild are underway, but in the meantime, three reasons to book a stay:
1. The picture-perfect location on Tomales Bay and 12 charming bungalows with distinct personalities. (Big Rock and Nicolina are personal favorites). Inside, they’re all upscale cottage vibes with wood-burning stoves, rustic decor, soaking tubs, and heated bathroom floors. Waterfront rooms are worth it for the private patios. Breakfast is served at your door.
2. Chef Chris Cosentino. He’s helming the restaurant at Nick’s Cove, with a menu inspired by the inn’s rich seaside history and his own coastal roots. The smoked black cod dip on fried saltines is a high-low slam dunk, and the clam chowder comes Rhode Island- or New England-style. Dial the front desk from your rotary phone for complimentary “arrival” oysters — raw or bbq — delivered upon request.
3. How you’ll keep busy. Bocce ball in the garden, sunset over the bay, and kayaking to Hog Island for seal and sea otter spotting without ever leaving the property. –Allison McCarthy
→ Nick’s Cove (Marshall, CA) • 23240 Hwy 1 • From $680/night • Reserve.
GETAWAYS LINKS: SF chef Brandon Jew plots first class menu for Alaska Airlines • Trick Dog vet Scott Baird opens Jumbo’s Win-Win in Anderson Valley • Burning Man tickets still up for grabs • The restaurant inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park offers smoking lava view • The best new hotels of summer 2024.
WORK • Out of Office
Beached
Did financial executives on vacation contribute to last week’s market chaos? Possibly! Per the Financial Times:
Senior investors scrambled to respond to the global sell-off from their holiday homes, and junior traders struggled to keep up with the unfolding chaos as markets plunged then recovered this week. Those left at their desks said a lack of liquidity — the volume of money shifting around world financial markets, slowed by thin staffing over the holidays — made the market ructions worse.
We’ll wait for the Michael Lewis book to unravel whether twenty-something HBS grads in their first months on the desk are really to blame (for the ructions!). But there’s no denying that August is a historically bad time for bad things to happen at work.
I’m writing this from the beach myself, an admission that probably invites some sort of unexpected happening. Fortunately, there’s nothing in FOUND’s portfolio likely to blow up this week — no positions to unwind, no big transactions inching toward close. But I remember very clearly the times that there were — the hastily arranged calls and Zooms taken from rented rooms and porches ill-suited for serious work. Usually, they arrive just as you’ve submitted to the sounds of the surf.
Contrary to distressed traders’ anecdotes — like the merger arbitrage trader who told the FT about the one guy who lost millions on the Eurostar, heading to the Olympics, when he “went into the tunnel and… had no connection right when contagion was spreading” — it’s also possible that the pandemic and corresponding shift to WFH-readiness have taken away some of the jarring contrast of an August (or Thanksgiving, or late-December) surprise. Maybe it doesn’t hurt quite as much to be summoned back to your desk when your desk or “desk” is just a few steps away. What we lose in the blurring of work and life, we gain in the smoother transitions from one to the other.
Still, I’d never willfully plan anything important for these next few weeks. Leave it for September, when the beach is closed. –Josh Albertson
CULTURE & LEISURE • Mix It Up
Michelle Wolf • Cobb’s Comedy Club (North Beach) • Fri @ 10p • GA, $50 per
Preeti Mistry Pizza Pop-Up • Gold Ridge Organic Farms (Sebastopol) • Sat @ 11a • GA, $48 per
Joss Stone • The Fillmore (Fillmore) • Sun @ 8p • GA, $83 per
BARS • First Round
Tall, dark, handsome
The Skinny: Bar industry vet Den Stephens has opened Tallboy, a high-low martini bar in Temescal that’s fun, irreverent, and a little cheeky.
The Vibe: A statement horseshoe bar is the focal point of the stunning, open space that’s anything but divey. Douglas fir beams and original wood floors lend a deeply lived-in feeling and pay homage to the building’s 100-year-old history, while large planters and shades of green bring in natural elements. Coupled with just-right low lighting, the place is primed for photo ops and first dates.
The Menu: Martinis are the hook, but the team’s creative cocktails, like the 100 Acre Wood (gin, suze, carrot, honey, ginger, lemon, mint), are worth a look. There’s also a list of “cheekies” (read: mini cocktails) for sampling a few options flight-style.
Oakland’s James Beard Award-nominated (and recently shuttered) Lion Dance Cafe lives on at Tallboy with a menu of fancy “midnight” food. There’s chorizo Chex mix and vegan hot dogs in LDC’s signature Italo-Chinese-Singaporean style, including the namesake, topped with hot chili sambal, lime leaf mayo, crunchy peanuts, cucumbers, cilantro, and fried shallots.
The Verdict: A whimsical addition to Temescal’s vibrant nightlife scene where you can live the good life and let your hair down. –Allison McCarthy
→ Tallboy (Temescal) • 4210 Telegraph Ave • Sun-Thurs 2p-12a, Fri & Sat 2p-2a.
Photo: Nicola Parisi
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GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines
Bakeries, East Bay
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of the Bay Area’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundsf.com. For the full archives, click here.
Crixa Cakes (South Berkeley), Eastern European craft bumps up some of Berkeley’s most sought-after cakes and desserts