Urban fabric
June’s Pizza, Evan Kinori, Fairfax listings, Humboldt, Alter Ego San Jose, FOUND LDN & Paris, best Spanish restaurants, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Pizza hotline
June’s Pizza owner Craig Murli, a former Atelier Crenn chef, started shoveling pizza out of a West Oakland shipping container in 2020 and the business swiftly became the East Bay’s hottest pizza ticket. The party ended in 2021, when the Alameda County health department shut down the (as it turned out) unpermitted business. Three years later — and legitimately, this time — June’s reopened last fall in an Oakland warehouse.
A nondescript industrial exterior gives way to a blast of sunny yellow tiles leading to a massive oven in an open kitchen. The ticketing system is a delight: Place an order at the counter and watch the ticket fly down a zipline. Catch a seat in the minimalist dining room, get started on a glass of wine, and watch the pros work their dough.
Life feels simpler with only two options on the menu — the margherita and “the special.” On a recent winter night, that meant a very Cali combo of sweet persimmons, frilly mustard greens, and fatty guanciale. We ordered both, then blanched at the size of these pies — larger than extra large. It’s a fully fermented, flavorful sourdough crust with a woodfire blister. My former New Yorker friend conceded: this is some excellent pizza.
The most distinctive detail might be the cheese styling. For that final sprinkle, they shred it super fine, long, draping it all the way over the crust. The occasional drift hits the table, and one snowflake even settled in my glass of wine. I didn’t mind in the slightest.
June’s also happens to be next door to Brix Factory Brewing, as complimentary a neighbor as you could find. Slide next door for an (also excellent) IPA once you’ve finished wrestling the remains of your enormous pizza into a box, and maybe dusted some wayward cheese off your jeans. –Becky Duffett
→ June’s Pizza (Oakland) • 2408 Mandela Pkwy • Wed-Sun 4p-12a • Walk-ins only.
SF RESTAURANT LINKS: Russian standby Aydea’s second location opens in the Richmond tomorrow • Caché Bistro kicks off with French faves in the Inner Sunset • Wood-fired Spanish spot Mijo launches in Corte Madera • Cafe/cocktail bar Upstairs opens above Snail Bar in Oakland • Californians urged to eat aquatic rodents.
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Fashion sense
EVAN KINORI • designer/owner • Evan Kinori
Neighborhood you work in: The Mission
It’s Wednesday morning, what's the scene at your workplace?
We’re a small team of four to six people, depending on the day, and start around 10/1030a at our studio, which is in the back half of the store. The studio functions as a design office (patternmaking, fabric research, sample sewing/development), regular office, warehouse for inventory, and we have a studio mate who’s a handweaver, and their loom is in there as well. It can be a lot happening in one room.
What’s on the agenda for today?
We're receiving the new garment production for spring/summer, which we’ll shoot for the website next week in our studio. I'm also working on fabric selection and development for next spring, and we’re finalizing the production for this fall’s collection.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I wanted to check something in Berkeley this weekend — so if we make it to the East Bay, then it’s a great chance to eat at any of the following: Saul’s Delicatessen, June’s Pizza, Soba Ichi, Ippuku, or Shangri-La (one of my favorite lunches).
How about a little leisure or culture?
Most weekends, we drive north to walk in the Marin Headlands, or further to Inverness/Point Reyes Seashore — the nature exploration is pretty endless around the Bay Area — or sometimes, we’ll stay in the city, and go to the William Stout bookshop or Forest Books in Japantown.
Any weekend getaways planned?
In warmer weather, driving up to Humboldt is hard to beat — rivers to swim in, redwoods to walk through, and pretty easy to find quiet spots with fewer people around. For something easier/quicker, a hike and lunch at The Pelican Inn.
What was your last great vacation?
A week in Kyoto, at the end of a pretty intense work trip/journey — just sitting down on a bench at a quiet, less frequented temple called Honen-In for an hour was a major highlight.
Is there a product or service you recommend locally?
Besides the above, I usually recommend Presidio Heights home goods store MARCH, Outta Sight Pizza, and Zuni Cafe.
Photo: Evan Kinori.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Prime parkade
The Marin County community of Fairfax is only a few miles from the bustling 101, but its woodsy quietude makes it feel like a separate world — a distance underscored by its reputation as ground zero of the nation’s hot tub scene (remember the casual insult “Marin county hot-tubbers”?). It’s also where Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead used to face each other, and Irving Berlin used to serenade a local restaurant’s diners from a platform built in a tree. So maybe that separate world sensation might be rooted in reality.
Though the area’s 2.2 square miles is home mostly to longtime locals, there’s always moderate market movement, with 60 homes changing hands in 2024 at a median price of $1.22M, per Compass. Here, three listings for those mulling a slide into Fairfax’s bubbling tub:
→ 195 Ridgeway Ave (Fairfax) • 3BR/2BA, 1684 SF duplex • Ask: $1.149M • Two unit 1949-build with hillside views • Days on market: 9 • Agent: Lori Odisio, Compass.
→ 8 June Ct (Fairfax) • 3BR/2.1BA • 1836 SF house • Ask: $1.195M • Tamarancho-adjacent build from 1996 with Loma Alta view • Days on market: 5 • Agent: Blaine Morris, Compass.
→ 101 Ridge Rd (Fairfax, above) • 4BR/3BA, 2775 SF house • Ask: $1.995 (previously listed at $2.495M in 7/24) • 1999 build with waterfall-spanning redwood deck • Days on market: 13 • Agent: Eric Gelman, Coldwell Banker.
WORK • Launches
New FOUNDs
As we mentioned in this space last week (and are not above mentioning again), we’ve been running test issues for both FOUND Paris and FOUND LDN — and both are looking good. We’re still on track for Q1 launches in both markets.
As with the U.S. editions of FOUND, the central idea is to help locals get more out of their cities (and surrounds). But both Paris and London will be good and useful reads for savvy visitors, too. If you’re in either camp (or have friends who are), use these early-access links to get on the lists:
Meanwhile, we’ve assembled a talented team of contributors on the ground in each city. But there’s always room for more sharp writers (and non-writers with good taste). If you’d like to join the party, drop us a line at found@foundparis.com or found@foundldn.com.
SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Fitness tracker Strava moves HQ to SoMa • Databricks promises $1B downtown investment • Jony Ive reportedly buying up Jackson Square • Ralph Lauren (store) returns to SF with Jackson Square outpost • Steph Curry building huge HQ in Dogpatch • Bay Area tops in $1M+ paychecks • Parents in tech want their kids to go into the arts instead.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Whole Megillah
Hannibal Buress • San Jose Improv (San Jose) • Fri @ 730p • GA, $43 per
Purim Costume Party • Great Northern (Potrero Hill) • Sat @ 9p • GA, $43 per
Lady Blackbird • Slang Spirituals US Tour • Blue Note (Napa) • Sun @ 630p • High bar, $62 per
GETAWAYS • San Jose
Ego shift
A trip to downtown San Jose — resplendent land of tech conference hotels — is generally more business than leisure, but more places like Alter Ego could change that. The chic new cocktail bar calls to mind Firefly in Bangkok, Dark Room in Seattle, and Bar Iris in San Francisco.
Alter Ego’s entrance is through the back of the Still O.G. listening bar — a solid hang itself, with premium audio, rotating vinyl selectors, and draft cocktails — through a soundproof, retro velvet curtain into a brick dining room filled with (more) velvet-lined banquettes and chairs. Two softly-lit LED orb light fixtures hang over the center of the room-length marbled granite bar top that matches two and four-top tables. Modern R&B, from Frank Ocean to SZA, plays softly throughout.
The cocktails are also velvety. Easy Tiger is a balanced creation with amaro, Mexican raicilla, allspice, almond, lemon, tobacco bitters, and a torched cinnamon stick garnish that arrived smoking, pleasantly filling the air around my table. Mycology Mixology, with scotch, coffee, hazelnut, porcini, and shaved truffles gently placed atop an ice cube gave off amazing aromatics with every sip.
Led by Manresa and Saison alum Robert Mendoza, the kitchen mixes Asian flavors with Latin touches. Take special note of the Passard egg over Spanish chorizo topped with caviar, that perfectly cooked halibut with cauliflower and broccolini salsa, and the sliced prime New York steak served with a superb guajillo bordelaise.
There's also a loaded selection of both reserve and old and rare whiskeys, with a level of depth you won’t normally find among the top shelves of San Jose. Few weekend getaways are easier to get to from SF, and Alter Ego is a proper destination bar, worthy of a 55-minute drive from the city for a night. –Adrian Spinelli
→ Alter Ego (San Jose) • 66 S 1st St • Tue-Thur & Sun 5p-12a, Fri-Sat 5p-2a.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Airstream glamping opens near Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park • Starwood is back (at least in name) • Iberia’s new fleet heads to US • Airports bringing back gate greetings • The wisdom of pre-flight facials.
ASK FOUND
Three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:
After London and Paris, where should FOUND launch next?
What shops are you keeping an eye on for spring lines?
Which outdoor dining and rooftop spots are you most excited to visit as SF warms up?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundsf.com.
RESTAURANTS & BARS • The Nines
Restaurants and bars, Spanish
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of the Bay Area’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundsf.com.
Canela (Castro), paella specialist w/ full bar, reserve