2026 Restaurant Design: Wayfare Tavern by DLC-ID

Author:Lindsey Shook

When the legendary Wayfare Tavern set out to begin its next chapter—relocating and joining forces with acclaimed chef Tyler Florence—the owners turned to interior designer Jon de la Cruz of DLC-ID
to transform the space and reshape its storied heritage while helping spark the “restaurant revival” now reinvigorating San Francisco’s dining landscape. “The Wayfare Tavern brand is strong and well established, so they wanted as much as possible to preserve their ongoing legacy but translate it to a new, more efficient and usable footprint on three floors, rather than five as before,” recalls de la Cruz on the overall direction.

By homing in on de la Cruz’s own deep respect for the building’s architecture, the team selected warm wood tones and custom traditional furnishings that paid homage to the original details while providing a modern comfort through de la Cruz’s signature cinematic glow. “The most significant feature is the new curved staircase, paired with a hand-painted gold-leaf mural that anchors the main tavern,” he remarks. “Storytelling guided much of the design; the stairs are a nod to the original space and the mural subtly depicts the Barbary Coast lore.”

The first location on the city’s famed Sacramento Street was much smaller, so the new home allowed the team to consolidate all back-of-house spaces into the basement and, the designer says, “create a more meaningful, flexible private event space that could work as three separate dining rooms or one large space for bigger events.”

As the work culture returns to San Francisco, thanks to the robust emerging AI community, Wayfare Tavern is leading the way for other restaurants to follow. “I was in lockstep with Tyler Florence’s approach to cuisine—elevating traditional comfort to the very best version of a classic,” de la Cruz remarks. “The goal was to create a space that felt familiar but yet exceeded expectations to be altogether fresh and exciting.”