Break the Rules and Stay Out on a School Night, Courtesy of Traci Des Jardins
Author:Michelle KonstantinovskyRemember the thrill of staying out past curfew? Culinary superstar Traci Des Jardins wants you to reclaim that rush. That’s why she partnered up with San Francisco event space The Pearl to create School Night, a weeknight-only bar that opens this week in the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood.
Des Jardins is known for outstanding dining (think: (Jardinière, Mijita, The Commissary, Arguello, etc.), but she had yet to open her own bar before School Night came into the picture. Now, in collaboration with Adam Mendelson, Managing Partner of The Pearl, Des Jardins is heading up School Night Sunday through Wednesday, from 5:00 pm to 12:00 am (and allowing Mendelson and his crew to take the reigns Thursday through Saturday, when the space transitions back into an event venue).
Photo courtesy of Orange Photography.
Des Jardins brought over Arguello’s bar manager, Enrique Sanchez, to ensure patrons are well lubricated with Pisco-centric classics that pay homage to the Lima-born expert’s Peruvian culture, plus agave and whiskey cocktails to mix things up.
Photo courtesy of Orange Photography.
Des Jardins’ food menu complements the bar program’s sensibility with Mexican and Peruvian flavors sourced locally from California purveyors. The entire menu revolves around the Bertha wood fired oven that lends a smoky flavor to wood-fired verduras en escabeche, fideo with oven roasted clams, Devil’s Gulch costillas with tomatillo barbeque sauce, grilled achiote marinated Wolfe Ranch quail with fried leg, onion escabeche and wood-fired roasted albondigas (meatballs) made from the plant-based Impossible foods products.
Photo courtesy of Orange Photography.
Photo courtesy of Orange Photography.
Artist Alexis Laurent, who has designed and built art for The Pearl, created a cozy, 87-seat space for School Night that feels intimate and sophisticated. Inspired by the design of The Pearl, Laurent utilized hardwoods, zinc, concrete, and steel, to marry the industrial and the natural.
School Night is located at The Pearl, 601 19th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107. Call 415.903.5427 or visit https://www.schoolnightsf.com/ for more information.
