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One of the nation's most highly acclaimed culinary couples has finally brought back their fan-favorite wine bar.
Michael and Lindsay Tusk, the duo behind the Michelin three-starred Quince in San Francisco, reopened on Friday their wine bar and restaurant Verjus, Eater S.F. reported on Monday. The spot had initially opened back in January 2019, but it was forced to close about a year later due to the pandemic. More than four years later, it's finally back, with a few updates and some callbacks to its original form.
"My goal is that Verjus 2.0 will ... be everything that [customers] remember," Lindsay told Eater. "I don't want to disappoint anyone and have it not be as good as it was."
Verjus is first and foremost a wine bar, with Matthias Cattelin in charge of the program. There's 20 Champagnes under $100 a bottle, plus a focus on organic, atypical wines. The Tusks have also expanded the bar's remit, bringing on Thad Vogler (who helped out at Quince and the couple's Italian restaurant Cotogna) to devise a cocktail menu that complements the wines. "The cocktail program is actually very simple, French-inspired," Lindsay said. "Some ingredients you may associate with French cocktails, but it's really very clean, very balanced. It's almost more of an aperitif style [of cocktail] as a prelude to the wines." Next month, they'll also launch a wine club: The three tiers allow you to opt for just one bottle a month, three bottles, or three rare and unique ones.
As for the food, Walker Stern has been brought on as the executive chef to oversee a menu of rotating small plates and entrees. Expect artisanal cheeses, house-made charcuterie, duck confit, and an omelet that may include locally foraged mushrooms, black truffle, or comté. The menu will be displayed on a marquee board that was also present in the first version of Verjus, a design element inspired by a restaurant in Barcelona.
"I really wanted to maintain its soul as a wine bar, for it not to be viewed as a restaurant," Lindsay said. "I want to surprise people, I want to surpass their expectations. They think they're coming to your typical wine bar, and then for them to be really bowled over by the quality of the food."
The design also retains a red, high-gloss ceiling that diners will find familiar, inspired by the Paris wine bar Le Baron Rouge, Lindsay told Eater. Newer elements, meanwhile, include a warm wood floor, a private dining room, and a vintage metal chandelier. Plus, the Tusks added a DJ booth, with much of the music coming from Michael's personal record collection. Dancing is encouraged if the mood strikes.