The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards

This article is part of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards, which celebrate the Bay Area’s small businesses and local residents who have hustled and shown creativity throughout 2020. See all the award winners here.

Across San Francisco, 2020 has changed the look of our city’s streets. The parklet—a structure built on the street—has emerged as a way for restaurants to create more intimate, safer, and creative outdoor dining spaces during the pandemic.

Eateries haven’t just thrown together a couple pieces of wood and called it a day. These structures are art pieces in themselves, often designed by local architects and creatives and serving as a backdrop for local artists to create on. Parklets are also not cheap, and restaurants have invested a lot in them. So we hope these are still around long after Covid-19 is in the past.

TBI’s 2020 Awards category Best Parklet in San Francisco had the most nominations, demonstrating the sheer number of amazing parklets that now exist to dine on (when not under shelter-in-place orders, of course). The winner: State Bird Provisions. This iconic Michelin-starred restaurant has won national accolades since it opened in 2011, and now it’s winning an award for its equally iconic parklet.

State Bird Provisions and its sister restaurant, The Progress, have changed gears from their cozy indoor-only spaces to a colorful, vibrant outdoor structure featuring artwork on each private dining section, complete with high walls that make it one of the most intimate parklets out there. As we wrote earlier this year, this ambiance gives off a street-party vibe that we are here for.

Congratulations, State Bird Provisions, on your TBI award!

Read on for our interview with Caitlin Donahue, general manager of State Bird Provisions, and to see our runners-up for Best Parklet in San Francisco.

TBI: How have you managed to stay afloat this year?
Caitlin Donahue:
We brought a small team back to work in May and brainstormed different ways of operating, cooking, and using technology to help us keep our heads above water. Our first attempt, the Provisions Box, was an opportunity for our guests to take home and execute State Bird and The Progress dishes on their own. While popular, we knew we needed to switch gears and tried meal kits and larder/pantry fillers for a while before landing on what is now a combination of State Bird and The Progress, but in a takeout form. Outdoor dining offered an opportunity to welcome back a few former co-workers and guests, which helped to lighten the load not only physically but also mentally and emotionally.

Our tiny team was working so closely together, and introducing the energy of more people into the mix was a reminder of why we do this in the first place and why we love doing it so much.

How are you holding up now, heading into another month of shelter in place?
With the closure of indoor dining, we had a feeling that the end of outdoor dining was near, but it didn’t make laying off our staff for a second time in 2020 any easier. Thankfully, everyone is in a better place mentally than we were in March. We had already planned on taking a winter break, which will likely grow a bit, but now we are making the most of our time before we go on that break. The Anchovy Bar, which we opened in October, is now offering takeout and has a lovely retail shop to peruse while you wait for your duck schnitzel sandwich. State Bird and The Progress continue to operate as one restaurant offering dinner with a great selection of staples from both restaurants and some seriously sippable cocktails. The support from friends and the community has given us the energy we need to continue on!

What are your hopes for 2021?
We all hope to get back to business as usual as soon as we are able to do that safely. We are eager to allow guests to sit arm to arm, enjoy cocktails and snacks while waiting for their table at any of our restaurants, and enjoy a meal with us. But although we would like our industry to move forward, it isn’t exactly normal that we are looking forward to: The most amazing thing to come of the past several months has been a stronger sense of community.

Other nominees for Best Parklet in San Francisco:

1. Asiento

This cozy neighborhood bar, known for its craft drinks, delicious tapas, and events, has survived the pandemic by pairing up with SF New Deal, a nonprofit organization that provides meals to the predominantly previously homeless population housed in hotels throughout the city and pays restaurant workers to do so.

“We aren’t making a profit from it, but it’s keeping our kitchen staff employed full-time and helping with rent,” says Debi Cohn of Asiento. The bar’s parklet, featuring carved wood and shade, has provided refuge for the community. For 2021, they hope to reopen and that guests “really make an effort to attend.”

“Likes on social media are great, but we need guests to come and spend dollars and tip the staff to make it. Any of your local favorites will appreciate the effort,” Cohn says.

Asiento also has a GoFundMe.

2. Cassava

Outer Richmond’s Cassava, owned by Yuka Ioroi and Kris Toliao, collaborated with several local artists to create a socially distanced dining experience on a parklet designed by Alec Hawley of Fauvescraper Studio. Pablo Raiz is the artist responsible the vibrant mural and updated logo, which includes fox and crow “spirit animals,” two creatures that quickly adapt to a changing environment. Cassava hopes the narrative changes in 2021: “We shouldn’t be asking to open more to survive, but the government needs to pay us to shut down and stay home as all other civilizations do in one way or another.”

3. Izzy’s Steakhouse

San Francisco’s iconic and classic Izzy’s Steakhouse, known for local seafood, cocktails, and, of course, its steaks, was granted “legacy business” status for its longstanding run since 1987.

But classic doesn’t mean stagnant. The team at Izzy’s were as creative as any, creating one of the most stunning covered outdoor dining spaces in the city. “We have a really strong team in place that has stayed positive and been very adaptable throughout this year. Trying to balance safety and hospitality isn’t easy, and their upbeat attitude and perseverance have helped us get through this year,” Izzy’s told TBI.

Izzy’s would love SFers to continue ordering takeout and delivery. The steakhouse’s new Entertaining at Home menu offers fully cooked meals consisting of Izzy’s beloved mains, signature sides, batched cocktails, boozy cakes, and more, with minimal preparation for a special meal at home.

4. Outer Orbit

Everything about Outer Orbit, a bar and restaurant in Bernal Heights, is fun—truly — from the pinball machines that line its walls to the jukebox playing old-school jams to its Spam musubi and boozy passionfruit shave ice. So of course its parklet is equally as fun.

The restaurant’s spacey vibe continues outside, where neon lights brighten the space. Outer Orbit tells TBI that it had poured money and time into rebuilding the parklet only two weeks before the current shelter-in-place orders kicked in. “It’s like the story of this pandemic: Work super hard, invest time and money, and then the rug just gets pulled out from under the new adaption,” says owner Christian Gainsley.

Outer Orbit is counting on takeout sales to get them through — if you haven’t yet, try their amazing sandwiches — but that really doesn’t even cover labor costs, so please consider contributing to Outer Orbit’s GoFundMe.

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