At the counter, Devin, sporting a moustache and sharp undercut, is pouring a glass of wine for a gentleman in his seventies. Beyond him, a group of middle-aged hipsters sample dishes from pop-up duo Rucolina — delicate squash tartine and braised Wagyu with red wine jus.
Claire Sullivan and Devin Hohler opened Banter Wine in 2023.
Nissa Brehmer
El Cerrito isn’t wine-bar central, and Banter isn’t located on a street with much foot traffic. People don’t just stumble in — they come deliberately. As Devin steps away to flip a record, hitting the fade perfectly, I sip a glass of a 2019 barrel-aged Stagiaire, a silky red made from carignan grapes. “We prefer wines that are natural but not ‘natty’,” he explains, using the slang for the natural wine movement. Still organic, still low-intervention, but “nothing too funky, nothing too out there”. It’s cleaner on the palate, and welcoming — just like the bar itself.
Waste not, want not
That evening, I head back to San Francisco for dinner. Local friends have pointed me towards Shuggie’s, a Mission District favourite with a no-waste mission.
I walk in expecting the usual wine bar outfit — bare wooden chairs, dripping white candles, maybe a rustic oven glowing in the back. Instead, I’m met with a carnival of colour. The dining room is drenched in green, with Hulk-hand-shaped seats, sculptural furniture and abstract wall art. The open-kitchen room glows in oranges and yellows. Everything is upcycled, vintage or DIY.
Once known as Shuggie’s Trash Pie, the restaurant began in 2022 as a pizza-only project. Last summer, it started offering a full menu built around food-waste reduction — paired with live jazz. It’s Sunday, and tables are piled with tray pizzas and salads. There are vegan feta slices, finished with radish-top chimichurri, and an indulgent pepperoni, its edges extra crisped. Meanwhile, the ‘green goddess’ arrives skewered in a ceramic pot like flowers in a vase, garnished with gooseberries and blistered shishito peppers.
Dining and Cooking