Oysters on the half shell will be on the menu of Dayboat Seafood, one of three restaurants set to open inside the Mess Hall in the Presidio in June. The Mess Hall is an ambitious food hall overlooking the San Francisco Bay that has been in the works for years.
Courtesy Nathaniel Leonard
The Mess Hall is near picnic areas at Tunnel Tops in the Presidio and will have its own large patio.
Courtesy of Nate Israel
Boda, one of three restaurants set to open inside the Mess Hall in the Presidio, will offer Korean fried chicken and other Korean dishes.
Courtesy Nathaniel Leonard
Smashburgers, hoagies and vegetarian sandwiches will be on the menu at Breadwinner, a restaurant that will debut inside the Mess Hall when it opens in June.
Courtesy Nathaniel Leonard
After years of anticipation, the team behind an ambitious new food hall overlooking the San Francisco Bay in the Presidio is finally announcing when it will open and details about its food-and-drink lineup.
The Mess Hall is set to open in June in a former U.S. Army building located on top of Tunnel Tops park, the newest part of the Presidio with wraparound views of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city. The 6,200-square-foot space will house Breadwinner, a sandwich and burger spot; Boda, a Korean restaurant; and fish-centric Dayboat Seafood. The building will also have a full bar, a café featuring San Francisco’s Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters and a market.
When it opens, the Mess Hall will be the largest food offering at Tunnel Tops, not far from acclaimed Mediterranean restaurant Dalida, Italian café Il Parco and food trucks that set up around the Main Parade Lawn.
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“There’s a lot of great evening dinner options in the park but we’re fitting that more casual, accessible element,” said Nate Leonard, a Mess Hall partner and former chef.
Leonard is developing the food hall with Rob Gaon, a Mill Valley resident and entrepreneur, as well as partner and consulting chef Peter Serpico, who previously worked with nationally acclaimed restaurant group Momofuku. They designed the hall to provide all-day dining options for both visitors to the Presidio and its 3,000 residents, from coffee early in the morning to evening cocktails.
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Breadwinner will offer smashburgers, hoagies and vegetarian sandwiches, such as one stuffed with vegetable fritters, and a mushroom French dip. Boda will serve a range of housemade banchan, Serpico’s Korean fried chicken and mandu (dumplings). At Dayboat Seafood, diners will be able to order oysters on the half shell, seafood salads, scallop dishes and other seafood classics.
The market will be stocked with grab-and-go items like salads and sandwiches along with cheese, bread, and alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.
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Rather than have multiple vendors under one roof, as is done at most food halls, the Mess Hall’s offerings will be run by the same management with a central kitchen. This means diners can order from the individual restaurant counters, kiosks or QR codes at tables. There will be ample seating inside, on a 2,700-square-foot front patio and a smaller back patio. With the Mess Hall’s scenic views and large footprint, Leonard said they plan to host private events as well as popups and wine tastings.
The Mess Hall was originally due to open last year but permitting and other approvals took longer than expected in part because of the historic nature of the building, which was built in 1897 and moved from another location in the park, Leonard said. The team had to work closely with the Historical Preservation Department at the Presidio Trust, the organization that runs the park, in “keeping the original soul of the building intact. We didn’t want to make it too modern or too out of its original intention,” Leonard said.
Berkeley architecture firm Studio KDA and Novato construction company ACI, which are also responsible for prominent San Francisco restaurants including Lazy Bear and Liholiho Yacht Club, are overseeing the design and build out. The look will harken back to the 1930s and 1940s, Leonard said, utilizing historic light fixtures, door knobs and other original elements from the building’s previous incarnations as a U.S. Army depot, butcher shop, animal feed store and mail hub.
Though Leonard grew up in Southern California, he came to the Bay Area often in his childhood, visits that revolved around eating in places like San Francisco’s Chinatown and Bodega Bay. Opening a food hall in the Presidio is an opportunity he never expected.
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“We’re in this one-of-a-kind location we’re lucky enough to have in our backyard,” he said.
The story has been updated to reflect that Nate Leonard changed his last name.
Dining and Cooking