San Francisco’s power brokers and politicos will need a fresh venue for their midweek lunches in the new year. On Jan. 15, Jackson Square’s go-to for silky pasta and wood-fired pizzas, Cotogna, will close for renovations, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
Owners Michael and Lindsay Tusk, who also run the three-Michelin-starred Quince and the wine bar Verjus, expect the makeover to take three months. The upgrades will focus on the kitchen, which a spokesperson explained was built to support the restaurant’s 36-seat indoor dining room — not the 100 or so seats Cotonga now has with the addition of its parklet.
“The current setup is quite tight,” the Tusks said in a written statement, adding that the updates will double the size of cooking and prep space and see the pizza oven replaced. “We’re planning for construction to take three months, but we hope it’ll be shorter.”
The parklet, known as one of the best in town, was built during the pandemic as a temporary outdoor seating option but has been much improved over the years.
It now features a canopy to shelter diners from rain and a stand of potted olive trees that make the space feel like a luxe outdoor oasis. Diners enjoying agnolotti del plin and wild mushroom pizzas al fresco do so under the warmth of standing heaters while wrapped in soft-as-cashmere blankets. Constructed out of wood salvaged by arborist and sawyer Evan Shipley — also known as the “wood whisperer (opens in new tab)” — it spans four parking spaces on Pacific Avenue, stretching across the frontage of both Cotogna and Quince
The Tusks will be embarking on the construction project while in the midst of another: the build-out of their long-awaited all-day cafe, Bar Coto. Though the combination coffee shop, wine bar, and gelateria was first announced in 2023, the space at 596 Pacific Ave., which was home to The Station cafe, has yet to welcome customers. Vejus similarly sat dark for four years after closing at the onset of the pandemic, before finally reopening in fall 2024; at the time, Lindsay Tusk told The Standard they’d been waiting for the neighborhood to fully bounce back.
Cotogna’s temporary closure is sure to inconvenience some of the city’s most influential figures. The restaurant, which is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, is a go-to for Mayor Daniel Lurie, as well as billionaire and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, iPhone designer Jony Ive, and event producer to the stars Stanlee Gatti. The restaurant’s “power table” in the back-right corner of the brick-walled dining room is perhaps one of the hardest-to-land seats in town.
The good news? Sister restaurant Quince does serve lunch, but only two days a week. On Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., diners can enjoy a four-course menu with a choice of entree — not exactly a one-to-one substitute for Cotogna, which offers an à la carte menu all day. Verjus, meanwhile, opens at 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Dining and Cooking