Scenes from the Tosca Café Opening Party with Ken Friedman & April Bloomfield
I was worried. Whenever a classic place like Tosca Café, in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, comes under new ownership, I get worried. Will they clean it up too much? Will the soul of the spot remain intact? What kind of people is it going to attract now? In the case of Tosca, however, I really had no reason to worry. After all, April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, the brains behind such NYC spots as The Spotted Pig and The Breslin, aren't your average owners. In my opinion, they made Tosca better. They brought it back from the dead, introduced an Italian-influenced menu, made the cocktails better, and cleaned up the murals on the wall—among other things. You can read all about the makeover here. They gave Tosca new life without forgetting its old one.
This is basically what Friedman, former Tosca owner Jeannette Etheredge (who will remain a key part of the place), and I talked about Sunday night at a party thrown by Bon Appétit at the hallowed spot. Over plates of meatballs, pork-ear terrine, and pork-fat fried potatoes (not your average bar snacks), San Francisco chefs and other restaurant-industry folks drank whiskey and wine, and I even spotted a few with the house specialty cappuccino, a dangerous mix of coffee, milk, bourbon, and armagnac.
Things wrapped up late (my kids back in NYC were getting up when I was going to bed), but before I Ubered it back to my hotel, I asked Jeannette if she'd still be holding court at the end of the bar like she has for years.
"I would," she said, "but they put in a fancy meat slicer at the end of the bar."
Hearing this, Friedman jumped in: "We'll get rid of it! Who needs a meat slicer? I never liked that meat slicer."
See, I have nothing to worry about—Tosca is better than ever.
1/7A coaster featuring former Tosca owner Jeannette Etheredge
2/7New owner Ken Friedman with Etheredge
Chris Rochelle3/7Coqueta's Ryan Mcilwraith and his wife, Tasha
4/7Friedman built a kitchen, as Tosca hasn't had food since the ’60s, and opened up the wall "so the cooks can look out," he said.
5/7Octopus salad, ham, and, oh yes, pig ear terrine. Not your typical dive bar snacks.
6/7"We re-covered the tables," said Friedman. "They were sort of old tables with linoleum tops, kind of plastic, so we put dark wooden tops to match the bar."
7/7Tosca's murals "have been there 90-something years," said Friedman.
