The food at Tunnel Tops Park is about to get a major upgrade with the debut of the Mess Hall at the Presidio, opening Saturday, Augus t 15. It’s part food hall, part bar, and part market, all aimed at providing Presidio visitors and residents with bites,
cocktails, and everyday goods from morning to night.
It’s home to three restaurants: Boda focuses on Korean and Asian-inflected dishes; Dayboat Seafood, of course, serves all things seafood, including a raw bar and cooked seafood dishes like Dungeness crab sandwiches; and Breadwinner takes on the carb angle with hot and cold cut sandwiches and burgers. There’s coffee with beans from Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters, while the bar provides cocktails, local wines, and beer. Lastly, the market will have picnic-ready grab-and-go items, such as Rize Up bread, cheese, and bottled drinks. “We developed Mess Hall to be a family-friendly, casual environment,” says Nate Leonard, founding partner and director of operations at Mess Hall. “Mom and dad can get drinks from the bar, and the kids can order food from the kids’ menu. And then we’ll have some nice snacks and additional stuff in the market.”
Mess Hall teamed up with consulting chef and James Beard Award winner Peter Serpico, who previously worked with Momofuku Group and Starr Restaurants. He’s meshing his East Coast sensibilities and cooking background with San Francisco’s abundance of ingredients; what that translates into are some hard-to-find gems on the menus that should make some East Coast expats happy. Hiding in plain sight on the Breadwinner menu, for instance, is a Philly roast pork-coded porchetta sandwich with slow-fried pork belly, chicharron, confit garlic, and broccoli raab. “Breadwinner is our East Coast deli, kind of a New York bodega,” Serpico says. The pit beef sandwich, meanwhile, is a regional specialty out of Baltimore, featuring charred rare steak, raw red onion, and horseradish mayonnaise, which Serpico calls “a perfect, simple, outdoor kind of sandwich.” Other deli classics include an Italian cold cut sandwich with mortadella, smoked ham, and salami, plus a turkey club, with homemade turkey and bacon.
Burgers and fried chicken sandwiches appear on a couple of the menus, as well; Breadwinner offers a classic fried chicken sandwich and a smash burger (single or double) on a sesame bun, but Boda also serves a Korean take on those two items. The Korean fried chicken sandwich features a choice of either instant ramyun or gochujang glaze, while the Korean bulgogi burger takes bulgogi flavors and morphs it into a beef patty with kimchi mayo, and other burger accoutrements like pickles, and lettuce. Vegans and vegetarians are also well considered, with a black bean smash patty, a build-your-own salad option, chilled marinated tofu or fried tofu nuggets, spicy vegetable mandu, and kimchi fried rice that can be turned vegetarian (or not). Gluten-free items and modifications are clearly marked on the menu.
Snacky items also fill the menu, such as straight cut fries in either honey butter or instant ramyun flavors; peel-and-eat sauna eggs on the Boda menu, served with Korean sea salt; fried popcorn chicken in either gochujang sauce or sesame ranch; even a brief menu of banchan such as mak kimchi and potato salad also make an appearance. At Dayboat Seafood, groups can snack on fresh-shucked oysters, with a trio of horseradish, mignonette, and lemon, or share a shrimp cocktail salad. There’s also a rather trendy make-your-own hand roll. Diners can choose from citrus scallops with yuzu kosho, spicy salmon tartare, or marinated tuna (among others), served with California Tamaki Gold sushi rice and sheets of seaweed. There’s a fried fish sandwich available, along with cioppino, a San Francisco classic, plus a chilled seafood salad with shrimp, crab, scallops, and squid folded in.
Another surprise in store for diners is Breadbelly’s pastries at the cafe. The popular Asian American bakery will supply a selection of goodies here, paired with Mess Hall’s breakfast sandwich and coffees. The cafe opens as early as 7 a.m. The bar, meanwhile, will have local beers from places like Fort Point and Ghost Town Brewing, along with local and international wines by the glass or bottle (and with to-go bottles offered), curated by beverage director Ezra Roberts, previously of Verjus, Bar Iris, and Millay. The cocktails will read as familiar, with a few twists. The Mess Hall bar’s Golden Negroni is a take on the classic, while another cocktail will fold in yuzu vodka and sea buckthorn. Leonard says the goal is to offer a menu “that will be very drinkable for the park, familiar flavors, but definitely not just copying the book” on classic drinks.
One other standout element — perhaps its ultimate draw — is the Mess Hall space itself. Mess Hall keeps much of the historic look of the building which was moved from elsewhere in the Presidio to its current perch along the east side of the Tunnel Tops Park. Views abound from almost every vantage in the building: The Golden Gate Bridge features prominently one one side, while the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, and even the Transamerica Pyramid can be gleaned from the other. The windows give a view of it all, while patio seating and drink rails around the entire building become a Choose Your Own Adventure of views. The team also carved out interior space for private dining rooms available for rent, making it a San Francisco view-ready space for private dinners, meetings, and perhaps some smaller wedding receptions.
“I’m very excited to create another space in the park where the local community, in addition to the travelers, can really make this part of their life,” Leonard says. “And I mean — it’s hard to beat the views.”
The Mess Hall at the Presidio (201 Halleck Street, San Francisco) debuts on Saturday, August 15, and is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
