Years ago, 2359 Chestnut Street was Chestnut Street Bakery. Kait Bauman was a regular there, and she had her eye on the space for a long time, mostly because of its oven. The space was most recently the Moroccan restaurant L'Mida. Bauman and her partner Angelo De Lorenzi are turning it into Scout, an upscale all-day café, and The San Francisco Standard reported on Oct. 8 that they're aiming to open in early November.
You may already know these two. They run Frankie's, the martini bar on Pierce Street, and Norcina, its Italian sister restaurant a few doors down. Scout is a morning place from a team whose other two spots don't open until afternoon. The same thing is happening a few doors down Chestnut at Causwells, where a tiny side room keeps changing what it is depending on the night of the week and the time of year. This fall in the Marina, the new openings mostly mean more hours from people already on the block.
Pierce Street goes quiet until 2 p.m.
According to the Standard's March 6 report, Frankie's opened at 3213 Pierce St. on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, without much fanfare. The drinks list is built around martinis, starting with a classic made with Hendrick's gin and your choice of garnish, with the sidecar served on ice. Negronis, house cocktails and wine fill out the rest. The food list leans toward bar snacks: a lobster roll, sirloin-and-guanciale skewers, a mortadella sandwich and pan con tomate.
Frankie's own site lists hours of 2 p.m. to midnight on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, with the kitchen open until midnight. Norcina, at 3251 Pierce St., serves an Italian menu of small plates, pasta, pizza and mains that leans heavily on pork. Its Resy page singles out the soppressata pizza with hot honey.
That means the team's whole Marina operation started each day at 2 p.m. at the earliest. Scout is their move into the morning.
What Scout puts in the morning slot
Bauman described the idea to the Standard this way: "It's a place where you can sit and have a cup of coffee — if you have the luxury of meeting friends over coffee — and a pastry at the table." She added, "We want physical newspapers in there."
The menu is more ambitious than most coffee-and-pastry places. The late-fall and early-winter dishes the Standard listed include:
- Rabbit roulade
- Ember-roasted pumpkin with zucchini-cashew babaganoush and chile agrodolce
- Grilled prawns with chile butter and burnt citrus
- Charred leek agnolotti with preserved lemon in a Parmesan-leek brodo
- Fig-stuffed gnocchi with duck liver
- Mafaldine with braised short rib
Bauman trained in Italy, and she told the Standard that pasta is her background, "so I can't not" offer it. The overall approach is still seasonal California cooking, which sets Scout apart from the Italian focus at Frankie's and Norcina.
The oven is what ties the space to its bakery past. "There's not a lot of wood-fired restaurants in the Marina," Bauman told the Standard, other than her own Frankie's. She prefers almond wood because it burns hot with a clean, smoky flavor. Scout's pastry chef will bake everything in-house, including a sourdough served with smoked tomato-mussel butter and saffron chile.
The Oct. 8 report gave no exact opening day or regular hours, so for now "early November" is a goal, not a firm date. The café's website is scout-sf.com.
The 400-square-foot room that changes by the day of the week
Causwells is at 2346 Chestnut St. The small annex next door at 2336 Chestnut is about 400 square feet, according to Hoodline, and it has had a different identity almost every season.
| When | What the annex was |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | Lilah, a low-proof cocktail bar built around Japanese kakigori shaved-ice drinks |
| After Lilah | Super Mensch, an East Coast-style Jewish deli and cocktail bar |
| May 2026 | Super Mensch closes |
| August 2026 to Thanksgiving | Causwells Martini Room Tuesday through Thursday, Causwells overflow dining Friday through Monday |
| Thanksgiving 2026 | Causwells' annual holiday pop-up bar |
So even right now, the room is two different businesses every week. On weekends and Mondays it's extra seating for Causwells, which the Standard's Aug. 5 story called "ever-busy." Tuesday through Thursday it's a martini bar run by beverage director Elmer Mejicanos and his business partner Adam Rosenblum.
The Martini Room menu has three categories, dry, bright and juicy, and savory, with three martinis in each. There's also a build-your-own option where you choose the spirit, vermouth, bitters and a garnish such as pickled pearl onions or blue-cheese-stuffed olives. The house Causwells Martini is made with gin, eucalyptus bitters and white-peach balsamic and comes in a mini bathtub. The Clarified Cosmo, in Mejicanos' words, "tastes like a cosmo, but it looks like a Gibson." The bar has three zero-proof cocktails, including a paloma made with house-distilled non-alcoholic tequila.
The food menu is one appetizer, one entree and one dessert. The dessert is a 10-layer version of the chocolate cake that was a Super Mensch fan favorite. Mejicanos pitches it for weeknights: "If two people show up, you can build a full dinner: the full menu, plus two to three martinis. You'll be so happy."
Causwells has also been trying to get onto the city's official martini map. San Francisco Travel's Martini Trail grew to 25 venues this year, according to Hoodline. Causwells was a 2026 People's Choice finalist for a spot. The official trail page names Bar Sprezzatura and Fog Harbor Fish House as the new additions. For now, the nearest official stop is Brazen Head at 3166 Buchanan St.
Thanksgiving is the next changeover
The Martini Room runs until Thanksgiving. Then the annex becomes Causwells' annual holiday pop-up. As of mid-October, no 2026 name, theme or exact start date has been announced. Past years give a sense of the format. In 2024, SFist covered "The 3rd Annual Causwells Holiday Experience," with drinks called The Grinch, Elvis Christmas and Mistletoe Negroni. Last season, Eater SF listed a Causwells holiday cocktail menu running from Monday, Nov. 24, through Thursday, Jan. 1.
If Scout opens on schedule, late November will be the first time this stretch of Chestnut has a wood-fired breakfast, a full-service burger spot and a holiday bar within a few doors of each other. Frankie's and Norcina will be around the corner on Pierce.
A long-running restaurant took a different path
The biggest change on Chestnut this year went the other way. Ristobar served its last meal at 2300 Chestnut on Memorial Day, May 25, after 22 years. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the next chapter was a partnership with Eria Events, starting with an Eria Marina launch party on June 13. Eria now markets 2300 Chestnut as a venue for corporate events and celebrations. It's no longer a restaurant you can walk into for dinner.
Earlier in the year, the Standard reported that the former Tipsy Pig at 2231 Chestnut had reopened in March as Lobalita, a modern Mexican cantina. Between Lobalita, Scout and the Causwells annex, most of this year's food and drink activity on these blocks has come from operators who already had a following.
The calendar around the bars, through December
Fort Mason, the Presidio and Crissy Field have dated events that fit around the new hours on Chestnut:
- Oct. 16, 5 to 10 p.m. Fort Mason Night Market. As of mid-October, Fort Mason lists any later 2026 dates as "More dates TBA."
- Every Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Fort Mason farmers market.
- Nov. 1 Thanksgiving meal orders open at Greens Restaurant at Fort Mason.
- Nov. 3 to 8 Greens Diwali lunch pop-up.
- Nov. 7 The San Francisco 5K, 10K & Half Marathon at Crissy Field. The half marathon starts at 8 a.m., the 10K at 8:35 and the 5K at 8:45. The same day, the Presidio hosts a free, all-ages Día de los Muertos and Diwali Festival at Presidio Tunnel Tops.
- Nov. 14, noon to 4 p.m. Rhône By The Bay, a tasting with 44 wineries at Fort Mason's Gallery 308. Tickets are listed at $45 to $105 plus fees.
- Nov. 25 Greens Thanksgiving meal pickup. Christmas meal orders open Nov. 27, and pickup is Dec. 23 and 24.
For the rest of the fall, the dates to watch on Chestnut are when Scout actually opens and when Causwells announces its holiday pop-up. The Martini Room's Instagram, @causwells.martini.room, is where that team posts updates.
When a block's businesses start covering more hours of the day, that shows up in the price of the homes nearby before it shows up in any listing description. If you want to know how Chestnut and Pierce's changes compare with recent Marina sales, Jeffrey Marples can go through it with you. Request a personalized market consultation, and we'll look at the blocks you care about.
