How San Francisco’s Bluestem Restaurant & Market Has Evolved And Grown In The Past Decade

Bluestem Restaurant & Market located in the heart of downtown San Francisco celebrated its 10th anniversary last year and with it managed to overcome the peak of the pandemic and reemerge as a stronger, all-encompassing one-stop-shop for hungry guests looking for a dining experience, whether it be a quick midday lunch or five course dinner.

With a menu focused on utilizing the highest quality bounty of ingredients Northern California has to offer, combined with the global diversity of cultures and flavors San Francisco is known for, Bluestem offers diners a unique selection of sharable plates. The new menu takes inspiration from the many culinary traditions and techniques that has been brought by waves of immigration spanning more than two centuries to the city.

“Bluestem has always been committed to local and sustainable cooking,” says Adam Jed, co-founder of Bluestem Restaurant & Market. “With the reopening we decided to focus on California coastal fare, the ingredients that grow here and the cultural influences from the many waves of immigration who have shaped this region today.”

On the other side of the restaurant is Bluestem’s artisanal market. The market’s products are inspired by their chef’s pantry, offering a carefully curated snapshot of the Bay Area’s incredible community of local food artisans. Guests can expect to find Pastry Chef Lori Baker’s fresh baked Cinnamon Crunch Babka Muffins—made in limited quantities each morning—Nespresso coffee, cold pressed juices and wellness shots, sandwiches, salads, snacks, prepared food items, pantry staples including artisan coffees and sea salts, as well as vegan soft serve.

We sat down with Adam Jed, co-founder of Bluestem Restaurant & Market to chat about the restaurants 10 years in business, the new menu and market offerings and more. Here’s what he had to say.

Bluestem celebrated its 10th anniversary last year — how has the establishment evolved since opening? In what ways has it grown and changed over the past decade?

The core ethos for Bluestem has remained constant over the years. We are dedicated to farmers and ranchers who practice sustainable techniques, focusing on those which bring only the highest quality ingredients and share our ethos to the forefront of our culinary vision.

Over the last decade Bluestem has continued to hone not just its menu offerings but additionally the way in which we offer our products.

Talk about the new marketplace and offerings.

The dining consumer has evolved much over the years and it continues to be our mission to meet that guest wherever they are. We recently introduced a marketplace that features the ingredients we are using to produce our seasonal menu which provides the opportunity for our guests to take home (or give as a gift) unique ingredients that can elevate any cooking. We also added “a deli” section of grab n’ go daily fresh made meals and meal accompaniments for the guest to grab either by pick-up or delivery.

Within the restaurant we have added upgraded features, an oyster bar, and BAOninis, our fresh approach to San Francisco Street food. We “opened-up” the space; adding living plants and a new layout provides a more airy & comfortable floor plan. We also added the ability for our guests to order and pay at the table, implementing QR and order when you are ready technology.

Many of our menu items are lighter now, with a larger focus on vegetables, nuts and seeds than ever before; because that is a diet that supports a more sustainable ecosystem. We also redesigned our menu so we could serve guests faster, and cross utilize ingredients across our restaurant and market so we could help eliminate food waste.

Bluestem took a big hit as most restaurants did during the pandemic. How did you overcome this period of time and in what ways did you need to pivot to stay afloat?

The entire San Francisco Bay area took a hit during the pandemic. Many of the changes that we witnessed over the last two years in particular are no different than many other businesses faced during this time, it is our responsibility to figure out how to meet the new demand.

Because of the pandemic we had the opportunity to take a deep dive into many of the challenges that we have been facing in the hospitality industry and use it as an opportunity to challenge our beliefs and explore ways to improve the industry. We changed our labor model, eliminating tips and moving to a gratuity-inclusive menu pricing structure and introducing profit distribution for all Bluestem shared amongst all associates.

We also guarantee our teammates full time employment, 40 hours a week, with health, dental, vision, 401K, financial planning services, and programs like AFLAC, to help when those unexpected situations arise. We train our associates to take on more responsibility and learn important tasks, all to prepare them for their futures (wherever they may go), additionally making everyone stronger teammates.

It does financially cost the business more – but we know everyone needs the opportunity to actively develop their own personal growth plans, and everyone helps to make the restaurant even better.

What’s the inspiration for the menu? Menu highlights? Talk about your new all day brunch menu — why brunch and why the change?

We focus on Northern California coastal fare, working with local sustainable farmers, ranchers and producers to showcase local foods and acknowledging how many different waves of immigration have shaped our food system.

We realized that with so many working from home meal times are not as regimented as they once were so we moved to an all day menu – and given brunch has always been a favorite meal period and people love our brunch items, we wanted to make select items available all day – every day.

Menu highlights include our signature BAOnini which we created to offer a delicious and portable meal to enjoy on the go – adapting flavors we know and love. Others include a crispy pork belly sandwich, a decadent truffle grilled cheese and our kimchi corn fritters; and of course the two items we couldn’t remove from our menu were our brown butter cornbread with honey butter and our Honolulu Hangover Cake.

What can guests expect when dining here as opposed to other downtown eateries?

By putting the power of ordering in the hands of each and every guest we can now tailor experiences to meet exactly when our diners are looking for when they are ready for it. By relaxing the traditional reservation style approach to dining we have been able to offer a more familial style of service.

We’re selling a crazy amount of oysters right now. But really what sets us apart is that we are open all day long and you can customize your own experience, you can be in and out in 10 minutes or you can have a 3-course meal paired with drinks. You can eat here or grab something to go. You can come for drinks and desserts after visiting a museum or grab a pre-theater dinner before a show or ballet.

Talk about the cocktail menu and popular sips

Like our food, our cocktails feature local seasonal ingredients that have been inspired by California cooking and the people who have settled here. One popular drink is the Bravocado with rum, avocado, citrus, mint and fine herbs.

Another is the Cioppino inspired by the iconic San Francisco seafood stew, it is like a lighter clarified bloody mary with tequila, mezcal, salted tomato water, lime, clam juice and hot serrano chili.

Anything new in the works for the rest of the season?

Our menu is seasonal so we’re working on some new dishes. We’re also working on introducing new items for our retail market, especially as we enter summer we want to offer more grab n’ go items that you can enjoy outside, whether hanging out at Crissy Field or enjoying a picnic in a local park. We’ll have pre-marinated meats to grill, our own bbq sauce, a collection of salads, sides and hot sauces, as well as cookies and cakes to go.