Good news for west-side residents and lovers of homemade pop-tarts: The second location of the retro-and-proud Black Jet Baking Co. will open this summer in the Outer Sunset.
Taking over the tiny Damn Fine Coffee location at 4033 Judah Ave. (which, before that, was Trouble Coffee), Black Jet will serve sweet, signature American nostalgia, from cupcakes to sprinkledoodles and devil’s food cake layered with buttercream and pops of red maraschino cherries.
Though the bakery also makes good renditions of the requisite croissant and morning bun, owner and pastry chef Gillian Shaw Lundgren doesn’t partake in the cult of laminated dough — architecting croissants into cubes and inspiring influencers to make “pastry car mukbangs (opens in new tab).” She’s more the type who makes “fuck you” protest cakes for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, raising $10,000 for Planned Parenthood. (She recalls that it was not easy to pipe the names of all six conservative Supreme Court justices atop each cake.)
Source: Sara Deseran
Black Jet Baking Co.’s Roe v. Wade protest cakes. | Source: Black Jet Baking Co.
“We are firmly not a precious place,” she says, sitting on a milk crate outside the original Black Jet on Cortland Avenue, dressed in an old black company tee and a “BJBC” flat brim.
She’ll run the new location, to be called Black Jet Luncheonette, with her business partner, co-baker, and best friend forever, Max Newman (who arguably makes the best granola in San Francisco). Though most of the menu will be the same, they will lean harder into sandwiches; the current menu has unfussy but well-done classics like a BLT on a housemade pretzel bun, egg salad, and a huge turkey hoagie with pepita pesto and havarti cheese.
The two have worked together since their days at the now-closed Liberty Cafe in Bernal Heights. Lundgren went on to open Black Jet in the Ferry Building in 2011 before moving to Bernal in 2017. That is when she and Newman reunited. “He’s like my brother,” Lundgren says. “Every time we part from each other, we say, “Constant contact” — code for: Let’s always stay in touch.
They come from very different backgrounds: Lundgren is a died-in-the-wool Massachusettsan and a Celtics fan who grew up eating Devil Dogs. Newman, who is not into sports, grew up in the Castro eating seasonal pluots and pastries from Fran Gage’s famed Patisserie Francaise. The two merge their West Coast/East Coast identities in what they call “snack cake conversations” — brainstorming sessions to come up with pastries that are comforting but elevated.
A classic BLT on a pretzel bun. | Source: Black Jet Baking Co.
Laura Seymour, who owned Damn Fine Coffee, let the lease run out in October so she could focus on Damn Fine Pizza. A longtime Black Jet fan, she asked Lundgren if she’d be interested in taking over the space. “It was just like a friendship from day one,” said Seymour.
Is the Outer Sunset the new place to be? Seymour, who’s been there for 15 years, thinks so. “It’s a beautiful place with a great community of people. An overlooked gem. But there’s a lot of energy now — people want to move out here more than ever.”
Plus, Seymour is going to need somewhere to get her coffee. And Black Jet Luncheonnette, which will serve Portland, Oregon-based Dear Francis coffee, will be able to provide that and a slice of maple-honey pie to boot.