A husband-and-wife duo with more than a decade of experience in Bay Area hospitality is ushering one of San Francisco’s most storied restaurant spaces into its next era.
Nearly a year after the closure of Fog City Diner, the 40-year-old restaurant at 1300 Battery St., Floyd Nunn and Angelyne Tompkins are planning a project in the Embarcadero space.
Moonchild will be a “wine-forward California bistro,” drawing inspiration from seasonal bounty. Expect Northern Californian produce and seafood to take center stage when the restaurant opens late this year.
This will be the first restaurant project from the husband-and-wife team. Most recently, Nunn worked as chef de cuisine at Eight Tables, the Chinese fine-dining restaurant inside chef George Chen’s China Live. Nunn has also worked at two of the city’s Michelin-starred restaurants, Quince and Benu. Tompkins, meanwhile, has spent eight years at Scribe Winery in Sonoma, where she serves as hospitality manager.
The nearly 4,000-square-foot retail space sits at a prime location, just south of where Lombard Street spills onto the Embarcadero. According to Moonchild’s lease with the Port of San Francisco, the restaurant’s first year of rent will be waived. After that, the owners will pay a fixed base rent as well as a percentage of gross sales over $3 million.
In addition to the waterfront views, the building underwent a $1.8 million renovation less than five years ago and comes with a full liquor license. Lease documents indicate plans to improve the outdoor dining space at the tip of the flatiron-shaped plot. The owners will also inherit decor and equipment from the previous tenants, including artwork, plates, chairs, and a panini grill.
The site served as a railroad facility and cafeteria in the early 20th century before Bill Higgins and Bill Upson opened Fog City Diner in 1985. Designed by Pat Kuleto, the restaurant was known for its light-hearted antics and provided a metallic backdrop for the 1993 dark comedy film “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” starring Mike Myers. In 2013, it changed its concept, dropping “Diner” from the name for the last 12 years of its life.
When it debuts in fall or winter, Moonchild will join a food-and-beverage renaissance along the northern waterfront.
In the past three years, the Ferry Building has recruited a handful of Bay Area talents, including chef Alex Hong of Sorrel, who last year opened Arquet in the former Slanted Door space, plus the teams behind A16 and Nopa. In 2024, French restaurant Bon Delire brought a taste of Paris to Pier 3, and restaurant owners are now vying for the opportunity to take over the former Waterfront Restaurant space at Pier 7.