Owner Anna Weinberg stands for a portrait in front of the entrance to Tosca Cafe on Monday, August 25, 2025. A judge last week ordered Weinberg to pay her former business partner more than $1.1 million, though she says the order will not immediately affect restaurant operations.
Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle
Embattled Tosca Cafe owner Anna Weinberg must pay her former business partner more than $1.1 million for breach of contract, a San Francisco Superior Court Judge ordered last week.
The judgment leaves uncertain the future of the historic North Beach bar and restaurant the partners bought in 2019. It allows Weinberg’s former partner, David Stanton, to freeze her ownership interest in the LLC that owns Tosca, the first step in potentially seizing it from her.
Weinberg can appeal, and in similar cases parties often agree on repayment plans or compromise in settlements.
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Weinberg told the Chronicle the judgment would not immediately affect restaurant operations. “If you come to Tosca you will see me at the door,” she said. “Right now, it’s business as usual.”
The lawsuit stemmed from an agreement Weinberg and Stanton signed in 2021. Weinberg agreed to buy Stanton out of Tosca and their other North Beach restaurant, Park Tavern, for more than $1.6 million, while Stanton agreed to buy Weinberg’s stake in a Sonoma County property.
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The court found Stanton became the sole owner of that property, but that Weinberg failed to complete her payments under the restaurant buyout. After paying an initial $750,000, Weinberg failed to make follow-up payments, the judge found. The court calculated the unpaid amount to be nearly $650,000, and the judgment went up with interest. Weinberg must also pay Stanton’s attorney’s fees, which haven’t yet been calculated.
“Ms. Weinberg had her day in court, represented by counsel, and the court ruled against her on every issue presented,” Scott Emblidge, an attorney for Stanton, told the Chronicle. “It’s time for her to live up to her financial obligations.”
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Weinberg rose to prominence in the San Francisco food world with her then-husband James Nicholas, opening Marlowe in 2010 and subsequent restaurants including the Cavalier, two Marlowe spinoffs and Leo’s Oyster Bar. But amid her split from Nicholas, the pandemic and her own struggles with addiction, as she told the Chronicle last year, Weinberg’s businesses struggled.
In 2023, Stanton filed suit against her, and Park Tavern was later evicted by its landlord. Afterward, Nicholas and Stanton reopened it as Park Tavern on Washington Square.
As she fought the case, Weinberg battled to maintain her restaurants and reclaim her reputation. She also still owns Leo’s, which is facing its own lawsuit filed last fall by a former employee alleging unpaid overtime. Food distributor Bi-Rite also has sued Tosca over alleged lack of payment. Weinberg denied wrongdoing in these cases, which are ongoing.
The century-old Tosca is among the more storied watering holes in San Francisco. Under Jeannette Etheredge’s ownership from 1980 to 2013, the bar had a reputation as a hangout for celebrities including Hunter S. Thompson, Francis Ford Coppola and Sean Penn. Weinberg, Stanton and designer Ken Fulk took over Tosca following New York restaurateur Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield’s conversion of the bar to a restaurant.
Last year, as she was preparing for trial, Weinberg told the Chronicle she had ambitions to not only restore Tosca’s reputation as a celebrity hangout, but to create a new nightlife concept in the adjoining former Lusty Lady strip club.
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The bar recently had its liquor license restored after operating with a suspended license for more than a year due to unpaid taxes.
This story has been updated with a comment from Stanton’s legal counsel.