Jack’s, one of San Francisco’s oldest restaurants, is reopening as a “civic salon” and events venue.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Skylight, a major development firm, is spearheading the revival of Jack’s.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
The staircase leading to a mezzanine at Jack’s.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Jackrabbit motifs are featured throughout the restaurant, including coat hooks and handpainted wallpaper.
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The upstairs lounge at Jack’s in San Francisco.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
A photo of Ingrid Bergman, Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Martha Gelhorn, outside Jack’s in San Francisco in 1941.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
A 1998 Jack’s Restaurant Day proclamation from former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown hangs on the wall.
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At Jack’s events, French bistro food will be served, such as madeleines.
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A metal number system for what was once an upstairs boudoir at Jack’s in San Francisco.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Creme brûlée at Jack’s in San Francisco on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. Jack’s, the second oldest restaurant in San Francisco and a storied destination for politicians, writers and celebrities, is reopening as a cultural salon with food from a fine dining chef.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Herb Caen’s guide to San Francisco sits behind the bar at Jack’s, where the journalist was once a regular.
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Tuna niçoise salad at Jack’s in San Francisco on Nov. 12, 2025.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Jack’s will return this month after years of sitting dark.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
One of San Francisco’s most storied restaurants — a long-dormant destination for influential figures from Alfred Hitchcock to Herb Caen and known for crepes flambéed tableside and ice-cold martinis — is making a comeback.
Jack’s, whose history at 615 Sacramento St. dates back to 1864, will reopen Nov. 18 as a “civic salon,” with French bistro food from an acclaimed fine-dining chef. Skylight, a national venue development firm behind projects including San Francisco’s Ferry Building and New York City’s High Line, is leading the revival of one of the city’s oldest restaurants. The group partnered with Rupert Blease, chef-owner of the now-closed, Michelin-starred Lord Stanley and Wolfsbane in San Francisco, and longtime San Francisco chef Tommy Halvorson to oversee food and drink. The catch? Jack’s will no longer be a fully public restaurant.
Instead, Jack’s will largely function as a private events venue that aims to bring together influential companies and individuals in real estate, politics, tech, arts and beyond. Skylight CEO Stephanie Blake said she hopes to continue Jack’s history as an important civic hub for San Francisco at a time when the city is grappling with its political identity, the influx of AI and other major shifts.
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The dining room of Jacks’ Restaurant in San Francisco on April 19, 1984.
Chris Stewart/S.F. Chronicle 1984
“I think there’s an optimism and an energy and excitement that’s happening right now” in San Francisco, Blake said. “This being a cultural salon and private venue, it is really about civic reimagination and engaging people in dialogue.”
A French chef, George Voges, opened Jack’s in 1864, serving dishes from frog legs and sweetbreads to buttery crepe suzettes. It was less known, however, for the food than what happened behind its doors. After the 1906 earthquake, Jack’s was rebuilt in the same location and became a gathering place for writers, actors, politicians and civic leaders to hold court over long lunches. The decision to host the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco was made at Jack’s. Famed Chronicle journalist Herb Caen and Mark Twain were regulars. Local lore claims (dubiously) that Jack’s was the birthplace of the mimosa, invented by Alfred Hitchcock and San Francisco real estate magnate Louis Lurie. When Ernest Hemingway wanted to cast Ingrid Bergman in the movie version of “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” he reportedly asked her at Jack’s. (A 1941 photograph shows them standing outside the front doors on Sacramento Street.)
Historical photos and menus are on display at the Financial District space.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Jack’s “functioned as a shadow civic hall,” Skylight said in a press release, “where decisions that shaped the Bay Area — from Golden Gate Bridge logistics to the Transamerica Pyramid project — were debated informally before they ever reached City Hall.”
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The space changed hands many times over the ensuing decades. John Konstin, who owns the longtime John’s Grill nearby and whose father once worked as a waiter at Jack’s, purchased and remodeled the restaurant in 1996. “What the cable car or the Golden Gate Bridge is to San Francisco — it’s something like that,” Konstin said of Jack’s in a previous interview. In 2002, French chef Philippe Jeanty, of Bistro Jeanty in Yountville, took over. Jeanty at Jack’s operated until 2009. Most recently, the historic registered landmark was set to become a co-working space.
Skylight is known for redeveloping large, underutilized spaces like the High Line or former train stations, and partnering with high-profile companies like Hermès, Goldman Sachs and Google. So when the former restaurant in a small red-brick Financial District building first came on Blake’s radar more than a year ago, she wasn’t initially interested. The city’s recovery, especially downtown, was still sluggish, burdened by fears of a doom loop. But Jack’s history, combined with palpable momentum building in San Francisco this year, convinced her to take on the project. Given her experience is in development and events, not the food industry, Skylight decided against operating a full-service restaurant, Blake said.
“There are lots of restaurants in town,” Blake said. She hopes to revive “the role the restaurant played, not the restaurant itself.”
Chef Rupert Blease and Skylight CEO Stephanie Blake at Jack’s in San Francisco on Nov. 12, 2025.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Exactly who will be involved in Jack’s events or what form they’ll take is unclear; Skylight declined to share companies or people that they plan to partner with. The guest list for an opening event includes leaders of San Francisco venture capital and real estate firms, a fine arts museum, magazines and a sports team. “We’re looking to identify brands that have a vested interest in the city,” Blake said. (She has already connected with Mayor Daniel Lurie, and former mayor Willie Brown recently dropped in.) Locally, Skylight has been involved in revitalizing Ghirardelli Square, the Armory and the San Francisco Mint. It was Skylight that hosted the opulent opening of Hermès’ flagship store in Union Square in 2019, which featured two white horses from Europe.
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Blease and Halvorson reimagined the original Jack’s menu largely for events, though they will also host dinners and plan to add a semi-public “power lunch” service later on. (Skylight hopes that regulars will pay to reserve lunch tables, like the famously exclusive Rao’s in New York City.) The French-focused menu includes dishes like a grand seafood tower, beef tartare, escargot and beef Bourguignon. Cocktails will also lean classic, such as a gimlet, martini and Sazerac.
Jack’s was named after the jackrabbit.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Blease, who lived in France for a decade, said his goal was not to completely modernize the food, but to reproduce classic French bistro fare from Jack’s heyday. “I do really want to be true to what the food was at that time and not really try and change things so much,” he said.
Skylight has revamped the multi-story restaurant with a pink-hued, ornamental Belle Époque aesthetic. Walls are covered with handpainted pastel wallpaper dotted with jackrabbits (the restaurant was named for the animals who then lived in the neighborhood, and were also served on the menu) and a mural depicting Golden Gate Park in the mid-1800s. An upstairs mezzanine is set with a tufted green velvet couch and piano. Skylight maintained the original, ornate crown molding, gold jackrabbit motifs and and a metal numerical system on the staircase, once used to keep track of which rooms were occupied in an upstairs boudoir.
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Jack’s, which opened in 1864, is a registered historic landmark.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Notably, Jack’s will be a phone-free space. When people arrive for events, they will be asked to put their phones in pouches.
“In this moment in time, it’s really critical to bring people together in person in intimate settings to have conversations that shouldn’t be happening online,” Blake said.