One of Jiyeon Choi’s most comforting childhood memories involves a freezing day and a warm scone. While traveling in New York City, she stumbled into a cafe to escape the bitter weather. She still remembers how the how the fresh scone with butter and jam warmed her up from the inside out — an experience that ultimately inspired her to open her very own cafe.
Choi, who co-owns popular restaurants Sweet Maple, Kitchen Story and more with her husband, Hoyul Steven Choi, is opening three locations of a new concept called Jandii Cafe. The first Jandii is scheduled to celebrate its soft opening in San Francisco’s Parkside neighborhood at 1100 Taraval St on June 16. The menu will be simple, focusing on the three items Jiyeon loves most: freshly baked scones with housemade jam and cream, ceremonial-grade matcha imported from Japan, and coffee.
“Everything will be geared towards the enjoyment of a scone, the enjoyment of a matcha, and the enjoyment of an espresso drink,” she said.
In Korean, “Jandii” means “a lush, green meadow,” which is the vibe Jiyeon is aiming to create in the new Parkside cafe, she said. The serene, two-story cafe features earth tones, lots of plants and “the spirit of meadows, flowers, trees, birds, and clouds,” she said.
“Just as one might sit on a sunlit meadow and pause for a moment of rest, JANDII was created to be a small sanctuary where people can slow down, catch their breath, and find a sense of calm amid the pace of city life,” she said in an emailed statement.
The Chois bought the 4,700-square-foot building at 1100 Taraval St. for $2.75 million all the way back in 2019, reported the San Francisco Business Times. Initially, they planned to open a location of their dessert cafe U :Dessert Story. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, their plans ground to a halt. In 2022, the couple announced a new concept called Noodle Story set to open in the space, but that also never opened.
Ultimately, they decided to pivot to Jandii Cafe because Taraval Street lacked anything else like it — a large, airy cafe space designed for lingering over a treat and a hot beverage. Jiyeon also felt like trying something totally different from their popular Asian fusion brunch restaurants Sweet Maple and Kitchen Story.
“Drawing on years of experience operating restaurants, I wanted to challenge myself in a completely different field by creating a café,” she said by email.
In about three months, the Chois also plan to open a second Jandii Cafe in the former San Francisco Kitchen Story space at 3499 16th St., which closed earlier this year. In a year, they also plan to add a third cafe in Mountain View at 171 Castro St., a location that was once slated to open as a combination Kitchen Story and U:Dessert Story.
But with the Parkside neighborhood’s infamously chilly marine layer, it may be the location best suited for freshly baked scones paired with a steaming cup of matcha.
“I think it is a perfect combination for San Francisco weather,” Jiyeon said.
Jandii Cafe, 1100 Taraval St., San Francisco. Open daily, 9 a.m.-4 p.m, starting June 16.