{"id":235814,"date":"2026-03-25T13:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/235814\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:26:13","slug":"the-couple-turning-a-former-chinese-restaurant-into-a-mini-ferry-building-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/235814\/","title":{"rendered":"The couple turning a former Chinese restaurant into a mini Ferry Building market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Co-owners and chefs Nicholas and Marissa Bowers are hoping to turn a former Henry\u2019s Hunan into a legit destination. | Source: John DuBois for The Standard<\/p>\n

\u201cPasta, wine, chocolate cake.\u201d They\u2019re three of life\u2019s greatest pleasures, to be sure, and the only items advertised on a sandwich board outside Agrodolce Provisions. (opens in new tab)<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2-week-old project, run by husband and wife Nick and Marissa Sowers, is currently open only for weekday lunch, serving a compact menu of strozzapreti with parmigiano sausage ragu, conchiglie with rock shrimp and orange-and-Calabrian-chile butter, and slices of seven-layer chocolate cake big enough to share.<\/p>\n

But the couple, who bought the South of Market building last year and live in the upstairs unit, have bigger ambitions: \u201cWe want Agrodolce Provisions to be a marketplace-style lunch spot,\u201d Marissa says. \u201cA loose inspiration would be the Ferry Building.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AAgrodolce Provisions is all about pasta and wine.\"AThe couple are big believers in SoMa.\"AMarissa Sowers was keen to have a seven-layer chocolate cake anchor the menu.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve already launched a small retail component with wines by the bottle, fresh pastas, and frozen soups by the quart. But they envision that the kitchen will be a shared enterprise, with room for a baker who can start prep in the early mornings, a pastry chef, or someone with a burgeoning jam business. The Sowerses also hope to find small producers who are ready to take that next step but are not quite ready for a stand-alone brick-and-mortar operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Embarcadero\u2019s ever-hotter<\/a> beaux arts ferry terminal is a much bigger beast, of course. But the Sowerses, who met in culinary school, might have the chops to re-create that success in a former Henry\u2019s Hunan on Bryant Street.<\/p>\n

They lived in New York before relocating to San Francisco, where Nick worked at Cotogna and Marissa at The Perennial (now closed). For 10 years, they\u2019ve run a personal-chef business called Sweet and Sowers (opens in new tab)<\/a>, preparing drop-off meals and catering private dinner parties. (Agrodolce Provisions, named for the sweet-and-sour Italian glaze, extends the wordplay to a second language.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

They hope to eventually open the space for occasional dinner parties \u2014 whether their own or pop-ups overseen by guest chefs. They spent much of the past year gutting the building\u2019s ground floor. After putting their infant to bed, they\u2019d bring a baby monitor downstairs while they painted or put up wallpaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the buildout progressed, they filled the space with charmingly mismatched chairs sourced from Facebook Marketplace, a wooden communal table that seats 14, and what Marissa calls her \u201cretired cookbooks.\u201d A framed photo of a smiling Szechuan pepper labeled \u201cworld\u2019s best\u201d gives a nod to the long-closed Chinese restaurant that previously occupied the space, now given over to house-made bolognese, tagliatelle, and a selection of wines that Marissa Sowers describes as \u201ceasy daily drinkers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoAgrodolce, an Italian sweet-and-sour condiment, grew out of the couple\u2019s private dining business, Sweet and Sowers. <\/p>\n

Having lived in three apartments in SoMa over the years, the Sowerses are big believers in the neighborhood, which has yet to fully recover<\/a> from the pandemic. Aside from the noodle house LetsSweet Kitchen (opens in new tab)<\/a> next door and Trader Joe\u2019s across the street, the block lacks street culture. It could benefit from a dedicated couple\u2019s elbow macaroni and elbow grease. \u201cIt\u2019s so sunny,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone always says some neighborhood is \u2018up and coming,\u2019 but I think this place should be up and coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the sandwich board is positioned on the sidewalk to lure in the curious. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with a simple chocolate cake by the slice,\u201d she says. \u201cI put it on the sign, because if I was walking by, I\u2019d be like, \u2018I gotta see this cake!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n