In this deliciously insightful episode of Smart Start Radio, we dive into the evolving world of fine dining and its role in creating unforgettable event experiences. Join hosts Eming Piansay and Sara Robertson as they explore the Bay Area’s vibrant culinary scene, featuring conversations with top industry experts, including Colleen Booth of Lazy Bear, Mark Liberman of Mago Oakland, and Seth Bregman of Bardo.
From Michelin-starred communal dining to the art of crafting immersive, intimate meals, these culinary leaders share how their restaurants elevate event planning through innovation, hospitality, and, of course, incredible food. Whether you’re an event planner, a foodie, or just someone who loves a well-orchestrated dining experience, this episode will leave you inspired—and hungry.
Editor’s note: This episode of Smart Start Radio was transcribed by Otter.ai and edited lightly.
Further Resources
Mago, Bardo, Lazy Bear: Michelin Star Meetings
[theme music]
Sara Robertson Welcome back, welcome back, to another segment of Smart Start Radio. We are coming at you with a very exciting episode today. We are talking to a great lineup of some super talented, passionate people in our beloved culinary world. This podcast episode is actually the brainchild of Eming, as she was writing a fantastic and she’s laughing at me, she was writing a fantastic feature story on some of these restaurants. And she was like, well, this needs to be a podcast episode too, because these people are so awesome. So here we are.
Eming Piansay Here, I’ll give you a little backstory. Okay, this is going to be a long episode, so I apologize if you, like, get really hungry by like, segment one, and then want to go eat lunch, feel free. Save it, come back to it. But I was in Mexico last year, and I went to a Michelin star restaurant, and it was an experience that I will never forget. Like it was, it felt like it was just like a crafted statue that was given to me. That’s what it felt like. And so I was really interested in the idea of, like, you know, how planners can utilize those kind of experiences to really create interesting, fun, exciting moments for folks who attend their events.
SR Yeah.
EP And so we reached out to a bunch of different restaurants in the Bay Area, specifically in Oakland, Oakland and San Francisco, California, to kind of gage like what is available, which I’m sure is available in other parts of the country as well. But we wanted to focus strictly on where we are at, which is the Bay Area. And so, yeah, we got hungry listening these people, and we hope you do too, because not only do they create really interesting moments in time, but their food sounds and looks really good.
[laughter]
SR Yeah, as Eming and I were recording this episode, we were kind of like, well, now we’re building our to-do list of restaurants that we need to go to.
EP Spots to go to in the future.
SR To-Dine-At List.
EP Yes, yes.
SR To-do list isn’t the right term. It’s a wish list.
[laughter]
EP It is a wish list.
SR So, keep an eye out for us in the fine dining scene of the Bay Area.
EP We’re coming. We’re coming. Lock up your wine cellars, people.
[laughter]
EP Well, I’m not even joking.
SR Yeah, I know.
SR We have fun! Yeah, I will, I will add in. You know, this is a really interesting time when we look at the way that the events world is evolving, because people really do want more experiential kinds of event settings, and incorporating fine dining is one of the ways we can do that. For a long time, I think that events have kind of gotten a bad reputation when it comes to the food that’s served. It’s like, you go into a big banquet hall and it’s like, chicken or steak, oh, or vegetarian.
EP Yeah. That’s fair.
SR And it’s usually like, it’s, it’s not necessarily the kind of experience that people remember they’re just getting fed throughout their meeting.
EP Right.
SR But what if we could add it like, what if we could add dining in as an experiential element of an event? So by talking to these amazing restaurant chairs, we are beginning to learn how to do that. And I think we’re going to continue to see events evolve in this realm and many other realms, of course. So, oh! one more piece of background information, which we will address later in this episode. But part of the reason we’re focusing on the Bay Area is because Oakland was just recently awarded the Reader’s Choice Award for Best Foodie City. So, if you haven’t been to Oakland, just know that when you do go, there is some great food waiting for you, and we’ve got some restaurant recommendations coming up later down the line.
EP Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, but our first guest that we spoke to, her name is Colleen Booth. She is the COO of Lazy Bear Restaurants. Look, I will let her explain, but it sounds really good. So we hope you enjoyed this first segment.
[radio tuning sound]
SR Welcome back to Smart Start Radio, everyone. Today, we are so excited to have Colleen Booth here. She is the managing partner and COO of Lazy Bear, which is a two Michelin star restaurant in the heart of San Francisco, in the Mission District, which is one of my favorite districts of San Francisco. If you don’t know, we’re based in Sausalito, so we are Bay Area people through and through, but I’ve never had the pleasure of dining at Lazy Bear, which is why I am so excited to have Colleen here today to talk about this amazing restaurant with a really cool back story, by the way.
EP Mhm, mhm.
SR We’ll get to that later. But Colleen, thank you so much for being here.
Colleen Booth Of course, my pleasure.
EP Awesome. To kick this off. We are really interested in the aspect of F&B, and how that in the space of events and meetings kind of works together to form this cool situation that you have going on. What is Lazy Bear?
SR Yeah. What’s your origin story?
CB Well, we love to throw a party.
[laughter]
EP Who doesn’t? Who doesn’t?
CB So my business partner, David Barzeley, so he’s the founder and executive chef of Lazy Bear, so this is really his baby, goes back to, I think, 2007, 2008 he actually is a lawyer by trade, self-taught chef. He was laid off. And Lazy Bear is actually an anagram for his last name. And so basically his wife was like, stop being such a lazy bear. Go out and get, like, do something that you want to do. And he was really into cooking. He’d been getting really into cooking throughout his law school time, just like immersing himself completely in cookbooks. So ultimately, Lazy Bear started as a pop up in his small Mission apartment with he and his wife.
And his wife, Jeanette, is just a spectacular woman, and she was working the pop ups with him, and they graduated to a slightly larger space, well, I would say more than slightly larger, in an old pop up space that used to be called, like Chez Poulet on Cesar Chavez. And so he got a ton of traction there. He was one of the very first people to do sort of lottery for reservations, or, like, pre purchased tickets, and had this massive waiting lists for the pop ups. And then he had a number of regulars who were like, Let’s make this happen, who also happened to have money behind them, and so invested, finally found the space, and that’s when we moved into 3416 19th Street, and that was in 2015 because, or 2014, because we just celebrated our 10 year anniversary in September.
EP Oh, congratulations.
CB Yeah, thank you. The big mission statement behind Lazy Bear, to boil it down, is that we take ourselves. We don’t take ourselves very seriously, but we take what we do very seriously. And I think that often isn’t always the approach to fine dining. And I think I am a big girl, and when I go into a restaurant, I can put the napkin on my lap myself.
[laughter]
CB And I think there’s just little aspects of very high end dining that just aren’t what we love. We want to be familiar. We want to be comfortable. We really want to welcome you into our home and throw a party. And that’s really the running ethos of Lazy Bear. And so it started out, and almost always was, a communal dining experience, first and foremost. So for about the first eight plus years, well, beyond that, because he did this for the pop up years, it was communal dining, so strangers sitting next to strangers, forcing each other into conversation, building those connections. So as a hospitality professional, you know, this is a hard job, but we love building connections with other people, and so it was really amazing to share that with our guests and encouraging them to do the same as well.
And that’s what we did two times a night, five nights a week, for many, many years, and then this thing called the pandemic happened, and you weren’t allowed to sit next to strangers anymore, and we pivoted, and now we are much more up, for lack of a better word, a standard sort of reservation model, and it’s not to set seatings, people have their individual tables, but all of our private events are generally still communal, because we really do think, you know, it allows for a much more unique experience on a kind of, on a more private event level. And then I think for our standard services, we love it, because we actually can personalize the experience much more to each individual guest. And so we’ve just had so much fun building out, you know, we just went through a renovation, and so we’ve just every single day like, what can we do more for our guests? How can we make this more special? So that’s sort of us, in a in a general service, but events, we do still do communal unless it’s a reception.
SR That’s really cool. I think the way that you’ve described communal dining will really resonate with our listeners who are event planners. You know, they’re really all about that kind of connecting with a stranger and fostering something genuine. So I love that. I’ve never had that kind of experience at a restaurant. But do you think that you might ever go back to a communal diet kind of setting?
CB I think so. I mean, probably not in this space, because we just renovated it to make it better for what we’re currently doing. But I think, you know, we love, we love what it can do for a group of people. So I think it’s, it’s something that, you know, I always say that I have, like, 19,000 ideas for our next restaurants and, and, and event services. So I think it will come back in an iteration for sure, and in the meantime, as I mentioned, all of our sort of public facing private events, you know, we do these big holiday parties or New Year’s, that’s done communal, and then for the events that book with us for private events, we do communal as well, so it’s not off the table for it to still be available for people.
EP If I’m a planner and I’m, like, looking around, like, I want to host a really cool event with dinner and all the fixings of an experience, and I come to you guys, what’s kind of the process for that? Like, what would you need from me, and what do I need from you in terms of, like, you know, how to make this work?
CB Yeah, I think the first and, uh, important thing is the date, right? And I think one thing that you, specifically for us, and I know many Michelin star restaurants that do have a specific private dining space, we don’t, so at Lazy Bear, well, we have a bear cave, which is our wine cellar, but we can only host much smaller, more intimate events. The maximum capacity is really 16 in here. So for the main dining area, we release our reservations almost two full months in advance. So just having an awareness of like of that cut off time as to when events need to be booked, I think, is really the most important. And then I always say to event planners who are coming to us, tell me what you want. Don’t ask me what I can do for you. I want to know what you want first, because we don’t want this to be a less than spectacular event.
So if you’re not forthright with you know exactly what you’re looking for in terms of setting, in terms of audio-visual needs, eating, seating needs, give it all to us up front, and then we will present you with what is doable. That’s one of the biggest, I think, missed marks that sometimes I hear is, oh, it’s only later on, after the contract is signed, and as we’re getting into closer to the date with more logistics that someone says, for example, like, oh, well, we need round tables for this event. Oh, we can’t do round tables. So I think, you know, really, having an idea of of what you want and sort of what you want the vision of an event to be, is also important. So the date that I think, obviously the budget always makes a lot of help to have that out of the way, and then I think just obviously trust that we know what we’re doing. We’re professionals, and we’re gonna show you a good time.
SR It’s interesting that you bring up audio-visual, because you know you wouldn’t necessarily think that you could maybe implement some design ideas or like branding. Is that something that you would be able to do, though, if somebody requested it?
CB We do, absolutely. I will say again, we are very particular. So I think you know, if it’s a little bit of both, if people come to us and, for example, something like place cards, like the actual name cards on the table, we take our design guidelines very seriously. We have a full deck, we have an in-house marketing team, and we don’t want just our logo getting thrown on something that’s printed and maybe not sitting evenly, because every event is ultimately a marketing opportunity for us as well. Not every guest in there what in this event is necessarily the one who opted to come to Lazy Bear.
So we really want to be able to show to the extent of how much we care. So when it comes to branding and design and personalization of this space, we absolutely can contribute to so much, and we will help align with floral maintenance and different setups and rentals and and anything you need. But AV is a is a big deal. Even just a microphone is a big deal. Not every space can have a plug in, an auxiliary plug in. Sometimes you also have to source speakers, and lighting is a big deal when you’re talking about a projection and the throw of the screen and so on and so forth.
EP As a restaurant with two Michelin stars. How, how would you? How would you? How does an experience at your restaurant? What makes that? Sorry, how does that make your restaurant like the experience you know, different, overall? Like, for me, as someone who hasn’t experienced this before, like, what’s the what’s the overall, like, the arc of the story, if you will?
CB Yeah, well, be free for you, which is why I think you should absolutely go if you’re not the host. We, we do, we get so excited about welcoming people that we’ve never seen before, and you know, and it’s being able to give them an experience that we acknowledge is out of some people’s price point sometimes, or is only a special occasion or a once in a blue moon. So it’s so exciting for us, so we welcome every guest as if they are the paying guests, as if they’re someone that we are going to see over and over again. Because, as I mentioned, for us, our sense of hospitality truly is, you are coming into our home, and the way the experience runs, generally speaking, is we do bring you up to our mezzanine level, which is ultimately our living room, and it’s lounge seating, and we welcome you with a glass of punch, and you meet a couple different members of the team.
And it’s always very important for us to have the guest list ahead of time so our team can introduce our guests to our team members on a first name basis. Again, that just level of hospitality that comes from a genuine, warm place of you are you are in our space. And then we do the first few courses past, so again, just a little bit convivial, kind of letting people shed some pretense, I think, especially on a more company side, most of these events have just come out of a litany of meetings or networking. And so for us, it’s like, you get to breathe in our space. You are here now. And even if this is a networking event or a continued work event, let us take care of it. Let us handle everything. We do collect all the information on dietary restrictions and so on and so forth ahead of time and generally. We also provide our staff, when possible, with sort of yearbook style of photos of the guests. So as best we can, we can also greet people by name.
SR Wow.
CB And be prepared for, you know, whether it’s the CEO of the company, or if it’s the mother of the bride, but just have that extra information and that extra level of familiarity to our guests. And then they’re escorted downstairs, seated, a series of communal tables. And then they’re welcomed by the chefs, generally by Chef David himself. And then you are at the utmost attention of our entire staff. Everyone is hands on. Between courses, the chefs themselves come out and introduce each course. And it’s really lovely, because it’ll be the actual CDPs, you know, the actual cooks who are making that dish come out and present their dish. So it’s so earnest and so darling that, you know, they get to express what they love about this dish and all the amazing cooking techniques behind it.
SR Mhm. That’s really cool.
EP Yeah, your website said that you invite folks to come back to the back of the kitchen or the kitchen area for certain events?
CB Yes, we have no we have an open kitchen. And so there’s a very thin line that’s basically just the separation of the dining room floor into the kitchen floor, and we just recommend you don’t cross that line. We do have live fire and things, sharp knives, but guests can walk right up there, and the culinary team loves it. They, they want to say hello to guests and hear what their favorite flavors were or an unexpected bite that they had that evening. So it does have a little extra level of theatrics, if you will, to it.
EP Yeah, because usually you’re not really allowed to venture beyond the, you know, the dining area, like you’re not thinking about venture. You’re like, this is where I sit. This is where I stay the entire time. And you don’t really go that way. So that is really cool. You guys allow that to, as the experience. Sorry, Sara, go ahead.
SR No, that’s okay, yeah. I mean, something is happening in the kitchen, you don’t see it, and then there’s a beautiful plate in front of you, but to be able to see it happen in action, you really can see how extraordinary it is to create a dish like the dishes that you serve. I think it makes a lot more special. That’s really cool. One thing that really struck me when I was looking at your website is the versatility of event opportunities you offer, like you have the in house private event with the open kitchen.
Guests are encouraged to go up and talk to the chefs, like you said. But then you also can go off site and do things like that. You have a zoom cooking class, you have a cocktail making class, a wine tasting kind of experience? Yeah. Could you talk a little bit about, like, the versatility of events and maybe how, like, the range of opportunities available is beneficial to meeting planners?
CB For sure, I think it, a lot of it goes back to, don’t be afraid to ask. I always say, for us as event, as in-house event context, we are your advocate. You know, chefs aren’t always nice or even available to have a conversation, so my job is to advocate for the best experience that the guest is going to have. And so that is just a small list of things that we’ve done. Obviously, a lot of the virtual items came out in sort of response to the pandemic. But yes, I mean, our beverage director, Jacob Brown, is so charismatic and so knowledgeable, and so you know, if you are having a little bit of a summit and want to just do a breakout for 12 or 14 of your guests, and be able to work with a certified sommelier and go through deductive tasting, and it doesn’t even have to be. Be super scholastic in any way.
It just can be a fun, enjoyable moment to kind of just set apart an hour of whatever meeting you have planned. It’s a really great opportunity, and we’ll actually portion everything out, send it, send a grid, and mail it all out individually to each attendee, on the virtual side. For the off sites, that’s where we just get excited, you know, if we love going into new spaces, whether it’s your home, whether it’s your backyard. A little over a year ago, we actually went to Kirby Cove, which is a small kind of campground and beach area that is in Marin, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge looking into San Francisco. And we, I think that was 14 guests there, and it, we had a blast. And they sort of, you know, we had a guest who just said, Hey, any chance you would be interested in this? And we, you know, David and I, I’m a little bit more pragmatic, and he was like, absolutely yes. And in my head, I was like, power? Running water?
[laughter]
CB But then we went and did this site visit, and it was like, no, we’re gonna do champagne and caviar on the beach, and then we’re gonna escort them upstairs, or up to this beautiful table set under the trees, overlooking the bay, and did a full family style course and wine pairing there. And it just was so much fun. And the guests were like, this is absolutely incredible. And we had lights strung it, we strung lights for like three hours that day. Lessons learned.
[laughter]
CB I know better how to approach some light stringing, but I think that’s, that’s a gamut. I think we always want to do things that we’ve maybe not had the opportunity to do before, and really show guests an amazing time and show them what, you know, again, just this, I don’t want to use the word simplicity, because I don’t think anything we do is simple, but the joy that we get out of it is really simple. And the same thing that I think we all love about just having a good meal and a good glass of wine or a cup of coffee with someone you enjoy.
SR And that’s really cool. I mean, like on the attendee side too, it’s a completely unique experience to have champagne caviar on the beach at Kirby Cove and go through that whole event experience like that’s nothing like they’re they have ever experienced, or probably will ever again.
CB Oh yeah.
SR So when you’re a meeting planner,
CB I mean, we met them at the bus.
SR Wow.
CB We met them at their bus, with like, snacks
SR Oh, that’s so cool.
CB And yeah, and then walked them through the woods, down into that beach.
SR Oh my goodness.
EP That sounds magical.
SR That really is the kind of experience that you cannot replicate anywhere else.
CB Yeah, so it’s, I think those are, you know, and it’s always great to just go into someone else’s home too and, and have a dinner with 15. And again, it is communal. And I think it, it just harkens back to, sort of our founding philosophy of, ultimately, our jobs are just to throw a really amazing dinner party. And so when someone opens up your home to, to us, obviously there’s an inferred level of trust there that gives us a little extra oomph to go above and beyond, and when that happens, we always like to leave the hosts little gifts for the next day. So we’ll leave them like little caviar so they can have caviar on their eggs in the morning, or a little coffee or something, just because we understand that as a host, it’s a lot of pressure to welcome people in your home. So I think those little thoughtful touches get us really excited.
EP So for the max amount of people you could have an off-site, is it still about the same, or does it ebb and flow depending on the situation?
CB It ebbs and flows, um, it, it ebbs and flows on obviously, the space, you know, we do have, we have gotten some larger inquiries as of late that are always very exciting for us, but we are not caterers. So you know, if you want us to do 75 people in a place that doesn’t have a kitchen, we can do that, but it’s going to cost a lot of money, because we need a kitchen, and I, and a restaurant kitchen is not designed the same way that a that a catering kitchen is. Just ensuring we are doing it to our own standards as well. We ask for a lot, sometimes.
EP In the events industry, I feel like, or events, in general, the food is often the thing that people like recall the most. So in your experience, like, what’s like, one of your favorite memories of like, what you guys have done, I’m assuming you guys, you know your your options may evolve as the year goes on based on the seasons. But is there one particular like, season or dish that you were like, really, like this, like, really made people happy, and it really left a mark?
CB Yes, um, I mean, there’s so many, it’s hard for me to pick one. I think, like, right now, what’s on the menu, we have such a phenomenal menu right now. Um, but I love, I love our fondue dish.
EP Mmmm.
CB And it’s, you know, it’s just sort of
EP I love cheese.
CB It’s, well, there’s that, right? Like, we all love cheese.
[laughter]
SR Oh, yeah.
CB And we use an amazing like clothbound cheddar, we specifically need cheddar, and it’s married with sunchokes and black trumpet mushrooms. And then, of course, we shave a ton of Perigord truffle on top. But it’s, it’s not comp, it’s not overly complicated. Obviously, we made it complicated in how we prepare it, because you’re bringing a warmth to the internal aspect of someone. And I just feel like that, what else to do that with, other than fondue? Like you literally feel it warm you from the inside out. So that’s, that’s probably one of my favorites right now. We always do, or almost always do, a broth course, and I love those.
We have a spectacular kind of palette cleanser on the menu right now that I just love. And it sort of just pivots. You go from this very rich wagyu dish and then into this, like, just light and bright citrus and buttermilk and refreshing palette cleanser that I think, is a bit of a surprise a lot. So it’s also, you know, being able to kind of give someone the unexpected a you know, we people talk a lot about playlists or sort of just cadence of a lot of aspects of our lives, and menus run the same way. So similarly, you know, to how a seated dinner is, I feel the same way about a standing reception is there does need to be a bit of a crescendo. You don’t want to walk in the door and like, have short ribs shoved in your face,
[laughter]
CB When you’re gonna be there for three hours. I think, you know, we do, we do treat our receptions similar to a seated dinner. It’s, you are going to crescendo. We’re going to start with, you know, a whipped scrambled egg and some oysters and some of the lighter bites, and then sort of go up to some of the heavier items, and then finally, conclude with some dessert. So it feels a little bit more of a natural flow of, of how an evening should go.
EP Well, I’m hungry now.
[laughter]
SR I know, literally, my stomach literally just growled.
CB I didn’t even talk about the bread and butter.
SR Oh, gosh, don’t go there. That’s my favorite course, are you kidding?
CB I know. Well, we always say that everyone does a bread course, but we do a butter course.
EP Ohhh, okay, we have to go now.
SR Okay, yeah, I want to go, I want to go.
EP We have to schedule a thing. Our last question, unless, Sara, you have another question you’d like to ask before we wrap.
SR I don’t. Let’s jump into it.
EP Okay, so traditionally we ask our guests a question about
SR Traditionally.
EP Traditionally. We try, we try. Based on, you know, your all your experiences working in the restaurant and whatnot, what’s something that you’ve learned that you feel a planner could learn from it, on their, on their, on their end of things?
SR In other words, our trademark way of framing this question is, what’s in your toolbox?
CB Oh, no, detail is too small. No detail is too small. I am known for this asinine Google sheet
[laughter]
CB That is called my critical path, and I use it to open restaurants. I use it for every event prep, for everything, and it’s down to the timing of when you load in and load out of something and when breakdown should happen. And if you’re doing an organized toast, what time is that toast? Who’s the person speaking? So therefore, when do you pour it? When do you pass it out? When do you prompt? Where is that speaker standing? I just, no detail is too small.
EP Well, I hope our guest—our guests—our audience, your future guests, hopefully, they are also as hungry as we are and want to,
[laughter]
EP Want to try Lazy Bear, because I know I do, I do. But thank you, Colleen, so much for joining us.
CB Yeah, thank you both so much.
SR Thank you so much.
EP We really appreciate it. This was really fun for me, and for my stomach.
SR It was so, oh my gosh, yeah, it was definitely fun for my stomach. It’ll be more fun for my stomach when I actually go dine there.
CB Yes, please do. I can’t wait.
SR Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.
EP Yes, thank you so much.
SR You shared such wonderful, beautiful insights. And yeah, thank you. Every detail counts.
CB Yes! Thank you. Have a great weekend.
[radio tuning sound]
SR That was such a great discussion with Colleen, as I’m sure you can tell I really, really loved what she had to say about the concept of communal dining. I think that really speaks to what the events world does. Just like events bring people together, sharing a great meal brings people together.
EP Right.
SR So, yeah, shout out to Colleen, thank you for joining us.
EP Yeah, that was fun.
SR Yeah, that was amazing. Next up, we have Mark Lieberman. He is the Executive Chef of Mägo Oakland, and he is just a culinary genius, if you just listen to him talk, and his restaurant is super, super special. So I think we should just jump right into his story.
EP Let’s go.
[radio tuning sound]
EP Greetings, Mark. Hope you are doing well today. How are you, this lovely, lovely day?
Mark Liberman I’m good this morning.
SR Wonderful.
ML This day, I guess, it’s not morning anymore.
SR I guess it’s 12:00 then.
EP It’s morning somewhere, it’s morning somewhere.
SR It’s morning somewhere. Not morning in Oakland. But we love Oakland. We’re just a little bit up north in Sausalito, so it’s super fun to talk to somebody local.
EP Yeah. So, the premise of us asking you on is because, you know, we have been exploring a lot of F&B options in the Bay Area, specifically for spaces that allow for for events to be held, and you guys seem like you do that and more. So we just kind of want to get a sense of like, who you guys are, what you do, what you stand for, and what someone who’s looking for an event space can use with you guys.
ML Sure. So we’re a fine dining Latin restaurant. We generally do a buffer tasting menu in our dining room that ranges anywhere from 10 to 12 courses, but for private events and F&B, we offer a few different menu options. In that realm, it’s still a tasty menu format or a prix fixe format, but it’s um, I find that when you’re doing larger parties, they don’t want to do 12 courses just because it’s, it takes a long time to do 12 courses for like, four people.
EP Right
SR Right.
ML But when you’re doing it for 10 people or 20 people or 30 people, it turns into just a long experience.
EP Mhm.
ML For the guests, we find that generally, like most of our guests, option, opted for a four course and six course.
EP Hmm. Oh wow, okay.
SR Cool. That’s interesting.
ML It’s about the same amount of food.
EP Okay.
SR Yeah.
ML Just, portion size is just different, portion sizes.
SR Awesome. Cool. As we get started, I’d love to hear a little bit more about your backstory. This restaurant’s backstory, kind of your beginnings and how you ended up being what you are today.
ML Yeah. So I started cooking pretty young. I got the bug. I was like, 10, 11 from. I’m dating myself but this is pre-Food Network.
EP Oh, wow. Okay, okay.
ML So it was all like, it was all like, Martin Yan. I grew up in the Bay Area.
EP Mm, mm. Yeah.
SR We also both grew up in the bay, so.
ML Yeah, so, I mean, I grew up watching those food shows. I love the Great Chefs series, and so I started cooking. I started, I got the kitchens when I was like 15, as a dishwasher, and then I got over to a prep cook. And then I worked my way through high school in like, a little local hotel restaurant in Sacramento, decided I wanted to go to culinary school, so I went to culinary school at that point, right out of high school, then I kind of like traveled around a lot of different cities. I always kind of came back to the Bay Area because it’s my home. But I worked in New York, I worked in Las Vegas, I worked in Paris, Florida, and then I’d always kind of like, have these stints back in San Francisco, and then back in 2010 I just decided I was kind of over traveling.
EP Hmm.
ML I wanted to make the Bay Area my home again.
SR Right.
ML So at that point, I opened a restaurant in the city, in San Francisco, with this guy I met, Matt Semmelhack, we opened up a restaurant called AQ that was on Seventh and Mission. We were there for, I guess, like, for five years. We opened, like, four of the restaurants. So it was a lot of, it was a lot that happened in those five, six years, and in 2017, we closed everything. And my cooking background was primarily French Italian.
EP Mm.
SR Mhm.
EP Okay.
ML I always worked in, that was, like, I was kind of a Francophile for a long time. So I always ended up working in a lot of French restaurants. And then I kind of migrated to Italian restaurants. I’d never cooked Latin American food prior to Mägo. So, yeah, we closed everything in 2017 I had just had my first child. She was one at the time, and I kind of was just burnt out. We had five restaurants. I was going full speed, and it just took a toll mentally, in my body, so I decided to take a year off, kind of just time with my kid and be a stay-at-home dad, which was great, but ultimately, I missed having a restaurant, or working in restaurants. I didn’t really want to work for anyone else. I kind of was just like, I’m at that point in my career. Like the idea of working for somebody else, even though it would probably be like so much easier.
[laughter]
EP You know, it has its moments.
ML It has its pros and cons. So, yeah, I decided in 2018, that I want to open the restaurant again, so I started looking in San Francisco originally, just because that’s why I spent most of my years cooking. But ultimately, I was living in Oakland at the time, and so it didn’t make sense for me to be in San Francisco anymore, and what I wanted the restaurant to be, my wife has some stipulations that I had to be kind of like, within like a 20 mile radius of where we live.
SR Mhm.
EP Smart. Smart Woman. That’s fair.
[laughter]
ML It is, in San Francisco, like, yeah, like, it’s like an hour away, even though, it’s not an hour away.
EP Yeah, traffic will kill you.
SR Yeah, the traffic.
ML Yeah, and with having kids, it’s like, I just want to be more involved
EP Right.
SR Totally.
ML And have a life, and not just like, go to the restaurant every day. Yeah, I started looking at restaurants. I found a space on Piedmont Avenue. It was a Cybelle’s Pissa space. So, it had been there for like 30 years.
EP Right.
ML So I inherited a lot of issues, it was a pretty old restaurant.
EP Right.
ML Yeah, so we opened in, got the keys in November of 2018, and we opened in June of 2019 so I was a pretty fast turnaround. And then obviously we were open for like six, seven months, and the pandemic hit us.
EP Yeah.
ML When we first opened, we were a different restaurant. We were an à la carte restaurant that was still, it was still very much like seasonal, menu changed constantly, but it wasn’t, it wasn’t a tasting menu, and it wasn’t Latin focused. It was just kind of Californian. And then the pandemic hit us in March, where we had to fill everybody. We kind of just, like, did all sorts of, everything we could to like, stay alive. We did take out food, we did meal kits, we did cooking classes. So it was all sorts of things we did to make it through those two years of insanity.
EP Congrats on that, by the way.
SR Yeah.
EP Not many people survived that.
SR Big deal. Yeah. Congrats on that.
ML So, yeah, I think, I think, I think at some point when we were able to open again, it was outdoor dining. We have a patio in the back of the restaurant. And at the time, I mean, we still, it’s still a very small patio. We had five tables that we could, because it was, like the whole six feet apart.
SR Right. Social distancing, yeah.
ML Yeah, social distancing, so like we only had five tables in the backyard. So to make it kind of like financially viable to open again was like, we have to do, like a set menu, cause, like having an à la cart option, which will just come and spend like, $10 for the pasta, or whatever, like, it was just like, it didn’t make sense. So we, I think when we opened, it was still pretty cheap. It was like 55 bucks for four courses just to get people, like, back out. And I think even at that point, it wasn’t Latin inspired. I think the Latin inspired kind of came, I had some, my dad passed away during COVID.
EP I’m sorry.
ML So, but kind of like, it kind of like forced me to, like, kind of like, rethink what was important. Kind of like, the food I was cooking, it wasn’t. It was just kind of like, Californian cuisine is great, but it’s just like a hodge podge of, like, whatever you want to do. And so I kind of wanted to focus on something that was more personable. And I’m half Colombian. I had never, like, I said, never done Latin food before, like, professionally. I’d never done Colombian food professionally. And I kind of just dove down that whole path of, like, speaking with my mom and kind of like, learning more about that. So it was the food I grew up eating. But like I said, like I didn’t, I didn’t grow up, I didn’t like, cook it ever. I cooked some stuff at home, but I didn’t like, really, like, dive down the whole path of like, what it meant. Especially because, like, my family’s from the Caribbean, both sides, and like that food is very different from, like, England and blah, blah. So I hadn’t really ever explored all the various regions of Colombia and so, yeah, I think I think in 2022, is when I started focusing on Colombian cuisine
SR Mhm.
EP Your name is very interesting.
ML It’s not Colombian at all. Oh, the name of the restaurant. Yes.
EP It’s very magical, literally, very quite magical. Why that, that name?
ML Yeah, so Mägo was my nickname.
EP Ohhh, okay.
SR Hmm!
ML And it was something that the sous chefs had named me, behind my back.
[laughter]
ML And I didn’t realize they were calling me this. I found out later that, like, this is, kind of, Mägo, what the sous chefs were calling me.
EP Nice.
ML And so when I opened the restaurant, yeah, I knew that was what I was gonna call it.
EP That’s really cool.
ML And yeah it wasn’t Latin inspired originally, but we kind of just went with it.
EP Right, right.
SR Definitely. Cool. I think one of the things about food, cuisine, dining, is it’s a space for connection. In so many cultures, you know, people gather over food and connect over food. And in our culture, if you want to catch up with an old friend, you might go to a restaurant. Or if you’re going on a date, you go to a restaurant. Or if you want to get to know a business partner or potential business partner a little better you might go to a restaurant.
EP Right.
SR So I’d be interested in hearing a little bit more about your perspective on the connecting power of food, of dining and of fine dining.
ML Yeah. I mean, I think what we do here is a little different in that, like, I love, I love fine dining. But I think I also don’t love fine dining, because it does bring a lot of, um. As someone that goes out to a lot of, I mean, I used to go before I had kids, but used to go to a lot of fine dining restaurants, tasting menus. And I love the tasting menu format because it definitely allows myself, but also allows the guest, to kind of just and let us take care of them. And I don’t always love all the bells and whistles that come with fine dining. So we really try to create a very warm environment. And like, I tell, I talk to the servers, my focus is always about hospitality first. Not so much, like, steps of service are important, because it’s necessary to make sure things happen at a proper time and make sure things are very smooth. As far as like, table clearing and markings, but really, like, I’m more focused on hospitality and creating that personal connection with our guests.
EP Right.
ML So we do have a lot of regular customers that come along, which I think is very rare for a fine dining spot. And I think that one of the reasons is, we change our menu every day, so there’s that. But also, I think one of the reasons is because we really try to push our servers from, on food so, like, really create a connection with the people that are dining with us. And make it feel like they’re not just like another number.
EP Yeah. That’s very thoughtful. So in terms of, like, when people are hosting events at your at your at your restaurant, like what’s kind of the vibe that you kind of want them to kind of experience and walk away with?
ML I mean, I kinda think it depends on the event that’s happening.
EP Okay, fair.
ML There’s definitely people, there’s definitely holiday parties, which are very, just festive.
EP Mhm, right.
ML We have also, like, a lot of pharmaceuticals that come through, and engage in some kind of presentation, and they’re not really engaging with us at all. They’re just here to have a meal.
EP Gotcha.
ML I would say most of our events, yeah, most our events are more, even the business ones are definitely more convivial having a good time. All our parties happen on our back patio.
EP Okay.
ML So that’s like, our private event space.
EP Gotcha.
ML It’s covered. It’s got heaters. It’s actually, it’s like a little garden back there. So it’s actually pretty nice, and it gets actually really hot out there, with all the heaters. But it’s definitely, I think a lot of our guests really enjoy that, like, it’s very private, but also doesn’t feel like a stuffy, private thing.
SR Definitely. I had a quick question. When you said that, like you have a lot of pharmaceuticals, and they’re kind of there to have a presentation and have a meal, but they don’t really interact with you. I still think that it says something that they would choose your restaurant. They would choose a fine dining setting, specifically, Mägo, for the setting. I mean, I don’t know, what do you think about that?
EP The food’s probably really good too.
SR Yeah, I’m certain.
[laughter]
SR I mean, what do you think about that? Like, if, even if you know you’re having a meeting, you’re not really interacting with it, but you still want to have, like, that kind of fine dining meal, I think it speaks to the relevance of that kind of setting.
ML Yeah, I think, I think, like, I said, it’s a very warm environment in our yard. I think it’s different from a lot of places that a lot of those companies go to, and they’re like sometimes they just end up in a private dining room full of just like. And I think that our food and beverage is a big deal, so from the cocktail to the wine program to the food itself, we customize the menu.
EP Okay.
ML Speaking of, we change our menu every day, so there’s nothing really set in stone.
EP Mm, okay.
ML So when we do the private events, like, if a guest wants a like, a menu, yeah,
EP Okay.
ML Especially if there’s a lot of dietary restrictions.
EP Gotcha.
SR Yeah.
ML But generally, like, I tell the guests, like, this is how we this is how we roll. If you’re cool with that, we’re cool. Just let me know, like, what is the dietary restrictions, and we’ll customize the menu. I think a lot of people, like that, a lot of businesses.
SR Definitely. Um. So to talk a little bit more about your events, you will offer a pretty wide range, like you have, you know, these hosted dinners where, like, you can have some group gather on the back patio. You also offer buyouts, right? Yeah, and cooking classes and lots of fun stuff. So there’s a lot of versatility.
ML Yeah, so we do, we do offer buyouts, and obviously you have the patio and the full dining room. We’ve done all sorts of different buyouts. We’ve done sit down dinners. We’ve done just kind of like family style, where you just gather and enjoy food. We’ve done appetizer parties. No one has done the cooking class parties yet.
EP Hmm.
SR Hmm.
ML That’s gonna be great. But I, we do cooking classes usually once a month. Once a month, just for, like, small groups, but it is one of the things that I think, I think it’d be fun for a private event.
EP Mhm, yeah.
SR Totally.
ML And then, kind of like dinner a little bit, just because it’s a little bit
SR Yeah.
ML From, different from the norm, sitting down and having a dinner. Yeah, we’ve definitely offered a few
different options for those buyouts.
EP So when you’re working with, like, an event planner and such like, how closely do you work with them, and how much info do you need from them to, like, make this like a successful event for them?
ML I’ve worked with a handful event planners. Like right now, I’m the person, who does all the private events.
EP Right.
ML I think I try to, I try to let them know what we do and how we do it and kind of showcase
EP Right.
ML what we do well. And then I try to, like, know, see what they want. A lot of the event planners I’ve worked with have been pretty laissez-faire as far as letting us organize it. But I definitely like want to know if the event planner, you know, has specifics that they want to happen, especially if there’s like things that have to happen at certain times, if there’s like speeches. So I try to get all that information from the event planner prior to the event happening, because generally, on the days of an event, I’m the one cooking, so I try to, I try to relay all that information to the team in the front of the house, in the dining room, but at the same time, like, I don’t want to have to be saddled down by, like, too many questions about, like, what’s happening? What time is this supposed to happen? I really want to iron all those details out prior with the event planner to make sure, like, it’s all on paper and documents that I can just pass to the dining room, people, the servers and somebody at six o’clock, we have to do this, and seven o’clock this has to happen.
I do try to iron that out with event planners prior to finalized trying all the menu options. And then also we’ll, I’ll get my beverage director, manager involved if they want to choose wines, choose cocktails. Especially for the bigger parties, I find it’s, we try to limit. We don’t want to have, we have an open bar. So if someone doesn’t want, like, a martini, we can make a martini. We can make a martini, but we don’t want to generally offer like, the entire cocktail we need, because it kind of hampers the flow of service if there’s like, 10 cocktails that people can choose from. So we try to also let the planner and the guests choose a few custom cocktails for the evening, few of the wines and beers and etc.
EP Okay, well, since you’ve just kind of started doing this, is there something that you’ve just like, you’ve maybe, like, learned that you were fascinated by or were surprised by, like, either requests or things that people didn’t know off the hand, if you asked, like, was there anything that like, surprised you about these experiences so far?
ML Yeah, people get surprised by like, like, taxes. Like, is tax included? Like, taxes.
EP Mmm. Money.
[laughter]
EP Gotcha.
ML Yeah, I’ve people that are like, Oh, this includes tax. I’m like, yeah. Like, yeah. It doesn’t like,
EP You’re in California, people, like come on.
ML Yeah, it’s California. But like, anywhere you go in California, you have to pay tax.
EP Inflation, people, inflation.
ML Like, people are like, I didn’t know this is gonna be like, you know, like, I thought it was, like, all inclusive. I’m like, No, there’s nothing All Inclusive about this place.
EP All Inclusive? This is not a resort.
ML Even in their contract, it says, like, it’s the price per person plus plus you know the activity plus. Yeah, so that’s one of the things I’ve gotten. I don’t charge a service charge. I mean, we do, like a gratuity, we didn’t autograph, but we don’t do a I don’t do a room fee. You just kind of do a, do F&B minimum, and it changes. It’s very day per day, yeah, if it’s like a Monday party versus like a Friday party kind of thing. Yeah, I think we decided to do that instead of like, yeah.
SR Of events that you’ve held in the past, is there anything that really stands out to you? Any favorite event memories that you look back on?
ML We did a really fun ugly sweater holiday party.
SR Fun.
ML So that was really fun, yeah, that was really fun. There were a lot of people that got dressed up, some people got really dressed up, but I think it was, it was
EP Like, full Santa attire?
ML Um, not full Santa attire but like, full outfit attire.
SR Awesome.
EP Mmm, cool.
ML But yeah. But that was a fun party. They really enjoyed themselves. It was a full buyout of the restaurant.
SR Nice.
ML So, like, they went, they were, like, in the patio. They were like,
EP Okay.
ML So I, like, they really made space, like, use of the entire space. That was a fun event as of recently, like, I think we had some really good holiday parties this past December.
SR Oh, yeah. ‘Tis the season.
ML Yeah, it was a lot of holiday parties, but they we didn’t have to, oh, we had one that was for Yelp, like 30 people,
EP Okay.
ML And they had a blast. They drank a lot, and they were, like, really fun, and they wrote, actually, a lot of good Yelp reviews.
[laughter]
EP Nice.
SR Awesome.
EP That’s always great.
SR Awesome. I would hope the people who work at Yelp leave Yelp reviews.
EP I know, right?
ML Yeah, I was surprised.
SR Awesome. And I’m sure you’re happy as the restaurant owner, that they did, too. You’re like, well, if I’m bringing Yelp.
ML Yeah, they did send me, like, I did get, like, an award from Yelp for like, best something.
SR What?
ML but they still went there.
SR Aww.
EP Aww.
SR Oh, my gosh, that’s exciting though, that’s really cool.
EP That’s really cool. Um, so in your experience thus far, like, what’s, what’s something that you feel like you’ve learned about the industry and about working events that you feel can like, you know, help shape how you move forward in the future?
ML Um, I just try to be more communicative, with, like, the guests, or the client. I feel like a lot of people just generally, like, they’re they’re not sure of like, what to expect, especially when we get a lot of I think like, the business ones are kind of like more. They’re like, used to like booking events, but I feel like a lot of times when we get like, like someone celebrating, like, a 40th birthday party, kind of thing. They’re not sure, like, what to expect. And I really try to, like, communicate with them so let them know, like, this is what we’re gonna do. This is what’s gonna happen. Do you have any questions? And really try to, like, find out, like, what to make them feel at ease when they come in, like, they don’t have to stress about anything. So I think that is one thing I learned, just just to be like, like, emails are good. But I’m also like, if you ever want to just jump on the phone and just talk through some of this process, I feel like that’s a little more helpful to just,
SR Yeah.
ML Constant email back and forth. And I think for us, like, the future for 25 is just to really, like, kind of keep pushing those private events through different avenues. And I’m not, I’m still learning what those avenues are, you know, because right now, everything is kind of like internal for us, like, as far as marketing, it’s all like through our newsletter and through our social media, but trying to find different places where I can advertise that we do have a private event space in the back of the restaurant, we can do a buyout.
SR Okay, well, I was going to ask you, how do you think having a fine dining experience elevates an event. How does it, how does it change an event from a regular meeting to something around, you know, having that meeting over a fine dining meal?
ML I would say, like, what we do here is, I think we take a lot of the best of fine dining and kind of, like, really elevate that. And then some of the things we kind of just, we don’t want to do that. But I think one of the things that I really like to see, especially with the business ones, is where, like, they’re the food comes out, and they all kind of stop talking about business and start talking about the food or the beverages. So I think we really put a lot of effort in making sure, like, the food is hot, which is the reasons, like, why we don’t do like, the 12 courses in the patio, because it’s a lot of steps for us to serve.
SR Right.
ML Like, to make sure it’s hot. So we design, we design the food a little differently for the events than we would do for the main dining room, and that it’s a little bit easier for us to plate, but still, like, really nice and still elevated, and you still use really good products, but it’s not as, I guess, fussy or finicky. It’s really focused on making sure that it’s cooked properly, that it’s seasoned well, that it’s hot. Plates are hot. There’s a lot of attention detail. But it’s not super like, tweezers out different things on there. It’s just very like, maybe it’s like, favorite components, and the food, and it’s, like, very happy with it. So I think that that’s something that I think we pay a lot of attention to detail what we design the food for the events is that it’s not, it’s a little bit more, I guess, streamlined a little bit from what we normally do, but it’s still very elevated. It’s still very much in the condensing realm of what we normally do in the dining room, but it just takes us not as long to plate.
EP Okay, my question for you is, since Oakland has recently been listed as like the top restaurant foodie destination spot of like the United States, what makes you, in your personal opinion, what makes you guys stand out among all the other restaurants that are in that area that like this is the spot to like come eat, whether it be friends, family or your work people or an event like, what makes you guys stand out as like the place to be in Oakland right now?
ML I mean, I think we kind of try to embody Oakland in that, like we are a little bit more of an edgy fine dining restaurant. Oakland is still kind of like, I don’t wanna say that Oakland’s edgy, but it’s definitely not San Francisco. It’s still kind of like, got a little bit of, I mean, it’s still very much an urban city, and so we, our music’s a little louder. It’s a little bit more fun.
[laughter]
ML Our services are little more relaxed, like we all wear T-shirts in the kitchen. So it’s, it’s definitely a little bit more of, like, an Oakland vibe, I think. And what we do. We often get compared, so, like, there’s us, another restaurant that does a tasting menu in Oakland. They’re just down the street from us, and they’re a really good restaurant. They’re a two Michelin-star restaurant, but like, we always get compared to them because we’re tasting menu restaurant, but we’re very different. Like, we’re like, I say like we’re not, we take ourselves very seriously, but also like, we want to enjoy what we do. And I think that kind of embodies. Little bit of Oakland that, like, people can come here, and it’s very relaxed.
SR Approachable.
ML Like we talked about the hospitality notion, like it’s very, like everyone spends a little bit extra time talking to the guests.
SR Nice.
ML I think it’s, I think it’s, it’s a very energetic, kind of, like fine dining restaurant.
SR Totally.
ML But I think, it feels right in Oakland.
SR Totally, yeah.
ML I think also, like, we do, like, our food is very different too. Like, it’s very personable, like, it’s, it’s Colombian. But also, like, I’m not from Colombia, I’m born in the Bay Area, and so I’m not trying to like, like, what we do here is influenced by, like, Colombia and South America, but like we also primarily use ingredients from California. So it’s a very like kind of personable approach to things.
EP Sara, do you want to, do you want to ask the last question?
SR Yeah, so we always kind of close out by asking you, what is in your toolbox? As in, what’s something that has either propelled you forward, or that you kind of rely on as you continue to build your restaurant? And you know what’s, what’s like, one hot tip that you would say creates your success?
ML We’re a very small team here at Mägo, and I think I really try to surround myself with people that want to genuinely be here, and are genuinely warm and hospitable people by nature, whether that’s the cooks, the porters, the servers, the bartender. That’s one thing that I’ve, being in a small restaurant like I don’t feel the need to like, if someone doesn’t want to work with me or be here, like I don’t want you here. So I think it’s important, even if it’s a big restaurant, you kind of surround yourself with people that sometimes are better than you at things, because we really try to have a very collaborative environment here at the restaurant. It doesn’t always play out that way, just because at times you used to have to make decisions, but I do try to surround myself with people that can bring ideas to the table, that do want to work here and want to be part of this project. I think that makes it a lot easier. Even when it’s, it’s those tough days, it’s like, okay, like, I’m working with people that, like, genuinely want to, like, be here and work with me. And I’m not like, I think we’ve all worked in places where you like, you look at the people and you’re like, why are you so bad or like, you’re, they’re always late.
[laughter]
ML They just genuinely suck.
[laughter]
ML So having a small team allows me to kind of like, handpick.
EP Right, right. Well, as also a small team, we can relate to that.
SR Mhm. We’re a very small team.
EP So thank you very so much, Mark. This is really great.
SR It was really cool to get your perspective. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.
ML You’re very welcome. Have a nice one.
[radio tuning sound]
EP Yes, it’s really interesting. Like, how, when Mark was talking, he really, like referenced, like, how his his family background really, like, inspired his, his work. I think that’s really, that really, I appreciate that. Because, like, you know, we all come from something and it’s, it’s, it’s very special when you’re able to, like, put a part of you, or where you come from, or your background, into what you do for a living.
SR Totallly.
EP And to be able able to share that with people. I think it’s really special.
SR Totally. It is.
EP And it feels like, you know someone’s and one particular thing that was said across the interviews, I feel like, for the most part, was like, people, they really want to create, like a vibe, like a specific vibe that like relates to, like, where you are.
SR Definitely.
EP Like, you’re in Oakland, you’re in San Francisco. Like, that’s definitely reflective of that.
SR Right.
EP And I, these, these really go out of their way to be like, you’re here. We’re gonna make you feel like this is our home, in Oakland.
SR Yeah.
EP In San Francisco.
SR Yes. There’s something really special about feeding people. I think that it really is a way of demonstrating just genuine love and care, to welcome people into your restaurant, which is a reflection of your inspirations, your background, your passion. That’s what all of these incredible people do. And yeah, food, providing people with good food is a way to connect them, connect with them, and to just share the love. So let’s jump into our chat with Seth.
[radio tuning sound]
SR Hello, listeners. We are back at it again with Seth Bregman, who is the co-owner and co-founder of Bardo in Oakland, along with his wife, Jenny, the other co-owner and co-founder, and we are here to talk a little bit more about fine dining and why it makes a fabulous setting for events. Thank you so much for being here, Seth.
Seth Bregman Yeah, it’s my pleasure. Nice to be here with you.
SR To start us off, would you tell us a little bit about your origin story? Bardo’s origin story?
SB Sure. So, we’ve had this idea for Bardo for quite a while. And what we wanted to create was kind of home entertaining environment that, maybe, felt like you were visiting a close friend, or celebrating at a relative’s house, that had a really nice, 1960s, swank feel, like, in their living room. And part of that came from my upbringing as a child, basically helping my mom throw all these parties in the late 60s and early 70s. And she had this really, a real taste for design. So she had really nice, mid-century modern furniture, you know, in those days, like all the houses had a wet bar. And so I got familiar with the wet bar, and so I was the bartender, and
SR At your mom’s parties?
SB At my mom’s parties, that’s right.
SR Awesome.
[laughter]
SB And so and back, you know, at that time, people put a lot of time and care into, like, home entertaining and having friends over. And, you know, everyone had, like, their own really nice glassware and nice sets of China, and they would work on special recipes and just kind of go all out for folks. And so we wanted to create a situation that kind of felt a little bit like that, that you were not, you know, you would certainly have kind of, restaurant food and cocktails, you know, as high quality as we could provide, but that it just felt like you were maybe in a slightly more comfortable setting, that felt like you might be with friends and family. And so that’s, that’s how it started, and, um, and we wanted it to feel like celebratory, like a little bit uplifted. So when people come to Bardo, you see people not like in formal dress, per se, unless it’s like a, you know, a nice party, like a wedding or a company dinner or something, but people kind of step up their game a little bit because, you know, it’s an opportunity to kind of bring your best self out if you’re going to be in a nice environment, that environment feels uplifted. We’ve had our Michelin recommended status for four years running now.
EP Awesome.
SR Wow.
EP That’s, that’s amazing. That’s really cool.
SR Really cool. And for those who don’t know, what is Michelin recommended distinction? What does that mean?
SB Well, it’s, so. you know, Michelin has a number of categories. So, they have their star categories, which most people are familiar with. And you know, as you get sort of higher in the star status, you know, the level of fine dining and service, those, those kind of standards and marks are pretty high. So, there’s kind of a lot of expectation that you’re going to get some super fine, fine execution, food with beverage, with service, with surroundings. It’s, you know, very accomplished and result. But there are other distinctions that people are less familiar with. Michelin bib gourmand is, is like a nice meal that’s more for, for lower budget.
You know, for $40 or $50 you could go into a place and you’re going to get, you know, a nice entree and a side dish or salad, and it’s going to be at a certain price point. So they have their own category for that. And then they have Michelin recommended, which is, who ends up in the Michelin Guide or guidebook. So when you go online for Michelin recommended restaurants, it’ll usually be a combination of restaurants that have stars and ones that don’t. So, we don’t have a star, and we don’t feel bad about that.
EP Not yet!
SR Not yet.
EP Maybe, in the future, in the future. Never, never give up. Never give up hope. You never know.
SB Yeah, but we’re, we’re, we’re happy with our Michelin, Michelin recommended status.
SR Wonderful.
SB Sometimes people hold us to star standards, even though we technically don’t have our star. But you know, we, we aspire, we try to keep things at a high level, but casual and not
SR Right.
SB Not pretentious or uptight.
SR Yeah, welcoming.
SB You could come in your jeans, or you could come in your, you know, your your fancy, you know, cocktail dress or suit, or whatever you feel like.
SR And that versatility feels really hospitable.
EP Yeah, being able to be yourself is really important, I think, for a lot of venues, like people need to, like, you know, you can come dressed in the nines or, you know, as long as you feel happy, I think that’s usually the way people should go.
SR Yeah, I think especially in like, a meeting or event setting, when you’re in like this kind of professional environment, if you’re going to an amazing meal, you probably want to just feel more comfortable, let go a little like, take down the walls a bit, and if you’re comfortable wearing a little bit of looser pants, because there’s so much that I want to eat at your restaurant.
[laughter]
EP Speaking of which, speaking of which. Food!
SB A real practical point of view.
SR Then you have that option.
SB We’ve done, like, parties, I think, like for last New Year’s, you know, that’s, it’s open to the public on New Year’s Eve. But we do like special, usually a prix fixe dinner. But last year we did like a loungewear theme.
EP Mmm.
SR Cool.
SB So, you know, come in your, like most upscale, sort of pajamas,
EP Nice.
SB Or, comfort wear. So, yeah, we can, we can go that route too.
SR That’s awesome, super fun.
EP So if an event planner wants to work with you guys, like, what’s something that you would like, they would need to know or like they should be thinking about? Like, because, like, you know people, some people don’t always know what they want when they come for an event, like, what’s something that you feel like they should already know when they speak with you guys?
SB You know, I think that it depends what you’re coming to us for. So if it’s like, if it’s a corporate dinner or company event, then I think, you know, we want you to understand the needs of, of your client, and also have the planner understand that we’re, we’re basically, you know, our core business is as a restaurant, and so, you know, with as as a restaurant, there’s some things we can do and some things we can’t.
SR Mhm.
SB So, you know, sometimes planners are used to kind of, maybe like a hotel or a convention kind of provider, and that’s not what we do.
EP Right.
SB On the other hand, we do kind of span a lot of services. So you know, we have, obviously have the food and beverage and can do like standing receptions, seated dinners, buffet dinners. We do like small, private settings from like, you know, as little as, like six people to 30 seated and then full buyouts as well. So those are capacity up to 115 and those can be company dinners or birthdays or anniversaries. We do weddings, receptions and ceremonies, and then have like a full suite of services of, we know DJs and photographers, and we have floral connections, and I used to work in audio visual, so we have professional sound equipment.
EP That’s very important for a lot of people.
SR It is.
SB We host bands important for a lot of people, and I do the tech work for a lot of the bands.
EP Okay.
SR Cool.
SB I’m a musician myself, and so,
EP Oh, cool!
SR Oh my gosh, look at that skill set. Wow.
[laughter]
EP I know.
SB Well, when you get to be as old as I am, you pick up a few things along the way.
[laughter]
SB So we can really take care of clients at a lot of different levels. We have, like, a high definition projector and a big, giant screen that can be seen from the entire restaurant. So that whole like audio visual, hotel convention world, and banquet world, is familiar to us. Our chef has worked in in large scale hotels, doing banquets for as many as 500, so we all kind of understand what goes into a successful event. And so, for planners, I always want to, I just want to co-create with a with a planner, because sometimes planners will come in and they have a very specific thing that they want to do, but it’s not really going to work in our space. So often it will, but sometimes it won’t. And I’d like to have a collaborative,
EP Yeah.
SB Sort of process, so that they get the best out of us and and like I was talking to Jenny, you know, we make planners look good because we know what’s successful in our space.
SR Mm, mhm.
EP Right.
SR Yeah. It’s interesting that you say, you know, like, a restaurant space is different than a hotel or convention center. Would you talk a little bit more about like, what distinguishes an event from like, being held in a convention space or a meeting room in a hotel, when you move that meeting to a fine dining setting?
SB Yeah.
SR How do you think it elevates the event?
SB Well, I think for us, and you know, when I, our food’s really great, and sometimes the food is like fine dining, I just want to sort of make a slight distinction of we don’t consider, we don’t call ourselves fine dining.
SR Mhm, okay.
EP Okay.
SB I’m not saying the food isn’t fine dining quality, just sometimes that can be a little off putting or, to folks. or like it feels too fussy,
SR Right, the approachability aspect.
SB Maybe that’s just splitting hairs. But I think, just to go back to your question of what makes it different is that, you know, we’ve curated an experience that that feels local, that feels appropriate for like Oakland. We’re not, we’re not trying to sort of be something that we’re not. So what somebody gets with us is, you know, all the furnishings here, we picked out every single item in the restaurant. And so with that, comes a kind of a hominess, a personalized feeling.
EP Since you guys are based in Oakland, and I’m curious, since Oakland did, when, like, got the top spot for the most like, what was it the greatest food in all the country, situation? How?
SR Top foodie city?
EP Yeah, that. Top foodie city. Yeah.
EP So because of that, like, what makes you guys, like stand out in that respect? Like, Oakland’s like, has a lot of options. So like, for people who, like, you know, either if they’re just like, you know, gonna eat out with their with their family, or go out with their worker, workers or friends or events whatnot, like, what makes you guys stand out that they should definitely like, you know, at least try once and see how it is?
SB You know, part of I think what was interesting about our cuisine, sometimes, I call it modern comfort food, is that, you know, sometimes comfort food is just like, based on, like, American staples, like mac and cheese, or potatoes.
SR That’s immediately what came to mind when you said comfort food. I was like, mac and cheese.
[laughter]
SB We’ll sometimes go there. We’re sort of interested in stretching the envelope a little bit like we have this, like, really amazing pricing to say, as a comfort food like this vegan risotto, that’s just awesome. With sunchokes and non-vegan, meat eaters really enjoy it. There’s a ton of great restaurants in Oakland, like all kinds of great, appetizing food, but we try to just keep it interesting, and we change up the menu every three months. We source everything local. Make sure it’s fresh. All our fish is sourced with a sustainable provider that does line and hook catches, and so we’re just kind of very particular about who our providers are, and we’re just really trying to put the best product we can out, which is, you know, challenging to do that at prices that people, you know, are comfortable with.
EP Yeah.
SR Yeah, definitely.
SB We have the same inflation as everybody else.
EP Yeah. Since you’ve been doing this for so long, is there something that you guys have learned about hosting events at your venue, that has helped you, kind of, like, you know, adjust to like, a the fact that, you know, we were locked down for like, two years and or anything that like, definitely, like, helped you, you know, look at the future and be like, you know, we should look at X, Y or Z?
SB Maybe the takeaway, like, the answer to your question is to really focus on what we do. Well, there’s a lot of different things that we can do. Like, during the pandemic, we made these, like, really amazing cocktail kits.
EP Mm.
SR That’s fun.
SB Which are, you know, a beautiful branded Bardo box that you open, and all these little bottles with like labels with our Bardo brand. And we put together, like a little recipe book for it that, you know, looks like it came straight out of the mid-century, but we did all the production. One of our managers did all the design for it.
SR Cool.
SB And it’s really an amazing piece of work. And they, I have to give the credit to the staff, really, for doing that. And maybe we could do a lot more of that, but I think it’s an example of something that we we could do a lot of things well, but we really want to focus on our restaurant offerings, and not go too far off the track
SR Totally.
SB Of trying to be something for everybody, or, you know, broaden our our offering too much, or try to be something for everybody.
SR So when it comes to working with meeting planners, as if a meeting planner were to come to you, and it’s like, well, I want to host my event with you. What information or cooperation, kinds of things do you need from them in order to offer the best event experience? You know, like, how, how can they best work with you to make sure that they are getting what they’re hoping for?
SB Well, you know, aside from the basics of like, guest count and budget and like, you know how they want their, you know, the flow of their event I think, you know, it’s important that they’re kind of keyed into their client. Because I often, sometimes it’s, you know, the event planner is the stakeholder, but who’s, who’s paying for it, and what do they want? And you know, a lot of event planners know that, and they’re coming in with that information. You know, it’s helpful if, if they might have an idea of sort of dietary preferences. That’s one thing, I think. Also, like, maybe, we all know clients like this, you know, what level of, how demanding is the client? You know, how, how sort of persnickety and discriminating are they? You know, like some corporate clients, they want it one way for a certain amount of time, and then they change their mind at the end. And event planners really have to work with that, you know, we want to know that when we’re working with an event planner, that when, you know, we come to sort of an agreement, that we’re not having too much back and forth, you know, Oh, can we change this? Can we change the menu at the last minute? That kind of stuff. I think, we want event planners to trust us to do a good job. And I think sometimes event planners feel like they have to bring all the value that they’re the curator, and often they are different kind of environment. You know, if they have to create something out of nothing, they don’t have the space, they don’t have the catering, they don’t have the bar program. They do have to really create something. But I think when you come to us, it’s mostly done, and you just have to know the basics. And we try to make it easy. Like I said, I want to have a relationship with the planner.
SR So we always sort of end off with each of our guests by asking them our trademark question, so what’s in your toolbox? And essentially that means, you know, what is something in your experience, your current work, your past work that you have? Like a hot tip that you’ve learned, that sort of has propelled you forward or brought about your success, that you think listeners might want to put in their own toolboxes?
SB I think it’s really important to know to be very clear about, I mean, for me, I would say, is to be very clear about being honest about what you don’t know and, and what the reason why I think that’s so important, you know, I know a little bit about certain things and some things, more than others, but when, if I don’t know something, I know there’s somebody else who does know that, and, and I think it’s important to not, I don’t have to be the one to be sort of like the best at everything at the end of the day.
EP Mm.
SB And I think especially working like in groups, event planning, a restaurant certainly. I mean, honestly, when we came in and bought this restaurant, we didn’t know anything about the restaurant business, very little. And it was really important for us to identify people who did know, and trust those people, and be able to delegate responsibility to them. And so, I think that’s served me, and us well, so that I’m fine to say I don’t know, but let me see who I who I can find who does know. And I think that’s a little bit also how we run our business is, I don’t try to make all the decisions about, you know what the service model should be. Our servers know. Our event managers know. Our floor managers know. They know how it should be. They know what the turnaround time should be. They know what, what works best for guests in a service model. And so, I really let them make those choices as much as possible. You know, I might have my little things, but.
EP Well, thank you, Seth, this was, this was a great convo. I hope our listeners really appreciate all that you said. And hopefully for anyone living in the Bay, near a bay, or Oakland, please check him out. I’m sure it’s amazing.
SR Yeah, truly.
EP And I can’t wait, to one day visit, and try some myself.
SB I hope, I hope so.
[radio tuning sound]
EP Well, Sara, I’m hungry, but,
SR I am too.
[laughter]
EP Unfortunately, everything must come to an end.
SR Yeah, everything must come to an end so that we can go have lunch.
[laughter]
EP And they, the food will not be as good as the food that’s been talked about today. Unfortunately, I can, I can confidently say I have a sad salad in our in our collective eating space right now.
SR Oh my gosh.
[laughter]
SR Yeah, I will say that as we were, you know, going through recording these episodes over the course of a couple of days, I did start going home from work after, you know, like commuting to work, working in the office, commuting back home, and I cooked. I actually cooked. I’m really proud of myself for that, because I found it really hard to do. So if you’re an in-office worker and a commuter, you know!
EP Time is precious. Very precious.
SR Yeah, yeah, but going home and cooking was just so fun. And I just kind of like, hearing these people talk about their love for food and serving people and feeding people inspired me. So, thank you
EP Aw! Chef Sara!
SR Colleen. Thank you
EP Little Chef Sara.
SR Thank you, Colleen and Mark and Seth.
EP Podcasting chef.
SR Oh my gosh.
EP Watch out. Watch out, culinary world.
[laughter]
SR I’m gonna, I’m gonna go with home chef.
EP You can be on what’s that show where it’s like home chefs?
SR Oh my gosh, Master Chef.
EP Yeah.
SR I grew up watching it.
EP I feel like everyone has.
SR I love that show. Oh my gosh.
EP that’s a whole other podcast episode.
SR Oh my gosh. Yes, definitely.
EP But yeah, we hope, definitely you guys, you know that. We hope this episode provided you some really awesome things to think about or explore, if you’re thinking about partnering with a restaurant in your area that kind of has this, has this level of like, yeah, we got this.
SR Yeah. It really, it comes back to this one thing that Colleen said that I haven’t forgotten. It’s like it so there are like, certain things that humans need to survive. That’s food, water, shelter and connection. And there are very, very few industries that provide all of that the moment you walk through their door, Feeding people does. I think events do, too. And I think that that was really astute and meaningful. So just remember that the work that you do is so important. And I, these people in the culinary industry, they share your passion.
EP Yes, don’t be hangry.
SR On that note!
EP On that note. I’m clearly still hungry. On that note, thank you again for joining us on this, on our second episode of the year. I’m not, I’m sorry. Second?
SR Yes, second.
EP I don’t even know what month it is. Second.
SR Season two, episode two.
EP Season two, Episode two!
SR Woohoo!
EP P.S., thank you guys for coming. We have a lot more coming for y’all, and we’re really excited for what we’re about to bring up next. So, stay tuned and subscribe and check out smartmeetings.com. For any other content that we have. We have plenty, we have content coming out of our ears.
SR Oh, so much content.
EP So much content coming.
SR But for now, we will see you later, and you belong here.
EP Adios.
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You’ve been listening to Smart Start Radio, a Smart Meetings Production. Interested in being our next guest? Connect with us at editor@smartmeetings.com.
This article appears in the January/February 2025 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
