Bare Bones will soft open on Taraval St. on October 29th, with a full opening slated for early November. | Source: Courtesy Bare Bones Rotisserie
“Do you want to buy a restaurant?” was the question that a friend put to Dan Levin a year ago. His immediate answer was no. The restaurant was Bearing West, a seafood spot on Taraval Street in the Sunset, and the friend was its owner, John Giuffre. But Levin couldn’t help but mull over the idea.
“I kept thinking about it, like, ‘OK, well, actually, I’ve been doing this for 30 years,’” he says. “It’s about time I got a brick-and-mortar.”
Levin joined forces with Danny Tasker, another friend from the food-and-beverage world, and chef Edwin Olson came on board shortly after. Their project, a counter-service rotisserie spot called Bare Bones (opens in new tab), will have a soft open on Oct. 29. A full opening is slated for early November.
Co-owner Dan Levin by the rotisserie at Bare Bones. | Source: Courtesy Bare Bones Rotisserie
Levin, Tasker, and Olson have decades of restaurant experience among them, but it was their kids, not their careers, that brought them together. All three had children at the same preschool. Tasker spent seven years as the lead bartender at Sunset Cantina, while Olson worked as a butcher at Real Foods Russian Hill. “Danny and I have always talked food, and chef Edwin has always basically done food,” Levin says.
Bare Bones’ menu isn’t exactly bare bones, but it’s slim — and meaty. Expect lots of whole and half chickens, along with sandwiches. And as crowd-pleasing as slowly rotating birds can be, it’s the porchetta — rolled into pinwheels and served over apple and shaved fennel — that may become the true standout. Olson starts with lots of herbs and an achiote paste. “Then he fries up the skin to get more of a crackling outside,” Levin says.
As with some of San Francisco’s more TikTok-ready rotisserie spots, aji plays a prominent role as a dip (the other options are ranch and barbecue sauce). The sandwiches, both chicken and pork, are finished with tomatoes, Parmesan, pickled red onions, arugula, aji verde, and a balsamic glaze, then wedged into an artisan roll.
Bare Bones’ apple-fennel salad topped with pistachios and dates. | Source: Courtesy Bare Bones Rotisserie
The plant-based crowd shouldn’t feel too wary. In addition to a rotating soup menu and an apple-fennel salad with toasted pistachios and dates, there’s a “no fish and chips” sandwich made from crispy beer-battered cauliflower, served with hand-cut fries and a house-made tartar sauce. For sides, think fried cauliflower bites, Brussels sprouts with honey, and mini cornbread muffins. Beer and wine will be available to start, but Levin and Tasker have applied for a full liquor license. “Fingers crossed,” Tasker says.
Prior to Bearing West, the space housed a number of other restaurants, including a Thai spot called Mango Tree. “We keep getting mail for about six different restaurants,” Levin says. Having traded the bright-white walls for a bolder, apricot-and-kelly-green paint job, the owners have retained one particularly striking feature: three wooden poles (opens in new tab), covered in many layers of pigment, that had been previously concealed by Bearing West’s nautical decor. Stare at them too closely and you might have an acid flashback.
“We stripped them back a bit, and just thought we’d leave them like that,” Tasker says. “We gave them a little bit of gloss and pop. They looked like big cat scratchers.”
Bare BonesDate and timeSoft opening Oct. 29
