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Dining at Bon Marche on Market Street in S.F.

The Market Street entrance of Bon Marche is lined with flowers stuffed into galvanized aluminum pots. Low shelves overlooking the 100-seat dining room hold stacks of vases, a roll of brown paper, shears and watering cans.

A flower shop in a restaurant is a novel idea, and Bon Marche is no ordinary restaurant — just like American Girl is no ordinary doll shop. Walking along Market, pedestrians can see brew tanks and a cocktail bar. On two sides large windows overlook the impressive lobby of Market Square, better known as the Twitter Building. It feels slightly disorienting; it could be Las Vegas, Reno or a signature restaurant in an upscale mall.

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Owners Matt Semmelhack and Mark Liberman, who brought us AQ and TBD, are behind this ambitious project — which probably seemed right as a concept, but didn’t translate successfully to the physical space. It’s one of the most discombobulated designs I’ve encountered because some elements in the dining room feel random and offer no sense of place.

Though the interior is supposed to replicate a Parisian alleyway, the rolltop desk and wood tables at the entrance look more early American than French and could easily have come from Hoot Judkins. The floors alternate raw concrete, tile and wood, and the open ceiling is hung with what looks like upside-down street lights. Shiny brass sconces look like they were picked up at Home Depot.

More importantly, the seating is uncomfortable. The tables are too far from the blue-tufted banquettes, making it practically impossible to sit back, so diners have to perch like birds on a tight rope. The other seating options are the Eames-inspired chairs upholstered in a patchwork that looks like it came off the back of a Ringling Brothers clown. Parisian gnocchi at Bon Marche on Market Street in S.F.

A glowing yellow-and-white striped awning frames the open kitchen like lace on the bottom of a dress. Those garish awnings, which look like they should define an entrance to a carnival rather than an upscale restaurant, beg a simple question: Can good food come from this kitchen?


The three thick slices of still-pink leg of lamb on braised celery with thin slices of grilled squash evoke thoughts of a Parisian brasserie, as do the escargot ($15) spooned over a square of puff pastry with buttery herb sauce; veal sweetbreads ($18) in a thick Madeira sauce; an excellent French onion soup ($9); and, of course, the ever-present steak frites ($29).

It’s too bad the interior is so distracting because Bon Marche is a serious endeavor. The owners make beer, craft seasonal cocktails — although some are not that well-balanced — and update French classics with a lighter California touch.

At Bon Marche, there’s something for everyone, whether it’s the 26-year-old tech worker, the 50-year-old executive or a family taking their 80-year-old mother to a performance at the Opera.

The sprawling, brasserie-style menu from chef Matt Sieger spurns the current Bay Area restaurant trend of offering fewer items.

Dishes are grouped by categories under nearly a dozen headings like Charcuterie ($6) and Salad ($11), or Entrées ($15) and Plates de Resistance ($29). The kitchen under a colorful awning at Bon Marche on Market Street in S.F.

In the Petite Bites section of the menu, the brandade ($7) — which can often be overpowered by fishy salt cod — is mild and creamy, smoothed with mashed potatoes. Fluffy, seared Parisian gnocchi ($15) evoke the California sensibility, tossed with squash and blossoms. Watercress soup ($9) is fresh, cooled with tangy creme fraiche, topped with pearls of salty smoked trout roe.

Sieger, who previously worked at Café des Amis, produces a crisp-skin roast chicken ($21) partly boned and arranged over a generous pile of mushrooms, bacon, slices of fingerling potatoes and pearl onions. A generous portion of Mediterranean sea bass ($29) tops a bowl heaped with a tangle of peppers, cranberry beans and chorizo oil, another dish that highlights the talents in the kitchen.

Sieger does a particularly fine job on duck ($29), which he ages to intensify the flavor. The skin is crusted in peppercorns, dotted with preserved cherries and plated next to tender wax beans coated with fine dices of onions.

Diners can order some of the best dishes from the dinner menu at lunch, such as the French onion soup, but there’s also a selection of must-try sandwiches ($14) led by an open-faced tuna tartine with nicoise olives, tomato and a shower of sieved eggs. Braised lamb at Bon Marche on Market Street in S.F.

I felt like I could have been at Laduree in Paris when I cut into the rich, buttery crust of pastry chef Rikki Garcia’s blueberry tart ($10) filled with cool custard and sweet acidic blueberries. It didn’t need any other embellishment other than the dollop of lemon cream on the side. French beignets ($10) were so light they practically floated out of their paper cone. The airy texture captured the best of the accompanying lemon verbena dipping sauce. The clafouti ($10) didn’t fare as well, its tough skin tenaciously clinging to the bottom of the ramekin, tasting more like a dehydrated pudding.

Bon Marche’s over-the-top Paris kitsch can’t hide...


These days I’m beginning to experience the effects of staff shortages that are increasingly plaguing new restaurants. At Bon Marche, service is inconsistent, with some servers lacking the experience that used to be standard in top-flight restaurants, which is what Bon Marche is trying to be.

Soon after being seated, our enthusiastic waiter tried to sell us a glass of Nebbiolo, saying they had just opened a bottle and had two glasses left. Later, after we had finished cocktails, he brought the wine list and let us know he still had one glass of Nebbiolo if we wanted to nab it. French beignets are lighter than air at Bon Marche on Market Street in S.F.

The bottle list is extensive but by-the-glass offerings seem expensive with many in the $15-$16 range; most cocktails are $12 and there’s also a good selection of beer. From start to finish service was well intentioned but a bit tone deaf, although the support crew who cleared tables and filled water glasses kept the pace moving.

However, the service is not nearly as distracting as the physical surroundings, which diminish the impact of the often-excellent food and renders the experience less than the sum of its parts.

★ ★

Bon Marche

Food: ★ ★½


Atmosphere: ★½

Noise: Three Bells

1355 Market St. (at 9th Street), San Francisco

(415) 802-1700 or bonmarche-sf.com

Open continuously for lunch and dinner 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday and 4-11 p.m. Saturday. Full bar. 4% SF surcharge. Reservations and credit cards accepted. Difficult street parking; garage $16.

