San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
SOIREE CHRISTENS S.F.’S PIER 70
As the Golden State Warriors battle for their historic championship bid, a micro-city within San Francisco is rising around the team’s soon-to-open Chase Center arena in Mission Bay. But sorry, not sorry: I refuse to call that area by a silly, new name concocted from a marketing deal between Kaiser Permanente and the Warriors.
That city-building action is also in play just south of the above and blocks from the Dogpatch ’hood, where Orton Development recently unveiled a new rental space at Pier 70 within its 66-acre development that will include housing, offices, restaurants and waterfront parks.
And 750 revelers beelined to the old brick-clad Union Iron Works building (part of this former shipbuilding district, founded in 1885, that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places) for the Party on the Piazza — hosted by SF Travel and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, which recently elected Rodney Fong as its president-CEO.
Crowned by a 62-foot-high ceiling, the central 5,000square-foot atrium is framed by steel-beams and glass-walled offices that are home to Uber’s tech division and Gusto, a cloudbased HR and payroll company.
The Venetian-theme fete extended outside, too, atop a 10,000-square-foot piazza teeming with fruit-and-flower stands, Blueprint Studio lounges, arcade games and artists, such as San Franpsycho founder Christian Routzen, who was live-printing custom-designed Pier 70 T-shirts.
But the real thrill for this reporter, who eats many meals away from her kitchen table, was seeing the crack McCalls crew in action, manning bountiful cocktail buffets and bars. Founded in 1980 with exquisite mini-lamb chops by Dan McCall, McCalls now claims Pier 70 in its portfolio of exclusive event venues.
“Real estate in the city is so tight now, it’s getting hard to find large event spaces,” explained McCalls president and charmer-in-chief Lucas Schoemaker. “At Pier 70, we’ve got a one-stop shop where we can create numerous designs to accent our food and bar offerings.”
Hot wheels: A whopping $3.3 million was recently raised for Meals on Wheels during the 32nd Star Chefs & Vintners Gala at Fort Mason Pavilion. And 850 guests gleefully savored gourmet nibbles and superior sips provided by top toques and vintners.
The event was once again led by gala chef chairwoman Nancy Oakes (chef-owner of Boulevard and Prospect), who (again) persuaded 75 chefs to join her on their usual night off to create and cook multicourse meals assembled atop a legion of tables and makeshift stoves at the back of this gargantuan former ship shed.
Also supported by 100 volunteer servers, this huge undertaking was expertly organized by
Taste Catering President Margaret Teskey — and was a task actually easier than herding cats thanks to a strong bond of culinary camaraderie.
“Nancy and Piperade chef Gerald Hirigoyen traveled to Mexico to convince me to cook again,” laughed Montage Resort chef Xavier Salomon, formerly with the Half Moon Bay RitzCarlton. “There’s no saying ‘no’ to Nancy. And I haven’t, for the last 17 years.”
With a Greg Quiroga-led live auction of luxe culinary lots, the total raised (20 percent of Meals’ annual $15 million budget) provides more than 2 million nourishing meals to some 4,700 homebound seniors in every San Francisco ZIP code.
This summer, Meals breaks ground on its state-of-the-art, $41 million kitchen in the Bayview, where meal capacity will increase from 8,000 daily meals to 20,000. It’s planned opening in late 2020 coincides with Meals’ 50th anniversary.
But the organization also connects its clients to social services and nutrition education. And for seniors still cooking, there are grocery deliveries and daily safety checks. Too often, the Meals on Wheels rep is the only human contact an isolated senior may experience in a day.
“Our client base increases about 10 percent every year. Now we’re noticing younger seniors, in their 60s, coming to our program,” said Meals CEO Ashley McCumber. “Sixty-one percent of over-65 seniors here are struggling to make ends meet. And that’s not just food. Can you imagine trying to live on $1,000 a month in San Francisco?”
Grade A: At the recent Top Chefs Benefit Luncheon (led by chef Charles Phan) in the ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel benefiting Mission Dolores Academy, supporters always clamor for the excellent multicourse menus.
Yet the lunch’s heartwarming highlights are the kindergarten chorus and handwritten thankyou notes each guest receives from students of this K-8 school (co-founded by the Rev. Charles Gagan) that provides its lowincome students with an excellent education that propels them to top high schools.
The delighted crowd handily raised $1.08 million for academy programs and tuition assistance, a necessity for more than 80 percent of the student body.
Paul Recktenwald, the academy’s head of school, delivered a progress report on the school’s new mental health initiative and educational partnerships with such vaunted organizations as the San Francisco Opera, CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture), NatureBridge and Alonzo King Lines Ballet.
And this year, Sara Duryea, the powerhouse and academy board chairwoman who dreamed up the event, was honored for her A-plus efforts in raising the school’s profile and filling its coffers.
“Sara is the mistress of networking, with years of lending her skills to civic and private fundraisers,” toasted Gagan, “And I am deeply grateful to Sara for expertise in designing this event and her leadership as our board chair.”