U: Dessert Story, a sister eating place to brunch favored by Kitchen Story, is increasing to the Marina. The dessert cafe’s sequel opens at 2120 Greenwich Street this Saturday, with Japanese brunch and more Korean, Japanese, and Thai-stimulated desserts that have made U: Dessert Story a hit in its first 12 months of enterprise at 3489 Street.
Tammy Boonlieng opened U: Dessert Story after six years at Kitchen Story, which is part of a small empire of SF brunch restaurants, along with Sweet Maple, regarded for their “millionaire’s bacon” dish and resulting strains. While Boonlieng loves brunch, she’s also got a candy spot for dessert and saw a demand for a dessert cafe. “I love the Asian desserts and Japanese, Korean, and Thai subcultures,” says Boonlieng. Her go-to at U: Dessert Story is bingsoo, Korean shaved ice.
By night, the brand new U: Dessert Story will serve extra goodies like matcha lava desserts. However, the Marina’s daytime focus will be Japanese brunch. Look out for objects like omurice, an oozing Japanese egg omelette certain to become an Instagram sensation. “We reduce it, and it’s bursting in front of customers—the equal revelry that someone gets when they go to Japan,” says Boonlieng.
U: Dessert Story’s new 2120 Greenwich Street has been quiet since January, but it did a bustling brunch business as Diane’s Bloody Mary Bar earlier than that. That undertaking changed into one in a string of experiments that examined Michael Mina’s organization at Test Kitchen. The Mina Group owns the construction, but it rents the gap even as it searches for a larger test kitchen home.
“MINA Test Kitchen has been particularly a hit and has allowed our team the potential to check many exclusive standards over the last few years,” a representative for the Mina Group instructed Eater SF. We’ve found out loads, being able to tweak recipes and assume through complete principles to encompass wine, beer, cocktail menus, or even what décor works nicely with the concepts.” Those concepts covered several that discovered permanent houses, like International Smoke with Ayesha Curry.
For the brand new U : Dessert Story, “A lot of people may think the more Asian spots might be better,” says Boonlieng, referring to the Richmond and Sunset Districts. But the Marina appealed in component because it’d permit her business to tap into a brand new consumer base for her desserts: Non-Asians. “I need to teach them how to play with and get to recognize our Asian cakes and our cultures greater.” To engage clients, U: Dessert Story encourages them to choose their sweetness levels and personalize their orders. “I call it ‘U’ as it’s yours, the patron’s,” Boonlieng says.
