Grand Lake Kitchen’s co-owner, May Seto Wasem, confirmed the feeling I had after a recent dinner at the restaurant’s new location in Noe Valley. “In the first seven days of being open, we’ve had people come in five times,” Wasem said.
The second I walked inside it felt as if GLK had always been there. Across the dining room from our cozy blue booth, a couple of kids, their parents and a grandmother celebrated a birthday. The mess they left behind looked like the Sex Pistols’ home away from home. Throughout the restaurant, everyone seemed perfectly at ease.
Comfort food is defined by what’s on a plate and confirmed by how a place makes you feel. Wasem runs the two East Bay locations of GLK and the new space in San Francisco with her husband, Dave. She told me the location, on the corner of 24th Street and Church, makes it feel like it’s always been part of the neighborhood.
“We try to be affordable and casual,” she said. “I mean, we sell pork sandwiches, right? It’s not super fancy.” It’s also not, not fancy. The pork sandwich is made with a slow-roasted porchetta, broccoli rabe pesto, pickled fennel, fontina cheese and a calabrian chile aioli on an Acme roll.
Not since Chow closed, in the East Bay and in San Francisco, has a viable upscale diner expanded in its place. With three locations, GLK is now poised to do so. The Wasems developed each of the menus together though the same or similar dishes do show up across all three. GLK Lake Merritt started out as a deli with a countertop and a few tables. But they almost immediately outgrew it. “And then we expanded, which was probably the most difficult opening I’ve ever done,” she said.
Expanding is worse than opening, Wasem said, because the regulars’ expectations are confounded by the changes and by the arrival of new customers. “But we were so grateful to add a full bar and a lot more seating,” she said. GLK Lake Merritt also has a private dining room upstairs that overlooks the mezzanine. “It’s so much fun, and that little restaurant is a beast,” she added.
About five years after opening GLK Lake Merritt, the Wasems began to look for another location. Many of their regulars had moved to the Dimond District in search of bigger homes to start families. At the time the couple lived nearby in Maxwell Park. The Dimond location, at almost 6,000 square feet, is an entirely different operation.
“When it’s busy, it’s really busy,” Wasem said. “When it’s slow, it’s very slow.” Only now, in its seventh year, is that restaurant profitable. It also serves as a catering hub for off-site events. And, during the pandemic and for a few years after, they made Detroit-style pizza as an internal “pop-up.”
When an East Bay real estate agent who’d eaten at GLK reached out about Noe Valley, the Wasems were passively thinking about opening a third location. People had suggested Lafayette and Walnut Creek. But when they did the walkthrough in the city, they decided the opportunity was “too good to pass up.”
At our table of four, we shared most of the dishes. The starters included reuben fries made with pastrami and sauerkraut ($17), grilled asparagus ($12) and, my favorite, fried green tomatoes ($13). All of them were hits. We also ordered the Americana-style burger ($20), chicken breast with mashed potatoes and carrots ($28), and a bowl of matzoh ball soup adorned with a big sprig of dill ($12).
When I asked Wasem to categorize the cuisine at GLK, she said she struggles to define it. “It’s comfort and classics—I wouldn’t call it anything more than that,” she said, adding: nostalgic, tasty, satisfying food. “I hope it’s consistent and, people say, craveable.” Equally as important is the feeling the Wasems have captured. “It’s what we find ourselves really attracted to when we go out to eat,” she said. When I told her Noe Valley was packed when we ate there she replied, “I’m glad that there was energy and happiness and it was full and busy.”
Grand Lake Kitchen’s hours vary at each location. Oakland (Grand Lake and Dimond) and San Francisco (Noe Valley). grandlakekitchen.com
