Gialina Restaurant

Gialina is a small family restaurant in San Francisco's Glen Park, a charming older neighborhood with a village atmosphere. Glen Park has enjoyed a revival in recent years as new residents eager to invest in renewing the community have settled there. Gialina occupies a two-story, historic mixed-use building located on a corner site one block from the busy Glen Park BART transit station.

The restaurant's owner, an award-winning chef, approached the design team to help her transform an old takeout restaurant into an inviting, upscale eatery whose warm, casual interior would attract passersby while reflecting her passion for Italian food and wine. Working within a limited budget, the design team restored the building's storefront, and simplified the volume by removing all existing interior partitions and casework.

Large expanses of glass on the front face and at the corner give passersby a tantalizing glimpse of Gialina's bustling interior. Nearly half of the restaurant's tiny 13' x 55' space is devoted to food preparation; the remaining space accommodates 35 diners. A long banquette paneled with quarter-sawn white oak extends along one wall, accentuating the linear 'shoe box' volume. A low seating counter that separates the kitchen from the dining area offers patrons a view of activity in the open kitchen. The counter and dining tables, also made of quarter-sawn white oak, contrast with the dark, stained wood chairs.

Walls are painted a deep wine-red to add warmth, and cork flooring improves acoustics in the busy dining area. In a playful gesture, frameless, poster-size black-and-white photographs of the owner's Italian relatives adorn the walls, recalling the vital influence of family heritage on her cuisine.