Greens are good for you, and, as it turns out, for dining establishments. The color palette can soothe and engage your palate. Case in point: Variations on the verdant shade at new French restaurant JouJou, in the city by the fog.
The whimsical name for the spot in the San Francisco Design District means “toy,” or “plaything,” and SF native and designer Jon de la Cruz of De la Cruz Interior Design (DLC-ID) stole a few crayons from the box for his springboard here, tweaking beautiful greens not just for walls, ceilings, and floors, but also to dip rows of chairs in a nod to the iconic green steel chairs in the Jardin des Tuileries; to borrow from the coat of color on a British racing car; and to tap the historic oxidized patina on the Statue of Liberty. “Dark forest green and verdigris anchor our palette, and then we sprinkled in some pale pinks and purples as a counterpoint,” he notes.
“Green is a very successful color for interiors, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, where you have this foggy weather but also bright, beautiful light,” says de la Cruz. “I lean toward soft, warm, earthy choices like celadon and olive. They blend remarkably well with other colors without having to rely on beige or gray.”
Dinner theater: The affectionately nicknamed Rose Room at JouJou welcomes guests with dinner companions but was also designed so a party of one can feel at home with a book and a glass of wine. A private dining room awaits behind the rose-strewn curtains. Brass and textured glass chandelier from Hudson Valley Lighting.
The vintage rose curtains in one intimate dining room add a touch of Parisian cinema; the fabric is also used for staff aprons. “You can have your French affair in that sunken dining room,” the designer says. The tufted banquette beneath the curtains is covered in plush, wide corduroy velvet in Oleander green from Maharan, a company that made theatrical textiles for costumes and sets in the 1940s and pivoted to interiors in the 1960s. A row of domed green lamps adds allure to the long marble bar.
The checkerboard floor is inspired by the designer’s favorite restaurants in Paris, a place he first visited at age 23. “Being Asian American and growing up here, seeing Paris made me want to be a designer,” he said. “I was thirsty.”
The JouJou restaurateurs — executive chef and partner David Berzelay and managing partner Colleen Booth, who run the two Michelin-starred Lazy Bear — had a vision in mind. “They had mood boards. It was like the late seventies meets the sexy, languid lifestyle of the French Riviera and Cannes, coupled with the finesse and fun that their food and service are known for,” notes de la Cruz.
JouJou has wine cellars from small to large, even one that seats 10. You’ll find an oyster bar, a raw bar, seafood towers, cocktails like a Royal Sidecar, sole meunière and other classic French entrees, and desserts ranging from a cheese flight to tarte Tatin. The rooms are interconnected but can be closed off for private dining and to control the restaurant vibe and flow.
The designer, who attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco, has his own cherished restaurant memories. “From an early age, I was fascinated with Japanese restaurants. I loved the intentional way they served carefully prepared food in specific bowls and boxes. The effortless formality by design thrilled me. And people were wearing kimonos,” he says.
He also learned a lot about actual greens, as in vegetables. “I went to Chinatown and the Mission with my grandmother on Saturday mornings to buy produce from the markets. We never had MTV or cable, so when we got home, I spent the rest of the morning in front of the TV watching cooking shows on public television and helping prep huge colanders of vegetables for the week’s dinners.”
He knows his greens, and his greens.
Design by Jon de la Cruz at De la Cruz Interior Design.
Architecture by Heidi Liebes at Liebes Architects.
Photography by Douglas Friedman Photography.
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