A huge food and drink project is opening at San Francisco’s picturesque Presidio Tunnel Tops in 2025. The Mess Hall at the Presidio is a multi-hyphenate space that will house, yes, a food hall, but also an all-day cafe, plus a bar serving cocktails, beer, and wine. It’s the last piece of the food and beverage puzzle for the newish park that opened in July 2022, which is already home to Italian cafe Il Parco and food truck pop-ups.

The new Tunnel Top food hall comes from the Mess Hall Group, which have ties to another food hall in Southern California, Mess Hall Market OC in Tustin that opened in 2019. The plan for the San Francisco food hall is to offer both made-to-order foods and grab-and-go options to take into the park. A provisions market will also have some local and imported goods to round out food options while visiting the Tunnel Tops.

While no businesses were yet announced as part of the food hall at 201 Halleck Street, the cafe and bar already have some known industry names behind them. Chef Peter Serpico is leading the development of Mess Hall’s various food concepts, a spokesperson shares. Serpico is known for working his way through the kitchens of the Momofuku restaurant empire, landing as head chef at Momofuku Ko, and earning a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2009. He eventually became director of culinary operations for the Momofuku group before departing for Philadelphia, where he opened his acclaimed namesake restaurant Serpico in 2013. He’s also the cookbook author of Learning Korean, which was published in 2022.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles bar owner Zach Negin will develop the drinks at the Mess Hall’s upcoming bar. Negin owns Tabula Rasa Bar and Shop and the Silverlake Lounge and is also a partner in San Francisco corner store Dolores Deluxe. He’ll work on a menu of cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks, as well as curating a list of craft beers and wines for the space.

The Mess Hall at the Presidio (201 Halleck Street) is expected to open in 2025.

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Nate Israel

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