"It is the restaurant that brought vegetarian cuisine out from sprout-infested health food stores and established it as a cuisine in America."

- The New York Times, 2007

CELEBRATING VEGETABLES

The opening of Greens Restaurant on San Francisco Bay in 1979 forever changed the image and appreciation of vegetarian cooking in America. Known for a distinctive culinary style of celebrating vegetables, Greens produces ever-changing menus that are dedicated to the seasonal harvests of local farmers and the organic gardens of its farm, Green Gulch. 

With a panorama view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, and the Marina sea life, Greens Restaurant is a lively scene in a spacious warehouse where grand windows stretch floor-to-ceiling in the dining room. The restaurant, and private dining room, is adorned by colorful skies and the majestic changing scenes and sunset of the Pacific Ocean. 

Originally opened as a part of the San Francisco Zen Center and inspired by the food and service offered at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the restaurant provided an opportunity for Zen students to extend their Buddhist practice into a workplace setting. For many years the only employees at Greens were Zen students. In the corner of the kitchen, on a spice shelf, sits a small altar to Chenrezig, the Buddha of compassion, where it has remained lit since opening day.

Executive Chef Katie Reicher of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco posing in the main dining room before a chef collaboration dinner with Crystal Wahpepah

EXECUTIVE CHEF KATIE REICHER

Originally from New York, Katie Reicher was introduced to Greens as part of an externship program through the Culinary Institute of America.  Upon graduating, she returned to Greens to work full time.  Within a few years, she swiftly rose through the ranks to become Executive Chef — A promotion that took place in the heart of the pandemic.

Chef Katie continues the restaurant’s legacy of “celebrating vegetables,” while moving the art of vegetarian cuisine to the next level with new and exciting globally-inspired dishes.  She celebrates local farmers and makers first, rotating half of her menu every month to deliver the freshest, most seasonal food possible.  Chef Katie believes that there is no limit to the potential of cooking vegetables.

This culinary vision is further enhanced through the creation of her Guest Chef Series, a revolving program welcoming outstanding local-area chefs to participate in collaborative 4-course dinners, bringing their unique culinary perspectives to the art of vegetarian dining.  The Guest Chef Series will continue in 2024 with an incredible line up of Bay Area chefs.

Beverage Director Seth Corr of Greens Restaurant pouring a cocktail for his seasonal menus, which includes wine, cocktails, sodas, teas, juices, and non-alcoholic beverages

BEVERAGE DIRECTOR SETH CORR

The beverage program at Greens is a vital extension of the restaurant’s animating philosophy: a celebration of the agricultural bounty that the San Francisco Bay Area is blessed with.  Since becoming Beverage Director in 2022, Seth Corr has shaped a program that celebrates the farmers and the artisans — winemakers, distillers, brewers, and the culinary team — who treat each ingredient with reverence.

Having previously served as beverage director of Mister Jiu’s and a sommelier in other prestigious Bay Area restaurants such as A16, Seth’s wine list, spirit selections, and the non-alcoholic beverages developed under his direction focus on the integrity and care imbued in their creation, ensuring that each glass conveys a story of craftsmanship and passion.

Central to the creation of the Greens beverage program is Seth’s belief that the process always begins by delving deeper into the cultivation and farming practices.  Beginning with ethically-sourced core agricultural products, the program celebrates the hands that nurture them.  Every element of the beverage program at Greens is designed with the peak of the season’s bounty in mind, with the aim to create drinks that maintain the integrity of the ingredients.

  • Founding chef of Greens, Deborah Madison, a Zen student of eighteen years, and now one of America’s leading authorities on vegetables, opened Greens Restaurant with a commitment to ensure that every guest in the dining room would not miss eating meat. She creatively introduced unknown, at the time, varieties of vegetables on the menu: fingerling potatoes, golden beets, and even arugula.

    After working in the kitchen as the head cook at Tassajara, Annie Somerville headed to Greens in 1981, trained with Madison, and became the Executive Chef three years later. During her early days at Greens, students would meditate and receive their daily work assignments at the altar. Revered for her relationships with organic farmers and local purveyors, and her commitment to sustainable practices, Somerville was at the forefront of the farm-to-table movement and an advocate for the local farmers markets. Under her guidance, Greens Restaurant became a culinary landmark and one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world.

    Denise St. Onge was hired as Chef de Cuisine in 2018 and later promoted to Executive Chef, leading the kitchen through its 40th Anniversary. Upon her departure in 2020, Katie Reicher, who joined Greens in 2015, is now the Executive Chef.

  • Constructed by master craftsman Paul Discoe of Joinery Structures and San Francisco Zen Center Carpenters, Greens is a work of art.

    The restaurant incorporates twelve varieties of wood, from the massive black walnut entry doors, the hickory stairs, and the curved bar featuring Port-Orford cedar, to the dining tables of maple, walnut, and cherry wood. All construction was performed using Japanese joinery technique, without nails.

    Many of the paintings lining the walls of the dining room are by renowned Bay Area artist Willard Dixon and Buddhist teacher Mayumi Oda, while a magnificent redwood sculpture by Inverness artist J.B. Blunk acts as a stunning centerpiece.