Flashy Event Designer Opens High-End Tenderloin Market

For his most recent spectacle, extravagant San Francisco event designer Stanlee Gatti has really outdone himself: He’s opened a high-end grocery in the Tenderloin called Meraki Market, at 927 Post Street between Larkin and Hyde. After years in the planning stages, the store opened late last week, with every item, one assumes, carefully curated and every interaction tightly choreographed.

Gatti, who served as President of the San Francisco Arts Commission in the ‘90s and reportedly quarreled with opponents over his plans for a large sculpture of a foot on the Embarcadero, is known for planning major private events. He conducted Gavin Newsom’s wedding and orchestrated Kanye’s marriage proposal to Kim Kardashian at AT&T Park — Gatti met Mr. West, incidentally, while the two were dining at Cotogna.

Now, Gatti is in the grocery game, and bringing a level of drama and detail to his 1,000 square-foot market that his admirers have come to expect.

“The people of the Tenderloin finally have a place for French-cut pork chops, organic cantaloupe and caviar,” the Chronicle enthuses. Meraki sells wine from vintners like Scribe and Robert Sinskey, and has plans to expand its offerings to add items like house-made butter down the line.

Then there are some items listed on Meraki’s website that are either daily specials or odd food poetry. “Salt-cod soaked and adorned, until loose and silken, full of brine and sun” one description reads. Another says “All-butter shortcakes lashed with cream, corn pan-fried into golden submission and cut with lime, luminous plates of hard bread and soft cheese and good salt, iced bourbon alongside and a single ripe tomato to share.”

How much will two of those be?

Daily hours are 7 to 9 p.m.

• Stanlee Gatti opens upscale market in the Tenderloin [Chronicle]
• High-End 'Meraki Market' To Open In Tenderloin [Hoodline]
• Meraki SF [Official]
• Stanlee Gatti: Let's party with the best [SFGate]