Another Downtown San Francisco Restaurant Is Closing — This One After More Than a Decade in Service

Bluestem Restaurant and Market will serve its last rooftop cocktails and roasted chickens on December 24. Owners Adam and Stacy Jed are closing the restaurant permanently after more than a decade. No details were given at the time of announcement as to why the business is closing. Instead, the owners wrote in a statement that they are thankful for the chance to host so many customers over the years. “We are so grateful,” the couple wrote. “Love you. Mean it.”

Bluestem temporarily closed during the pandemic from March 2020 to November 2021, reopening just in time for the holidays last year. That’s when the owners changed the name from Bluestem Brasserie to Bluestem Restaurant & Market, adding a retail market to the business mix. At the time, the owners said they’d stayed closed given the somewhat difficult-to-access location at One Yerba Buena Lane at Market Street, along with fewer downtown workers and tourists. But in 2021, the Jeds said they saw a “turning point” in the pandemic with the increase in conferences and holiday shoppers. The business was always a downtown go-to for seasonal drinks and treats, plus its open-air patio above Market Street.

Downtown San Francisco has been slow to recover from the impact of the pandemic with other much-loved restaurants bowing out of the scene. ZeroZero, a titan of pizza since 2010, closed in November. And even though the downtown power lunch is slowly on the rise once again with new restaurants like Bar Sprezzatura poised to grab workers on their way home, office vacancies remain low throughout the city.