After Less Than a Year, Maybeck’s Has Served Its Final Meals in the Marina

It’s been about eight months since Maybeck’s made its debut on the corner of Lombard and Scott streets, a joint project from chef-owner Aaron Toensing and Lori Baker and Jeffrey Banker, the couple known for their once-beloved restaurant Baker and Banker. Now comes the sad news the restaurant has already served its final meals.

According to the owners, the restaurant’s last service was Saturday, March 18. “It is with great sadness that we announce the closing of Maybeck’s as of Monday, March 20,” reads a statement provided to Eater SF on behalf of all three owners. “We want to thank our loyal team and staff, guests of the restaurant, investors, and partners for your support over the last year. Unfortunately, we found keeping Maybeck’s open in the current economy was no longer sustainable.”

The restaurant first opened in the Marina back in 2015 but Toensing brought on his longtime friends to help give the restaurant a dramatic update for the post-2020 world. Together the trio aimed to turn Maybeck’s, formerly a cozy neighborhood staple popular for its Wednesday night beef Wellington special, into a true dining destination. To that end, the restaurant got a handsome renovation that saw the dining room washed in a deep blue and forest green color palette and a four-seat crudo bar installed against one wall.

The menu, meanwhile, saw a focus on “lighter fare and less meat,” the owners told Eater SF in June 2022. They added elegant plates including a preserved tangerine hamachi crudo, mackerel escabeche, and an abalone and Koshihikari rice porridge — far more upscale fare than is common in the neighborhood. One major draw: Lori Baker’s decadent desserts, which were well-loved at both Baker and Banker and Bluestem Brasserie, where she’d worked most recently.

The team planned to open a bottle shop inside the restaurant down the line, though those plans never came to fruition. It’s been a difficult few weeks for restaurant closures in the Bay Area. Last week, chef Paul Canales announced the closure of his French restaurant Occitania in Oakland, which also opened in June last year along with Maybeck’s. Also in the East Bay, chef Nigel Jones shut down service at his popular Jamaican restaurant Kingston 11, ending a 10-year run due to staffing issues.

If you’re looking for a silver lining, however, the owners seem open to bringing Mayback’s back in some capacity. “We hope to see a new form of the restaurant at some point in the future,” the owners’ joint statement concludes.