Michael Tusk. Credit: Øivind Haug

Michael Tusk’s San Francisco, Served Three Ways

8 Minute read

26 Jan 2026

Flora Tsapovsky

Journalist

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From Quince to Cotogna to Verjus, Michael Tusk reflects on building restaurants rooted in hospitality, community, and the pleasure of return.

You do not need to know much about Michael Tusk to recognize the connective tissue running through his restaurants. From the timeless Cotogna to the recently renovated, three MICHELIN starred Quince and the distinctly French, in-demand Verjus, the throughline is consistent. Each space is welcoming yet elevated, thoughtfully designed without feeling inaccessible, and centered on food that invites repeat visits rather than reverence from a distance.

Tusk’s restaurant group, much like fellow San Francisco institution Foreign Cinema, is not powered by him alone. He works in close partnership with his wife, Lindsay Tusk, with the two sharing responsibility for the restaurants’ overall direction and decision making. As he begins to plan the group’s next move, a forthcoming gelateria, Tusk is also in a moment of reflection, looking back on the couple’s San Francisco journey so far.

“Lindsay often says that the best compliment she’s ever received is that our restaurants have made San Francisco better,” Tusk says. “I hope that we’re part of the fabric of the city, and that we can take care of people on a regular Tuesday night, a business lunch, or on a special occasion.”

When Quince, the couple’s first restaurant, opened in Lower Pacific Heights in 2003 with just 35 seats, it quickly became a neighborhood staple. After relocating years later to a larger Jackson Square location, it evolved into a definitive special-occasion destination. Cotogna, which opened in 2010, remains one of the city’s most sought-after lunch reservations. Verjus, meanwhile, has become a go-to for date nights and celebratory gatherings, rounding out Tusk’s vision of serving San Francisco diners across moods and moments.

After earning its third MICHELIN star in 2017, Quince, known for a menu that draws from French, Italian, Japanese, and Californian traditions, underwent a long-overdue renovation, emerging even more refined and romantic. “The inspiration for Quince’s next chapter was the natural beauty of Northern California,” Tusk says, noting that the pandemic reshaped how he thinks about fine dining. “It was an inflection point,” he recalls.

When the Tusks were forced to close their restaurants, they had to flex their creativity to continue feeding people and supporting their team. That period led them to Bolinas, where they staged a temporary pop-up at their Fresh Run Farm, “serving meals under tents in the middle of fields of haricot verts and shelling beans.”

Seeing how guests responded to dining on the farm clarified what Tusk wanted to bring back to San Francisco. “I knew I wanted to bring some of that casual and comfortable feeling back to the city,” he says. That sensibility shaped the reimagined return of Verjus. “We wanted it to be more relaxed. We removed tablecloths, used natural woods, and collaborated with small artisan producers, from cheesemakers and fishmongers to knifemakers.”

After decades on the local dining scene, Tusk points to a structural advantage behind the group’s longevity. “If we have a secret sauce, it’s the way that the three restaurants in close physical proximity create a community for both guests and team members,” he says. “We’re able to move team members from Cotogna to Verjus to Quince, and it becomes a pipeline for growth and learning.”

As for his role in the culinary world, Tusk sees himself first as an educator. “Primarily as a teacher. Quite a few chefs have worked for me before opening their own restaurants,” he says. He remains a student as well. When traveling, he often asks to sit near the kitchen, studying how it is organized. When walking through a new city and spotting an open kitchen door, he will still stop to look inside.

Being a long-standing presence does not mean Tusk is done pushing his own boundaries. The group’s next project is a daytime café and gelateria, developed in partnership with Jennifer Felton, who led the pastry program at Cotogna for nearly a decade and trained at Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna. “At the gelato shop, she’ll serve sixteen seasonal flavors hidden neatly underneath silver cloches in a pozzetti case,” Tusk says.

The concept reflects lessons learned during the pandemic, particularly time spent cooking on the farm, and a broader embrace of simplicity. It is also a savvy evolution. As more San Francisco chefs introduce approachable, daytime-driven projects, Tusk is doing the same. His restaurants may sit close together, but his thinking continues to stretch outward.

The Chef

Michael Tusk is an acclaimed American chef known for his refined, ingredient-driven cuisine emphasizing seasonal, locally sourced produce. He is the owner and Executive Chef of Quince, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in San Francisco, and its sister restaurant, Cotogna. Tusk is a passionate devotee of Italian cuisine but has formal culinary training in French techniques. He is a chef who operates at the very pinnacle of American fine dining, but with his feet firmly grounded in the farm-to-table movement.

26 Jan 2026

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