"Knowing that Margulis was still in the kitchen each night at age 89, many in-the-know San Francisco food folk made pilgrimages back to Cafe Jacqueline in recent years, or made a point to get there if they hadn't been. The restaurant, first opened in 1979, has always served pretty much nothing but souffles it was reportedly the only souffle-focused restaurant in the US along with French onion soup, escargot, and a couple of salads. And that focus on the single, challenging craft of souffle-making, along with the Old World-feeling dining room on Grant Avenue, made this place a special destination with positively perfect, ethereal puffs of whisked eggs and flour coming out of the kitchen every night."
"I made a point to get there when the restaurant reopened that summer, and then rumors circulated this past fall that Margulis, nearing age 90, was considering finally retiring. She was still back there with her traditional chef's toque, long gray braid and protective eyeglasses, using a mixer now to whisk the egg whites as she has for many years but still finishing each souffle herself, by hand, in her big copper bowl, beside her big wooden bowl piled high with eggs."
Cafe Jacqueline closed permanently after serving its last night on December 20. Chef-owner Jacqueline Margulis, who worked in the kitchen into her late 80s, built the restaurant around souffles and a small French menu. The restaurant opened in 1979 and was known as a rare, souffle-focused dining destination with an Old World dining room on Grant Avenue. The restaurant closed during the pandemic, reopened in October 2021, briefly closed again in March 2024 after Margulis fell and broke her arm, and later reopened before the final closure.
Read at sfist.com
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