October 25, 2012

Interview: John Dampeer Of Crafthouse


We first reported in July that Joe's 24th St Cafe is to become Crafthouse but details were few and far between. Eater recently posted the menu and some design info that left us wanting more. We asked owner/partner John Dampeer to fill in the gaps:

What's your vision for Crafthouse? Eater's post left us wondering if Crafthouse is a bar or a restaurant? Describe the experience and who you think will enjoy eating there. Crafthouse will be a bar with a relaxed, communal environment to enjoy a casual drink and a bite. We're going to strive to live up to what SF has come to expect from their neighborhood bar: fresh, local and seasonal.

What attracted you to Noe Valley? Did you consider other sites? Noe Valley was definitely one of our targets and we were thrilled to find Joe's up for sale. Noe has a great community feel and we felt the area could use a fresh new place to gather over craft beers and unique, fun wines.

What will be some of the signature items on the menu? We're still honing the menu, but the focus is on sandwiches and snacks that are portioned and priced to share. We're really excited about our pork loin confit cuban and house-rolled bacon soft pretzels.

The post on Eater has us wondering if Crafthouse will have midweek lunch service. What will the hours be? We'll be closed Mondays to work on food production.. Tuesday - Friday 12pm - ? and Saturday - Sunday 10am - ?

Tell us about the team that will be running the show day to day. Myself and business partner Adnan will be working. It's my first go at it as an owner and Adnan currently owns a wine bar in Laurel Heights. [Ed.-- That's Adnan Daken of Internos Wine Cafe]

Will you be closed during the transition (and if so for how long)? When will the new Crafthouse menu and design be in place? We're going to need about 4 weeks to transition and we won't be open.

Now under wraps and morphing into Crafhouse, at least one obstacle is out of the way: the beer and wine license was activated on October 19th.

Update (12/13): Now to open under the name Caskhouse.



Crafthouse
3853 24th St
Opening Soon



[Eater SF: The Skinny On Crafthouse, Opening Soon]
[NVSF: Sold: Joe's 24th Street Cafe]

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent news! This spot sounds like it will be an asset to the neighborhood. Can't wait for it to open.

Anonymous said...

What a fabulous addition to the Noe!! Welcome, Crafthouse!!! So excited not to have to go outside the neighborhood for a good brew and a snack -- and delighted they will be open for lunch, esp. on weekends.

I hope the name "Crafthouse" also means that they will serve a wide variety of craft beers on tap.

Tom said...

Can they legally sell beer from Elizabeth Street brewers?

Still looking forward to this place!

Nelson said...

What a great little interview; thanks for doing it!

Anonymous said...

The food doesn't sound good - what about us vegetarians? Craft beer? Yeah, that's cool.

Anonymous said...

Vegetarians can eat elsewhere. stop complaining.

Anonymous said...

finally i think the crap restaurants in noe are getting replaced by some more interesting concepts. Now i would love to know what is going on with what i thought was going to be a new Vietnamese place on chuch and 25th that has been under renovation for what seems like 3 years now...

Anonymous said...

The signage on the restaurant now says Caskhouse. Did they change the name?

Anonymous said...

Just did some google searching and came upon this EventBrite invite for a Penn State Alum party being held at "CaskHouse"...so it must be the new name!

http://psusfholidayparty2012.eventbrite.com/