Bernal Supper Club Moves to Caffe Cozzolino, Hopes for Own Space This Year

By Laura Beck Tue., Jan. 10 2012 at 2:15 PM

Categories: Food News / Restaurant Gossip

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Yelp/Tamara R.

The guys.

2012 appears to be the year of Bernal Supper Club. Craving a location in Bernal Heights, the BSC crew recently relocated from their spot at Winemakers Speakeasy to Caffe Cozzolino. Makes sense, seeing as they're the Bernal Supper Club.

The magic behind the kitchen curtain comes from a tight-knit band of three guys-- Michael Carnahan, Jonathan Sutton, and Tony Ferrari, he of the greatest name ever. As Carnahan says, "Bernal Heights is where we started and it's where we would like to build a restaurant that helps build a community." Sweet.

The current menu offers three apps, three entrees, and three desserts--all house made and as local as possible. For now, they're only serving on Mondays and Tuesdays, but they say they'd like to expand in the future. However, sharing a restaurant with the existing owners requires them to keep it simple.

As for the actual guys, they're a tight-knit group from two different generations. Miles Carnahan explains:

I'm the childhood friend of Tony Ferrari's parents. Tony's mom contacted me through Facebook and I invited him to one of my supper clubs, hosted at various friends houses in Bernal Heights. He started cooking with me and bringing some of his chef friends. One of those friends, Jonathan Sutton, quickly fit in as a superb compliment to Tony and I. Tony has been the driving force in taking Bernal Supper Club from a quaint once a week private event to something quite a bit more.

Cool, it's always interesting to learn how these things form. Gives us hope that we could sell vegan Korean BBQ out of our garage and people might buy it. Actually, no, that's entirely different.

Carnahan tells us that Bernal Supper Club is about more than food. He says, "We want to get to know our customers and provide a place to develop friendships, not just a place to have a bite to eat-- although we're fine with that, too. We're always trying to find time to roam the dining room more to talk to everyone. Some nights we have a little less time than others so if we don't stop by and you'd like to meet us, we encourage you step up to the kitchen and say hello."

They're looking to expand into their own restaurant this year, as gearing up to serve a few times a week is exhausting, and it's tricky to procure the ingredients. "The whole 'pop-up' thing is a tease for us. We get to experience the thrill of running 'our' kitchen without the benefits and responsibilities of actually owning a restaurant."

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