Hilda and Jesse

Hilda and Jesse is an independently operated restaurant in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, founded by chefs Rachel Sillcocks and Ollie K.C. Liedags. The concept began as a brunch pop-up in the Richmond District in 2019. Its name refers to two of the founders' grandparents, while the menu draws in part on Liedags's Latvian family heritage. After developing the concept as a pop-up, the founders opened a permanent location on Union Street on November 1, 2021. The restaurant initially focused on a tasting-menu brunch and later expanded its offering with a five-course dinner. Its cooking is deliberately unconventional, combining familiar American diner and brunch references with technically ambitious preparations, unexpected substitutions, and assertive flavor combinations. One example is an avocado-toast interpretation that uses sweet-potato tempura in place of bread and adds onion-infused sour cream and shaved horseradish. Pancakes have become one of the restaurant's best-known offerings and have been promoted with the phrase "gayest pancakes ever." Hilda and Jesse's identity is central to both its hospitality and its public positioning. Sillcocks and Liedags describe themselves as queer co-owners, with Liedags serving as chef and Sillcocks as general manager. They characterize the menu, decor, staffing culture, and supply relationships as queer, including a stated preference for working with queer farmers and wine producers. This positioning has helped the restaurant become associated with the idea of a queer oasis in San Francisco, while also making its political and cultural values unusually visible for a restaurant brand. The interior was designed by Noz Nozawa and uses bright colors, checkered flooring, striped walls, murals, and a zebra-striped bathroom. The result has been compared by reviewers to an exaggerated American diner and to the colorful world of Pee-wee's Playhouse. The visual environment supports the restaurant's larger approach: familiar forms are reworked into something playful, theatrical, and intentionally nonconventional. Recognition accelerated after the restaurant's opening. Hilda and Jesse entered the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand selection in November 2022. In November 2024 it received a Michelin star, while Sillcocks received a Michelin award for outstanding service. Liedags was also named a semifinalist for the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef, California. Later coverage placed the restaurant among notable Bay Area dining destinations, including the San Francisco Chronicle's lists of the region's best restaurants. The restaurant has also attracted controversy. In December 2021, shortly after opening, staff asked three uniformed San Francisco police officers to leave because of discomfort about weapons in a space presented as safe and queer-inclusive. The owners subsequently apologized and clarified that off-duty, unarmed police officers were welcome. The episode intensified public discussion about the relationship between hospitality, policing, and identity-based safe spaces. Hilda and Jesse has continued to express social and political commitments publicly, including support for trans youth. Its combination of ambitious cooking, visual exuberance, queer ownership, and explicit values has made it one of San Francisco's more distinctive contemporary restaurant brands.

Hilda and Jesse was created by chefs Rachel Sillcocks and Ollie K.C. Liedags. The pair first tested the concept as a brunch pop-up in San Francisco's Richmond District in 2019. The name was drawn from two of their grandparents, and the menu was influenced partly by Liedags's Latvian family background. From the beginning, the project combined a serious culinary program with a deliberately playful, personal, and identity-conscious presentation. The pop-up format allowed the founders to develop the restaurant's central idea before committing to a permanent site. They eventually opened Hilda and Jesse on Union Street in North Beach on November 1, 2021. Liedags took responsibility for the kitchen as chef, while Sillcocks became general manager. The opening format centered on a tasting-menu brunch, an approach that treated a traditionally casual meal as a structured and ambitious dining experience. A five-course dinner was subsequently added, broadening the restaurant's operating model beyond brunch. The food is built around reinterpretation rather than strict adherence to conventional categories. Hilda and Jesse uses recognizable brunch and American comfort-food references but modifies their ingredients, formats, and presentations. The restaurant's avocado-toast interpretation, for example, substitutes sweet-potato tempura for bread and combines it with onion-infused sour cream and shaved horseradish. Pancakes are a signature attraction and have been publicly described as the "gayest pancakes ever." Reviews and Michelin commentary have emphasized the cooking's bold flavors, high-quality ingredients, and willingness to be theatrical. The restaurant's visual identity is equally important. Interior designer Noz Nozawa created a bright, highly stylized environment featuring checkered floors, striped walls, murals, and a zebra-striped bathroom. Reviewers have compared the space to a vivid American diner and to Pee-wee's Playhouse. The design reinforces the restaurant's rejection of restrained fine-dining conventions and helps turn the meal into a broader performance of color, humor, and hospitality. Sillcocks and Liedags are queer co-owners and explicitly describe the restaurant's cooking and decor as queer. Hilda and Jesse has promoted relationships with queer farmers and wine producers and has come to be described as a queer oasis in San Francisco. This positioning is integrated into the brand rather than treated solely as a marketing theme. It also shaped the restaurant's public response to a December 2021 incident involving three uniformed San Francisco police officers. Staff asked the officers to leave because of discomfort about weapons in a space intended to feel safe. After criticism, the owners apologized and stated that off-duty, unarmed police officers were welcome. The episode became part of the restaurant's public history and illustrated the tensions that can arise when a hospitality business makes its social commitments explicit. Professional recognition followed the restaurant's opening. Hilda and Jesse was included in the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand selection in November 2022. In November 2024, it advanced to Michelin-starred status, while Sillcocks received an award for outstanding service. Liedags was also a semifinalist for the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef, California. Subsequent regional coverage continued to highlight the restaurant's food and design. The San Francisco Chronicle included Hilda and Jesse on its 2025 list of the 100 best restaurants in the Bay Area and ranked it higher on its 2026 list. Eater San Francisco later listed it among the city's most beautiful restaurants. Together, these distinctions established Hilda and Jesse as a notable contemporary restaurant whose culinary ambition, visual identity, and queer ownership are closely connected.

• 2024

  Earns Michelin star

  [1]Hilda and Jesseen.wikipedia.org

  Hilda and Jesse receives a Michelin star, while Rachel Sillcocks receives an award for outstanding service.

• 2024

  James Beard semifinalist recognition

  [1]Hilda and Jesseen.wikipedia.org

  Ollie K.C. Liedags is named a semifinalist for Best Chef, California, in the James Beard Awards.

• 2022

  Receives Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition

  [1]Hilda and Jesseen.wikipedia.org

  The restaurant is added to the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand selection in November.

• 2021

  Permanent restaurant opens

  [1]Hilda and Jesseen.wikipedia.org

  Hilda and Jesse opens on Union Street in North Beach on November 1, initially centered on a tasting-menu brunch.

• 2019

  Brunch pop-up begins

  [1]Hilda and Jesseen.wikipedia.org

  Rachel Sillcocks and Ollie K.C. Liedags begin developing Hilda and Jesse as a brunch pop-up in San Francisco's Richmond District.

A queer-owned San Francisco restaurant combining ambitious, playful cooking with theatrical design, inclusive hospitality, and a strong connection to local and queer food communities.

• Brunch · 2021

  Tasting-menu brunch

  The restaurant's original permanent-location format treats brunch as a multi-course tasting experience rather than a conventional à la carte meal. It provides the main platform for Hilda and Jesse's playful reinterpretation of American breakfast and diner food, combining familiar references with unusual ingredients, polished technique, and highly expressive presentation.

• Brunch dish · 2021

  Signature pancakes

  Pancakes are among Hilda and Jesse's most recognizable offerings. The restaurant has promoted them with the phrase "gayest pancakes ever," linking a familiar brunch staple to its queer identity and humorous, theatrical communications style. They function as both a food signature and a concise expression of the brand's broader approach to comfort food.

• Dinner

  Five-course dinner

  Added after the restaurant's initial brunch focus, the five-course dinner extends Hilda and Jesse's tasting-menu format into the evening. It provides a more formal setting for the kitchen's bold flavors, ingredient-driven cooking, and creative treatment of recognizable American food ideas.

• Restaurant cuisine · 2021

  Creative American comfort food

  Hilda and Jesse's broader food offering is based on "dissident comfort food": recognizable dishes are altered through substitutions, contrasting textures, and assertive flavor combinations. A cited example is an avocado-toast interpretation using sweet-potato tempura instead of bread, finished with onion-infused sour cream and shaved horseradish.

• 2021

  Uniformed police officers asked to leave

  In December 2021, shortly after opening, staff asked three uniformed San Francisco police officers to leave because of discomfort about weapons in a restaurant presented as a queer-inclusive safe space. The owners later apologized and clarified that off-duty and unarmed police officers were welcome.

  Source

• 2021

  Hilda and Jesse faces backlash after refusing service to police officers

  Hilda and Jesse staff asked three uniformed San Francisco police officers to leave the restaurant on Friday; the restaurant subsequently faced online criticism. Its co-owners apologized for the incident.

  Source

Read more

• Gayest pancakes ever

  United States

  Hilda and Jesse promoted its pancakes with the deliberately provocative and humorous phrase "gayest pancakes ever," turning a signature dish into a visible expression of the restaurant's queer identity.

  Outcome. The phrase helped associate the restaurant's best-known brunch item with its broader positioning as a queer-owned and openly expressive restaurant.

  Source
• Queer producer sourcing

  United States

  The restaurant has publicly emphasized sourcing from queer farmers and wine producers, connecting procurement and supplier relationships with its stated values.

  Outcome. This helped strengthen Hilda and Jesse's reputation as a queer-centered dining space and community-oriented restaurant.

  Source

• 2021

  Move from pop-up to permanent restaurantStrategy

  Background

  After operating as a Richmond District brunch pop-up since 2019, the founders sought a permanent home for the concept.

  Action taken

  Rachel Sillcocks and Ollie K.C. Liedags opened Hilda and Jesse on Union Street in North Beach on November 1, 2021.

  Aftermath

  The permanent restaurant established the brand as a full-service San Francisco dining business and enabled it to develop tasting-menu brunch and dinner formats.

  Source

• 2021

  Clarify policy after police incidentOther

  Background

  Staff asked three uniformed officers to leave because of concerns about weapons in a queer safe-space environment, prompting online backlash.

  Action taken

  The owners apologized and stated that police were welcome when off duty and unarmed.

  Aftermath

  The clarification preserved the restaurant's stated commitment to a queer-inclusive environment while addressing criticism of the incident.

  Source

• Add a five-course dinnerStrategy

  Background

  The restaurant initially focused on tasting-menu brunch after opening.

  Action taken

  Hilda and Jesse subsequently introduced a five-course dinner service.

  Aftermath

  The change broadened the restaurant's service mix and created an evening expression of its tasting-menu approach.

  Source

• 2021.12.03

  Reported2021.12.05

  Hilda and Jesse faces backlash after refusing service to police officers[2]Hilda and Jesse faces backlash after refusing service to police officersnbcbayarea.com

  Hilda and Jesse staff asked three uniformed San Francisco police officers to leave the restaurant on Friday; the restaurant subsequently faced online criticism. Its co-owners apologized for the incident.

  Weekdays and relative dates follow the original report; their exact calendar dates have not been verified.

Read more

1. 1Hilda and Jesseen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Hilda and Jesse faces backlash after refusing service to police officersnbcbayarea.com