Jon de la Cruz Brings Parisian Cinema to San Francisco’s Design District with JouJou
From the award-winning designer behind some of San Francisco’s most iconic dining destinations — including Wayfare Tavern, Che Fico, and Via Aurelia — interior designer Jon de la Cruz unveils his latest hospitality project: JouJou, a glamorous new French restaurant in the city’s Design District.
Conceived for the team behind Lazy Bear, the interiors channel the louche allure of the French Riviera in the 1970s — a decadent, cinematic world de la Cruz describes as “a place where Louis Malle and Pierre Cardin might be smoking cigarettes with Yoko Ono while ordering a tarte tropézienne.” The result is a space that feels indulgent, theatrical, and transportive.
Guests enter across a striking mosaic marble floor in shades of yellow, green, black, and white — an immediate declaration of playful opulence — before transitioning into warm oak-stained flooring throughout the main dining spaces. The upper dining room is anchored by a burgundy-veined marble oyster counter and open garde-manger, wrapped in Art Nouveau–inspired palm-frond, hand-blocked wallpaper. Vintage green dining chairs sourced from France lend a collected European sensibility, while deeply tufted banquettes upholstered in a mix of leather and plaid create intimate, see-and-be-seen moments throughout the room. A verdant, glass-enclosed bar featuring a checkered concrete floor and custom trapeze-style pendant lights heightens the restaurant’s sense of drama and spectacle.
Beyond a treillage archway, the lower dining room and wine cellar unfold into a more intimate, layered atmosphere. Booth seating surrounds a striking private dining room wrapped in green cheetah wallcovering, which doubles as a dramatic wine display — equal parts indulgent and irreverent. Encaustic cement tiles ground the space underfoot, while the terrace bar extends the Riviera fantasy outdoors with textured plaster walls and McGuire bamboo dining furnishings, evoking a relaxed, sun-washed elegance.
Since opening, JouJou has generated significant buzz across the Bay Area dining scene, with Eater SF already heralding the restaurant as the “grand dame of French dining.”
