About
ABOUT ALI GHANBARIAN
BACKGROUND
Ali Ghanbarian came to San Francisco as an engineer for Bechtel Corporation, but quickly found that his true interests and talents lay in the arts and the people who make up the creative culture of the city. Over a period of two decades, he established a reputation as the most influential force behind the creation of vibrant new communities on the leading edge of culture and commerce. In the early nineteen-eighties, Ghanbarian opened the Billboard Café in the midst of a rundown warehouse neighborhood in San Francisco. Under his direction and promotion, it became the favored haunt of artists, celebrities and politicians and the neighborhood began to be transformed. Recognizing the potential for a creative transformation of the area, he coined the term SoMa (for South of Market Street) and launched the magazine of the same name to give a voice to the creative and artistic energies he was helping to attract to this dynamic new urban scene. SOMA magazine quickly found an eager audience well beyond the San Francisco area, and carried the essence of the creative and entrepreneurial spirit that was pouring out of San Francisco and the Silicon Valley into Los Angeles, New York and other hotbeds of young, pioneering artists, musicians, chefs, and other creative professionals. Ghanbarian went on to found Club 9, a venue that was labeled “the most talked about club in the country” that launched the careers of many aspiring artists, including Chris Isaak. The presence of Club 9 helped to accelerate the transformation of the SoMa area into what the New York Times called “Soho West.”
Always striving to be in the forefront of supporting the arts, Ghanbarian continued to expand SOMA magazine and to pioneer cultural and commercial developments in San Francisco. He launched new restaurants and clubs, opening up new, neglected neighborhoods to the arts community. He opened Foto 579 in SoMa and then Backstage and Indigo which signaled the gentrification of the Hayes Valley area, and extended his influence to the upper echelons of the art community, the symphony, opera and ballet. Ghanbarian became known for all the talent that he incubated in his restaurants and clubs and in SOMA Magazine. Many celebrity chefs, musicians, art directors and fashion photographers owe their prominence to the opportunity he provided to launch their careers in an environment rich in creative freedom and vision.
In the early nineties, Ghanbarian opened the first Internet café, the ICON Byte Bar & Grill, starting another trend that would have a worldwide impact. He continued to inspire and promote magazines, clubs, restaurants and events that would bring together the trendsetters of the creative community and the community at large. Today, Ghanbarian is known as the principal event planner in San Francisco, designing and hosting events such as his bi-annual Blue Jeans Ball and company-sponsored events with vibrant guests, fashion shows, dancing and entertainment. Recent events have been sponsored by Diesel, Armani Exchange, and beverage companies like Beefeater and Grey Goose.
Ghanbarian’s marketing company, AKA Marketing, continues to provide market development planning and consulting to the top beverage suppliers, thanks to his extensive track record on the leading edges of the hip, urban markets. He is widely credited with the key planning and execution that led to the enormously successful launches of the top spirits brands of the past ten years or more. He masterminded the campaign that launched Scottish Newcastle Brown Ale, which had no prior presence in the US market. It is now a hundred million dollar business, and the second largest brewery in Europe.
. Ghanbarian launched major campaigns of Absolut Vodka, Jägermeister (which became one of the most well-known success stories in the spirits industry), Finlandia Vodka, Beefeater Gin, plus WET by Beefeater; Grey Goose Vodka, which is the most successful imported vodka in US history and recently sold for $2.4 billion; Dewar’s 12, Bombay Sapphire, FRÏS Vodka, Sauza tequila, Stoli vodka, Hypnotiq, and most recently, Shakers Vodka and Fiji Water, which recently sold for over $100 million
In each of these cases, Ghanbarian has been responsible for producing comprehensive marketing campaigns, which have included positioning, branding, creating “buzz,” ad placements, and merchandising on a sustained basis to ensure the long-term success of the products. SOMA magazine with its focus on edgy, new product design, photography, fashion, the indie movie scene and soon-to-be-hot movie stars (Adrian Brody’s pensive face graced a SOMA cover well before his now-famous Oscar acceptance kiss) is Ghanbarian’s lifeblood. As the SOMA brand reaches out further into this expanding, urban market through a combination of his forward-looking magazine and exciting, high profile events, it has become clear that the time is rip to make the next bold step in extending the brand and the business
Ali Ghanbarian has a proven track record in building not just business, but new cultures and the new business that goes with it. He has consistently marshaled the right combination ideas to create destinations for the trendsetters’ disposable incomes. Variety magazine, in an article about Ghanbarian a few years back, labeled him “The Pope of SOMA,” and other newspapers and magazines consistently recognize his visionary role in understanding this dynamic demographic and his uncanny ability to determine what they want in terms of style, media and entertainment
CONTENTS
SOMA LEADS OTHER FOLLOW
These days, the gregarious Ghanbarian runs privately held SOMA as publisher and chief editor. He has a
silent partner and some name-brand advertisers. The October issue cairres display ads from Winston,
Lucky Strike, Stoli, Skyy, Hugo Cassar Cigars, Beefeater, and Bombay Gin. Asked if SOMA makes money,
Ghanbarian says yes but doesn’t details
Seems like everytime someone fires up a cigar or
racks some balls for a little game of pool, a new Gen
X magazine lands on the bar next to a soggy martini
napkin. Twenty-somethings are either reading a lot
more than their reputation suggests, or publishers are
wasting an awful lot of old-growth glossy paper.
Consider this partial list of newish magazines for
young adults: POV and Verge (for men), Jane (for
women), Swing (for both sexes), Wine X (imbiber of
both sexes).
And here are a couple more, two national magazines based in San Francisco: Siren (for women in their
20s and early 30s) and SOMA (for young club-hoppers
of every gender). OK, I’m cheating. SOMA’s not new. It’s been publishing for 12 years, while many media ventures of many kinds have come and gone. That’s part of what
makes it interesting.
SOMA projects a hand-loose, stay-cool West
Coast sensibility (it’s subtitled “Left Coast Culture”) as
seen from South of Market. Launched as an occasional freebie when the old South ‘o the Slot got trendy in
the mid-’80s, SOMA is now published monthly, sells
on newsstands for $2.95 and claims a press run of
80,000. Former Bechtel engineer Ali Ghanbarian launch
SOMA back when the was running the Billboard Cafe
and Club Nine at Ninth and Mission.
These days, the gregarious Ghanbarian runs These days, the gregarious Ghanbarian runs
privately held SOMA as publisher and chief editor.
He has a silent partner and some name-brand
advertisers. The October issue cairres display ads
from Winston, Lucky Strike, Stoli, Skyy, Hugo
Cassar Cigars, Beefeater, and Bombay Gin. Asked if
SOMA makes money, Ghanbarian says yes but
doesn’t details.
According to Ghanbarian, “In L.A., they love the
magazine. They love it in New York.” But locally, he
says ruefully, SOMA comes in under the media radar
screen. Ghanbarian will tell you—very nicely—that
SOMA should be on the radar screen in its own home
town.
Ghanbarian attributes some of SOMA’s ability to
hang in there to staying just ahead of the cultural
curve. He says SOMA ran big features on Chris Issak
and Tori Amos before they were big names, adding, “I
just did David Arquette last year. Now he’s a big shot.
The only magazine I can compare SOMA to is Paper in
New York city.”
SOMA profiles musicians and actors—English
heartthrob Rupert Graves is in the 92-page October
issue—and surveys West Coast eateries, clubs and
shops in a section called “hype.” SOMA’s not a furrowed-brow read, but it publishes the occasional serious report. The October cover story, for example, is a
decent if uneven piece: “Temp Anarchy! Guerrilla
Warface in the American Workplace.”
WHO SAID WHAT
“Films are made taking money into consideration above all. It’s a business. Whereas in theater it seems everyone knows you’re not
really going to make any money, so they actually try to make something memorable… The plays that I’ve done in the past couple
of years have been so rich that you could basically do them in a clown suit and the story would still resonate. I would say most films
are unwatchable and most theater is unseen.”
Actor Eric Stoltz featured in SOMA Magazine
CONSIDERING THE OSCARS
Chloe Sevigny, nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for “Boys Don’t Cry,” talked with SOMA Magazine a few months ago, just after Angelina Jolie—who won the Oscar—had won a Golden Globe award in the same category.
“Angelina Jolie won, I lost,” she said. “They love her there. I was
really starstruck and I loved to see all the stars, but I don’t know, awards, they’re not for me. It was too soon. I don’t even know what I was doing there, really. It’s nice to be acknowledged, but I don’t know, it’s too soon in my career. Lucky for me, it was a really bad year in film.” Sevigny, who wore Yves Saint Laurent to the Golden Globes said, “The whole dress thing was such stress… I don’t know if I want to go through that again.” Sevigny said that Joan Rivers described her as looking as though “I was going to a tea party, but what does she know?” She wore Saint Laurent again last Sunday.
As to the Oscars themselves, she said she didn’t “really care” about them. “They never award the films that I like. Many great directors have never been recognized. That’s the way it goes.”
P.S. Simon Doonan, former chief window-dresser at Barneys, has begun a style column in the New York Observer, the first of which pokes at celebrities “borrowing” designer dresses for award ceremonies. “If you can’t afford designer schmatas,” he asks, “who can?”
THE POPE OF SOMA
Ali Ghanbarian is a wild and crazy guy. He’s involved in two of the highest-risk business ventures on the planet: publishing and restaurants.
As publisher and editor-in-chief of SOMA Magazine—a trendy
lifestyle magazine that aims to be “tastefully provocative” and
skewed toward a 20-something readership—Ghanbarian works 18-
hour days, a good portion of which is spent, as he puts it, eating,
drinking and talking. “Being a publisher is a perfect remedy for my
kind of crazy energy,” he says.
As the man who helped put San Francisco’s South of Market on
the map, Ghanbarian spends a lot time schmoozing. “I’m out six,
seven nights a week,” he says with his usual gregariousness. “A
given night might entail two, three events.”
Ghanbarian started SOMA magazine 12 years ago in support of
Ghanbarian started SOMA magazine 12 years ago in support of
the Soho-like art community of the area for which it’s named. At the time, SoMa was a gritty, undesirable district of mostly warehouses and industrial spaces. He decided to buy a greasy spoon that featured shish kebob and enchilada combo plates and turned it into the Billboard Cafe.
Soon, the place, with the kind of nouveau menu now common in
hip boho cafes, was a hangout for the area’s high concentration of artists and multi-media pros. SoMa now boasts about 300 clubs
and restaurants, and its warehouses are being turned into lofts and expensive “live/work” spaces by venture capitalists, stockbrokers and investment bankers.
“Artists are like pest control,” Ghanbarian says. “They come
in, clean up and yuppies take over. Then the artists can’t afford
it anymore.”
As for SOMA the magazine, Ghanbarian would like it to be less
associated with San Francisco and more with “Left Coast Culture,”
which entails courting more of a Los Angeles following. He’s gone
about this by throwing a series of parties in L.A., the past one at the
club Lucky Seven. Attendees included such indie actors as Rory
Cochrane and Richard Edson, with Brit thesp Helen Mirren classing
up the joint. More such events are planned.
Ghanbarian, who owns the restaurant Indigo, also is opening a
SOMA Lounge near L.A.’s Beverly Center.
Meanwhile, Ghanbarian feels he might be getting too old for this
line of work, but shows no signs of slowing down: “They should
make a movie called ‘Ali’s World.’ It’d be much more fun than
‘Wayne’s World,’ I guarantee it.”
FLOWERY NIGHTS
Ali Ghanbarian, who has been publishing Soma magazine for 16 years, say of his Blue Jeans Ball at Ruby Skye on Wednesday night: “My
party attracted 1,400 good-lloking people—young,hip—not those creepy facelifted freeloaders from Nob Hill. Most of my guests have
jobs.” Gee, that’s mean, Ali!
Anyway, guests with jobs included
Shahla Fry from Tiffany & Co.
Channel 7’s Christine Sze
Susie Im, the director of events for Bebe
Kurt Demers of the New York Times
the A-List’s Valerie Britt
Kokkari executive chef Jean Alberti
S.F. Ballet’s Yuan Tan
“BECAUSE SAN FRANCISCO IS THE BLUEJEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD,” ALI EXPLAINS,
“WE HAD AN ALL-BLUE JEAN-FASHION SHOW.” MAKES SENSE
FUTURE STARS OF FASHION
WE ASKED SOME OF THE LEADING PRACTITIONERS WORKING IN FASHION TODAY TO SELECT THE BEST OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF PHOTOGRAPHERS AND DESIGNER
SOMA IS A SAN FRANCISCO BASED TITLE COVERING FASHION,
ART, POLITICS AND URBAN CULTURE: “IT’S A SMALL MAGAZINE
BUT THEY GAVE ME A LOT OF FREEDOM, I GOT TO FIGURE OUT
WHAT I WANTED TO SHOOT AND WHY. THE STORIES HAVE
GREAT LAYOUT, I’D SAY IT’S A LOT MORE DESIGN BASED THAN
MOST OTHER MAGAZINES, AND THAT HAS
REALLY INFLUENCED THE WAY THAT I WORK;
I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT THE
LAYOUTS WHEN I SHOOT.”
PEOPLE IN BUSINESS
“THE TWO SUREST WAYS TO LOSE MONEY ARE RESTAURANTS AND MAGAZINES.”
Says Ali Ghanbarian. “And I’m involved in both.”A N.Y.-born engineer who gave up the 9-to-5 at Bechtel to be a round-the-clock entreprenuer South of Market, Ghanbarian, now 40, was the power behind the now legendary Billboard Cafe at Ninth and Harrison streets— and, by extension, behind much of the early South of Market nightlife scene. In a restaurant field marked by the recent closings of Teatro, Undici, Mulhern & Schachern and Vinoteca—and the Fairmont Hotel’s about-to-close Squire Room—he has just opened Backstage, a stylish, theatrical retreat on McAllister Street behind the Civic Center. It appears to be catching on with the young foodie set. On the magazine front—marked by the demise of Frisko, The City, and SF—Ghanbarian is hanging in there with SOMA, a quarterly that he began publishing in 1986, three years after he opened Billboard. Now issued bi-monthly, it too has a hip young following. And while it is not making Ghanbarian rich, “it’s paying for itself.”Subtitled, “Left Coast Culture,” SOMA does not confine itself to its namesake area. It covers happenings up and down the West Coast and is sold on newsstands in New York, Chicago, Seattle, and L.A. It’s available in Tower Record stores nationwide—and in London. In contrast to what the garrulous Ghanbarian calls “unfocused Focus” magazine, SOMA’s focus never strays very far from its target: the lifestyle of the young and trendy.“ It’s not a city magazine. There’s no local gossip,” he says. “There’s no room for another city magazine in San Francisco.We’re a cultural magazine dealing with the music, fashion, food and entertainment interests of 18 to 35 year olds, wherever they may live.”
SOMA, he says, is a concept, not an area. “It’s yuppies lined up in front of Julie’s, leather gays at the Eagle, artists at DNA
and the Paradise, families at Lulu and South Park Cafe and journalists at the M&M. Cultural diversity is what SOMA’s all
about.”Newsstand sales ($2.95 a copy) account for about 60 percent of the magazine’s 50,000 circulation. The other 40 percent
comes from subcription ($14.95 a year) and complimentary copies sent to ad agencies, beauty salons, boutiques, doctors’
offices—anywhere Ghanbarian thinks there’s a potential advertiser or subscriber lurking.The liquor industry is by far his biggest
advertiser. Regularly taking full-color, full-page ads ($3,500 on a one-shot basis) are Absolut Vodka, Courvoisier, Bombay Gin
and Sauza Tequila. “I think we have more liquor advertising than any other California magazine,” says Ghanbarian.
A man given to expensive designer suits and fancy sports cars—his father was an Iranian industrialist—Ghanbarian is no
wastrel. Instead of having back issues of SOMA shredded, he pays 10 cents a copy to have his distributors ship them back so
they can be used in new promotio forays. “Every copy,” he says, “is put to use.”
TERMINALLY HIP PUBLISHER
SOMA magazine publisher Ali Ghanbarian, the engineer turned
restaurateur and night club owner, says he helped create the buzz
that transformed the South of Market neighborhood into a thriving
arts community back in the mid-80s. SOMA Magazine is now distributed internationally.
Nina Wu: What’s the mission of SOMA magazine?
Ali Ghanbarian: SOMA is a medium for young, talented people to
blossom. We are not afraid of experimenting, and most of it works
out beautifully.
Q: Who is your readership?
A: SOMA’s readership varies, from yuppies to wannabes —even
dot-comers were into it. But the main focus of the demographic is
appealing to the creative community—intellectuals, poets, filmmakers, photographers and writers. Once you appeal to that discriminating taste, trend-setting, creative community, then everybody will follow. That’s why SOMA is tastefully edgy, not over the hill.
Q: Do you think San Franciscans are trend and fashion setters?
A: None whatsoever. Throughout the Bay Area, a lot of people have
money and they shop. So one of the things I was trying to do (was)
change the image of San Francisco as a place where fashion exists. Restaurant-wise, we are trend-setters. But we’re trying to put San Francisco on the map for fashion.
Q: How do you know if it’s a short- or long-term trend?
A: No trend, by definition, lasts. Trends have their lifetime. Every
trend has two, three years’ lifetime. Just like restaurants. They
come and go.
If you notice my background, I was an engineer in the early ‘80s
and I was bored with that. That’s why I got into the restaurant business and opened the Billboard Cafe, which was the most innovative restaurant in the history of this city.
I used to have Dianne Feinstein there, punk rockers, Thrasher magazine was launched from there. That’s what started the whole
scene.
Q: You recently opened an office in New York.
A: We’re so huge in New York — we’re one of the most respected
magazines in New York.
Q: Why?
A: It’s one of the most visually innovative magazines in the world.
This is a hip, cultural magazine for young people
FLAVOR FROM THE WEST COAST
Ghanbarian, SOMA’s founder, editor-in-chief and publisher, started the South of Market publication seven years ago, when he was running the Billboard Cafe and Club Nine. Ghanbarian’s still in the well-appointed Civic Center eatery Backstage—but in his heart, he says, is magazines.
In this generally dark season—with the prolonged recession sinking
local magazines such as The City, Northern California Home & Garden, Frisko and others—it’s rare to come across a sunbeam of optimism. But if there’s anybody in town who publishes a magazine and still remains upbeat, it’s SOMA’s Ali Ghanbarian.
Ghanbarian, SOMA’s founder, editor-in-chief and publisher, started
the South of Market publication seven years ago, when he was running the Billboard Cafe and Club Nine with business partner Mark Rennie.
Ghanbarian’s still in the well-appointed Civic Center eatery
Backstage but in his heart, he says, is magazines.
SOMA the name, Ghanbarian says, is meant to evoke a
Generation X hipster’s state of mind more than a geographical location is published every other month for 18-to-35s, offering an eclectic mix of fashion, design, politics, music, food and art reviews and, of course, attitude.
If Ghanbarian’s plans come through, it’ll go monthly next summer,
to pull in more national advertising. Already, Ghanbarian claims, SOMAhas more national ads than does San Francisco Focus.
“I don’t want to put out another city magazine,” the gregarious
Ghanbarian says over lunch at—where else?—Backstage. “There’s not enough local money to support two city magazines. Besides, how much gossip and stuff about Willie Brown can you print?”
No, Ghanbarian—the son of an Iranian businessman who came to
America 20 years ago, studied at UC Berkeley and put in time as a
Bechtel engineer—is thinking big.
Subtitled “Left Coast Culture,” SOMA aims to capture the flavor of
young, Bohemian West Coast communities in San Francisco, Los
young, Bohemian West Coast communities in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle and sell a taste of life on the wild side to wannabes everywhere.
Although conventional wisdom holds that twentyish consumers are unemployed or underemployed slackers with virtually no money, Ghanbarian insists the conventional wisdom is wrong.
“Generation X wants to buy BMWs, they want to be cool, they want
to go to every show,” Ghanbarian says with a salesman’s fervor.
“People my age, past 40, they all want to buy life insurance. Not only do Generation Xers have money, they spend 100 percent of what they have. It’s important to them to have an image.”
An interprising fellow, Ghanbarian jumps from printer to printer looking for the best deal, and publishes the magazine with a small, young, energetic staff.
He is, he admits, a hands-on guy who wants to oversee everything
and makes no bones about being the boss. “I have a gigantic ego and lots of crazy energy,” he allows.
“I’m not The New Yorker or The Atlantic, and don’t want to be,” he
says. “but I have one article in every issue that is pertinent to broader media issues.”
As an example, Ghanbarian points to a recent SOMA essay on the
Long Island teenage femme fatale, Amy Fisher, written by freelancer Kristen Bruno, that asks “Have female criminals been unjustly caught in the crossfire of patriarchal media and the criminal justice system?” Not everyone, even those under 35, will go for the trendy attitudizing in SOMA, but then not everyone has to. Last year, Ghanbarian says, SOMA turned a modest profit of $11,000. This year due, he says, to expansion the magazine will just about break even.
HIP REGIONAL GOES NATIONAL
How does a small, alternative magazine achieve popularity with the masses? If the title gets hot, like Andy Warhol’s Interview or the pre-Conde Nast Details, then word of mouth sets readers rushing off to buy it before their neighbors. But being hip only takes tiny titles so far; eventually, they need to cross paths with the right distributer in order to flood coffee tables across America.
San Francisco restauranteur Ali Ghanbarian founded SOMA (South of Market) seven years ago as a voice for the Bay Area’s art community. Today, 60 percent of its 35,000 bimonthly distribution serves a young (18 to 35), trend-conscious West Coast audience. But Ghanbarian also reaches Texans and Manhattanites with his magazine via a variety of distributors.
“We got some national press,” he says, “and suddenly we started getting subscriptions from places we never heard of.” At that point, he says, he began working with companies like Cal West, Tower Books & Records, and Ubiquity in New York, “which was important to me because the advertising community was there.” But SOMA’s biggest distributor, Ghanbarian says, is itself—SOMA Distributors—sending copies to beauty salons, medical offices, and ad agencies as well as newstands and bookstores.
A MECCA FOR GOOD MAGAZINES
San Francisco, in fact, is a mecca for good magazines. SOMA (Left Coast Culture) is a preciously designed glossy that aspires to be to
the West Coast what Paper magazine is to New York. Named for San Francisco’s mecca of hip, the area south of Market Street, SOMA
has a mature, sober vibe to its pages—the feeling of stepping into an art gallery and not wanting to touch anything. Stories focus on pop
culture and political issues (October’s issue includes a feature on “Temp Anarchy! Guerrilla Warfare in the American Workplace”),
although the magazine’s forte appears to be world-class fashion layouts.
BEEFEATER GIN SHOWS UP SOMA
San Francisco’s “hippest” publication, SOMA Magazine, celebrated it’s 12th anniversary with a black tie extravaganza party at San Francisco’s Galleria. The SOMA party included movers and shakers from the spirits and restaurant industry as well as the fashion and entertainment world.
THE MAGAZINE TRAVELER FRISCONSPIRACY
In SOMA, the spirited magazine of San Francisco (and “Left Coast”) arts and culture, Matthew Zapruder imagines, plausibly, that Baghdadby-the-Bay was created by Oakland’s city fathers as an elaborate theme park. This “tourist trap cum hippie gulag,” explains Zapruder, realizes Oaklnad’s “diabolical plan to use expresso-based specialty drinks to lure American ‘sophisticates’ to San Francisco coffee-houses.” The winter issue of SOMA also spotlights Adnan Qadeer, whose ambition is to “be the first to climb and photograph all 46 of the world’s largest suspension bridges.” For his pictures, Qadeer says he waits for gaps between cars because they make the cables bounce up and down. He also says it’s a good idea not to look down—but he must have been looking through the lens to shoot the photo printed here, and the picture alone is enough to make you dizzy.
AMOS SCHOEDAY-CHOCOLATE FETISH
YOU will eat chocolate to cure your headaches, but will start worrying about gaining weight. Even though you’re not fat, you’ll drink diet soda to defeat the problem—which will make you very jittery and dehydrated, and will slow down your metabolism. So you will drink caffiene-free soda, suffer from caffeine and energy withdrawals, and still gain weight. As a result, you will become depressed and turn to chocolate. Break the cycle now.
CELEBRATION
Celebrating a dozen years of urban culture South of Market Style, SOMA Magazine hosted a colorful stable of club kids and fancy socialites this past week at the Galleria. Publisher Ali Ghanbarian (who swears he’s turning SOMA Mag over to the young folk and starting a new ‘zine—called COMA—to more aptly fit his aged state) folds in his rich history as a bar / restaurant owner (Billboard Cafe, Club 9, Indigo…) and his affinity for alternative style and unorthodox entertainment media to create one of the West Coast’s longest-running mags. Here, The Glamour Posse found communion and was entertained by jazz/blues band, The Marcus Shelby Trio, Superstar progressive house DJ Keoki (who showed up an hour late… surprise, surprise) and a fresh fashion parade featuring vogue spring rituals by Betsey Johnson, Dolce and Gabbana, Helmut Lang, Vivienne Westwood, DiPietro Todd Salon and City Models.
Wise one Ali Ghanbarian serves this sermon: “Take two quick shots, then dive in… you’ll be ready for anything and anyone.”
THIS BACKSTAGE TAKES A FRONT ROW SEAT
IF THERE’S a smart, new, home-away-from-home for Examiner staffers, it’s a placed called Backstage at 687 McAllister St. I can’t tell you how many colleagues urged me to visit there, but the enthusiasm level was intense. When I found out that the propietor was Ali Ghanbarian, the push behind SOMA Magazine, I figured the boosters just might be right. Ghanbarian, who all but invented South of Market, is an entrepreneur with a great palate. His Foto on Howard Street had wonderful food, and he’s been involved in a handful of other SOMA restaurants. Now he’s moved near the performing arts center to capitalize on the Opera, Ballet, Symphony and Silly Hall trade. You’ll find musicians and politicos mingling over the linen and it’s not hard to see why. The food is terrific, the decor fun.
Although the location is convenient, the neighborhood looks a little run-down, and from the outside, Backstage doesn’t appear all that sparky either. But don’t be put off. Inside, the restaurant is an artful mix of coral and marine and sand colors, arches and palms and wood floors polished to gleam.
White tablecloths, a chandelier, tulip shaped lamps, a wine bar to one side -this gracefully wry space, Ghanbarian says, is the work of a dozen young artists given a free hand to design a fine restaurant interior.
The food is as unusual and interesting as the interior. While we checked the menu we munched on warm chips made from paper-thin slices of sweet potato. The chips were so thin, they had only a slight flavor—just enough to make you want more. They went perfectly with a 1991 Acacia Chardonnay made with grapes from the Carneros district. What an auspicious beginning for a spectacular dinner.
I began with a house smoked trout salad, tossed with daikon (a sweet, crisp, Japanese radish), pickled ginger, sesame eggplant, greens and wasabi vinaigrette. This sounds a little busy, but in fact it was just fabulous. Be sure to order some.
I also liked very much a roast duck enchilada served with red chili sauce and hot corn relish. This is one of those dishes where the whole is more than the sum of its parts in the way that a symphony is more than the individual contribution of the various instruments.
A roast-stuffed portabella mushroom with goat cheese and figs also was good, but it’s a dish you probably can make at home, so you may want to order the trout salad or the duck enchilada to take advantage of chef Steven Quattrucci’s kitchen.
One of the very civilized features of Backstage is a daily housemade ravioli, the ingredients shifting with whatever’s available that’s really good, organic and fresh. One night, for instance, the ravioli was stuffed with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, ricotta and pine nuts, bathed in a sauce of smokey aged provolone, roasted red onions and cream. Wonderful.
I’d also recommend Thai grilled salmon served with a green curry sauce and a tastly vegetable spring roll, and I think you’ll enjoy Fulton Valley free-range chicken breast with leek-sage stuffing. In fact, I think you’ll enjoy almost anything on the menu. Backstage serves very flavorful food. Do not miss the desserts. They change frequently, which means you should ask your server. If they’re available, try either the creme brulee or almond tuiles served with a lemon cream and blackberries. I also tasted an apple crepe Chantilly, mint and a few seasonings, that I didn’t think was as good as the other two offerings. We happened to visit Backstage on a night when nothing was playing in the performing art venues or in City Hall. As a result, the restaurant was almost empty at 7 p.m. It filled gradually so that by 8:30 it was doing good business. The service was terrific, the server attentive, hopitable and fun to talk with. Backstage has a seperate menu for lunch featuring pastas, salads and sandwiches as well as a couple of entrees. Dress code ranges as does the crowd, and you are overall ensured to have a very pleasant experience. Trust me—you must check it out.
FOTO FINISH
Oddly enough, it seemed that as soon as I started to tell people about Cafe Foto, everybody had already heard of it… way before I had. I made up for being so late by heading right over there, and found one of the more artfully decorated, unique and stimulating restaurants in the South of Market area. Brick walls and sponge-painted walls, copper tube lighting, blond wooden banquettes and a long bar give this place an East Coast feeling with the warmth and familiarity of California style. Large black-and-white photographs and graphics on a whitewashed brick wall add to the ambience. Even the bathrooms are outstanding. Chef David Page has developed a manageable but diverse menu with a lot to offer in the way of crafty and ingenious ingredient, color, taste and texture combinations. Appetizers and complex salads are particulary inspired. On the first evening we ordered only from these two categories, and left feeling satiated and comfortable. The meal started with wonderfully chewy bread from Bread Works in Berkeley and a generous slab of sweet butter. The wine list, a bit small and pricey for this establishment, includes one very reasonable non-vintage Old Vine red for $13 a bottle. The remaining prices range from $17 to $35. The special appetizer of the night ($8.50) sounded irresistible after the first three ingredients were described, so we ordered it straight away. A stunning hand-painted, white-on-aqua-colored plate artfully filled with many delectable treasures arrived at the table moments later. House-made duck sausage studded with mustard seeds, fig chutney, slices of yellow tomato and fresh mozzarella cheese, fire-dried walnuts, assorted imported olives, a small baby green salad and two thick slices of grilled pumpernickel bread—the plate was an example of taste, texture and color combination wizardry. We followed with Virginia ham and watercress salad ($6.50). This magical plate contained a spiky mound of perfectly dressed watercress with
rolls of thinly sliced Virginia ham tucked into the greens. Translucent triangles of pickled watermelon rind formed a ring around the watercress and sunflower seeds garnished the whole salad. This unique and sensational salad was truly inspired and balanced.
Roasted Texas game hen ($13.95) sounded like the perfect way to break into this fall menu, and with one bite I decided I would like to eat this weekly year-round. Plenty of garlic rubbed over the skin gives this whole bird a fabulous flavor, while the meat is tender and juicy and almost sweet. This perfectly cooked game hen, served on a bed of blackeyed peas and flageolet beans with an incredibly deep and rich sauce made from a reduction, was simply one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Sauteed french-cut green beans accompanied the dish. The service at Foto matches the food and decor: contemporary, hip, efficient and friendly. My experience here was one of the most rewarding and inviting I’ve had in San Francisco. Go to Foto soon as you can, and see for yourself.
“BOTH FOOD AND SERVICE SHINE AT THE NEW CAFE FOTO”
Fresh herb gnocchi ($5.25), three delicate dumplings served in a pool of roasted tomato sauce, were light and subtle. A mild goat cheese taste combined with fresh herbs and a pleasantly acidic sauce demonstrated careful planning and an educated palate at work in the kitchen. Eggplant Caponata ($5.50), a traditional Mediterranean dish, is made here with a sensible twist.
Ginger, mint and Thai chilies added to the tender eggplant mixture served in raw spinach leaves makes a dramatic and almost stark presentation. We finished with a house-made dessert for $4.50.
A handsome wedge of chocolate torte made with dried nectarines and served with a dollop of creme chantilly (lightly whipped and sweetened cream) was, again, a masterpiece of understated texture and flavor combinations. The second evening the dining room was almost full: I was happy to see that quite a few people know about this jewel. The fall menu, a bit different from the one we ordered from three nights before, sounds just as good and equally
inventive. We began our meal with a Caesar Salad ($7.75)
split for two. Crisp, whole leaves of romaine tossed in a
lively dressing with slivers of aged goat cheese and two flavor-packed anchovies make this classic comfortingly good. Too often this salad is overdressed or too cheesy, but Foto puts out a prefect version. Roasted Texas game hen ($13.95) sounded like the perfect way to break into this fall menu, and with one bite I
decided I would like to eat this weekly year-round. Plenty of
garlic rubbed over the skin gives this whole bird a fabulous
flavor, while the meat is tender and juicy and almost sweet.
This perfectly cooked game hen, served on a bed of blackeyed peas and flageolet beans with an incredibly deep and
rich sauce made from a reduction, was simply one of the
best meals I’ve ever had. Sauteed french-cut green beans
accompanied the dish. The service at Foto matches the food and decor: contemporary, hip, efficient and friendly. My experience here was one of the most rewarding and inviting I’ve had in San
Francisco. Go to Foto soon as you can, and see for yourself
BEAUTIFUL FOOD
Located two blocks behind the San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art, the Backstage is a first-class restaurant that prepares some of the most beautifully creative and delicious dishes available in the city. From the outside the Backstage is barely noticeable, though the inside is breathtaking. An eclectic mix of gothic wrought iron chandeliers, an impressive plaster sculpture of draped cloth held up by nymphs running the length of the dining area, huge urns of fresh flowers and trompe l’oeil stone walls that look as though they belong in an abandonded Roman temple make this a delightful place to eat in. To start off your meal I recommend the soup of the day, which for us was Potato Leek Soup with Chicken Broth ($3.50). This velvelty soup is served with slivers of fried leek, which impart a robustness to the delicate potato and savory chicken flavors. For appetizers you have to try the Grilled Oregano Prawns ($7.75). Big juicy prawns with a buttery oregano marinade and grilled pears (absolutely delicious!) are served around a tree of red lettuce and sprinkled with a light walnut vinaigrette. Very impressive! The Warm Goat Cheese is coated with herbs, roasted walnuts,frisse, roasted croutons, apple and sherry wine vinaigrette ($6) and is intoxicating. I usually dislike goat cheese due to its rank taste, but with the herbs it was a creamy taste sensation. For entrées I must recommend one of the most delicious pasta dishes I’ve ever had. Fusilli ($8.50), which is that twisty-shaped pasta, is served with ricotta, garlic, olives, onion, basil, oregano and roasted tomato sauce. The roasted tomato sauce
and the olives create a very earthy, slightly smokey flavor which goes well with the sweetness of the pasta, ricotta, onions and basil.
Steamed Sea Bass ($15.75) is one of the most beautifully presented and tasty dishes I’ve had. A mountainous heaping of baconaccented mashed potatoes surrounded with a basil-thyme sauce is flanked by two fillets of the freshest sea bass, topped with a grilled prawn and spinkled with slivers of fried leek. Emerging like a plume from this sculpture is a grand stalk of chive. The fish is incredibly sweet and the bacon flavor in the mashed potatoes, plus the basil thyme sauce, make for a surprising complement.
For dessert you’re in for a treat. Créme Brulée ($5) is homemade, as are all the desserts. Creamy custard covered with a crispy caramel was gobbled up by my dining companion within seconds, leaving me only a taste! The Flourless Chocolate Cake ($5), served with a scrumptious raspberry purée, freshly whipped cream and garnished with mint leaves, is another abandonment to seduction.
The Three Nut Tuiles is caramelized sugar, pecans, walnuts and
peanuts (like Florentine cookies) molded into a cup and filled with fresh slices of plums, nectarines, blackberries and raspberries, accompanied by a white chocolate mousse. Very elegant and very refreshing as a summer dessert.
So if you’re in the mood to have your eyes and palate dazzled to the nth degree, check out the Backstage—the best-kept secret in the city.
BACKSTAGE, YOU’LL FIND A STAR
SAN FRANCISCO—The aptly named Backstage is only
about a block away from the stage side of the War
Memorial Opera House and Herbst Theater. But there’s
nothing backstage about the restaurant—either its decor or
the food.
The stylish restaurant fills a long room highlighted with
arches, sponged walls and a spectacular trompe l’oeil
sculpture of a white drape supported by two nudes. Before
performances, a lively crowd fills tables beneath wide
wrought iron chandeliers.
The food, too, rates high marks for style without being
fussy or contrived. The evolving menu may feature ravioli
done with large sheets of pasta or a risotto with radicchio.
The menu is relatively short, featuring five appetizers and six
entrees on the night we visited. But chef Alain Trouboul, a
newcomer to the restaurant, makes them interesting enough
so choosing takes time.
Among starters, the sweet potato chips, lemon risotto
and a stuffed pasilla pepper tempted us, but we made other
choices.
The house-smoked trout ($6.75) appeared in a suave
salad of succulent pink fish, julienne of crunchy cucumber
and daikon (raddish) and slivers of pickled ginger. A
sesame-scented vinaigrette bound the perfectly balanced
mixture.
Polenta ($5.75) has a natural affinity to frying, we
learned. It came embellished with sauteed Portobello
mushrooms and red peppers, another inspired combination
of tastes and textures.
The entrees showed the same uncontrived style but
sensitive mixing of parts. Sea bass with warm spinach
salad ($14.75) came with a sauce of reduced blood orange
juice. It added freshness but didn’t distract from the salad
enlivened with segments of pink grapefruit and fennel
slices.
Wish for the lavender-marinated lamp chops ($18.50)
to appear should you visit Backstage. Four lovely rib chops,
grilled to rosy perfection, had a faintly perfumy lavender flavor that was more delicate and elegant than the usual rosemary seasoning. Smoky grilled potatoes and asparagus
and a dollap of tart rhubarb jam completed the plate.
A flourless chocolate cake with caramel sauce and
creme brulee were dessert temptations. We chose the
white chocolate mousse tart ($5), a wedge of thin, delicate
pastry holding a fluffy mousse and topped with mango, kiwi
and strawberries.
Backstage is owned by Ali Ghanbarian, who started
the South of Market renaissance by opening the Billboard
Cafe. He’s moved uptown here, but he’s managed to take
on higher style without losing SoMa verve.
FOTO 579
Ali Ghanbarian’s done it again.
Owner of the successful Billboard Cafe, Ali has turned
his talents to creating a new restaurant with an atmosphere
that’s a blend of rough chic, pictures and textures,
Southwestern regional whimsy and unpretentious drama.
It’s a kick.
Considering that Alan the Violinist and I decided to try Foto
579 on the second night it was open for dinner, we had a surprisingly even, professional and reasonable meal.
From the moment we sat down, the details tickled us.
Black rubber napkin rings that look like camera equiptment.
Jet black china. Clear drinking glasses with black bases
and black straws. Main dish platters painted like elaborate
mosaic. Nice.
The concept behind Foto 579 is to serve fresh food
made from largely organic ingredients, with American
regional influences on the cuisine, and everything low in fat.
To this end, an unusual range of house-made alcohol-free
fruit drinks, called Liquados, are available.
If our dinner were an actor, it would be the gastronomic
equilvalent of Mickey Rourke—a mixture of rough and
smooth, savvy and innocent, hapless and seductive.
Eggplany caviar with fresh sliced tomatoes and olive oil ($6)
was three drifts of moussy puree, the seasoning nuggets of
caviar with fresh sliced tomatoes and olive oil ($6)
was three drifts of moussy puree, the seasoning nuggets of
peppercorn and raw onion potent; the eggplant almost
undiscernible.
Crab cakes ($7) were three delicate little deep-fried
disks, with crab flavor spiked by lots of chili which provided an unexpected powerful jolt. Both appetizers were
accompanied by an excellent tangle of vibrant Mesclunstyle salad greens.
Our main courses were wholly satisfying. Oven roasted
rack of lamb($13.95) was perfectly medium rare and as velvety a cut of meat as one could wish, five chops fanned out with a
chorus line of cheese-speckled roast potato slices and
competently cooked baby green beans and julienned carrots.
Homemade spaghetti with Muscovy duck and green
olives ($10.75) tasted like something you would discover in
Spain or Corsica, al dente noodles liberally laced with
greaseless duck and dozens of olive circles, sprinkled with
a bit of parmesan cheese, olive oil and parsley—the most
unwimpy spaghetti I’ve had in years.
It’ll take almost no time for a kitchen already this competent to be cooking full speed ahead and, at these prices,
drawing crowds for an exceptionally interesting, inexpensive and attractice place to eat and hang out.
WHEN ALI GHANBARIAN, a young engineer at Bechtel, bought a failing ethnic restaurant in the heart of San Francisco’s warehouse district in 1982, the investment showed little promise for success. Cases de Kabob had gone broke, an ill-fitting enterprise in an area known primarily for artists’ studios, gay bathhouses and leather bars. Neighborhood residents preferred the punk styles of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, from purple hair to Mohawks. This was no place, friends said, for a yuppie like Ghanbarian. Nevertheless, he purchased the restaurant for $4,000. The idea was to let his cousin, who worked there, run the place while giving Ghanbarian an interesting sideline. “When I bought it,” he recalls, “I wasn’t too serious about it. But then, my competitive, egoistic character took over.” After studying the neighborhood, he concluded that the only way to be successful would be to open a leather bar or cater to the neighborhood arts community. He chose the latter. But how to proceed? “Here I was a trendy yuppie, coming here with my designer suit, my sports car, you could smell my cologne across the street,” he says. Ghanbarian hired neighborhood artists as consultants, spent another $4,000 on design and named the place the Billboard Café for the area’s only well-known landmark—the billboard on top of the building.
“The next thing we know,” says Ghanbarian, “we open the doors the first day and people have lined up. I mean, we’re not even sure if we’re going to have table service or cafeteria style—we did a combination for the first two weeks. We didn’t even have the prices on the menu. We said, “Okay, you pay five dollars, you pay four dollars, you pay five dollars.” ON THE FACE of it, the project had all the markings of disaster—an inexperienced owner opening a restaurant in a difficult location, where a previous incarnation had demonstrated the prospects for failure. But the garrulous Ghanbarian’s engineering skill combined with the creativity of local artists to spark an electric, eclectic atmosphere that spawned a destination restaurant in an area where many people previously would do no more than drive through on the daily commute. Unusual sculptures and paintings decorated the walls, the menu changed each day and kept up with the times—choices ranged from Qualyle burgers during the ’88 election to salmon Rushdie when the beleaguered author rose to notoriety.
Meals were cheap and delicious, earning the place a four star rating for its food. Customers were as varied as the menu. “There were a lot of people who came just to see the scene. You’d have the city attorney here, chief of police there, sheriff over there,
(columnist) Herb Caen sitting here, a bunch of wild Mohawks there, ca couple of leather gays there, it was a bizarre mixture,” says Ghanbarian. His own unabashed talent for selfpromotion helped build the business into a San Francisco landmark almost
overnight. Society columnists wrote about it, local television stations conducted live broadcasts there and Billboard Café was profiled in the national edition of the New York Times. With 70 seats, the restaurant would serve 200 lunches and 250 dinners a day. A FEW MONTHS after Billboard’s opened at Ninth
and Folsom streets, The Oasis, a large club featuring a swimming pool, opened across the street. A year and a half after opening Billboard, Ghanbarian started Club Nine nearby, a nightspot where pop stars filmed music videos and the in crowd hung out. “We opened Club Nine and that was it. All of the sudden you had South of Market booming,” says Ghanbarian. In short order, Rings, Julie’s Supper Club, Eddie Jacks, DNA Lounge, Club DV8 and others made successful debuts.
“We opened Club Nine and that was it. All of the sudden you had South of Market booming,” says Ghanbarian. In short order, Rings, Julie’s Supper Club, Eddie Jacks, DNA Lounge, Club DV8 and others made successful debuts. Southside, a Folsom street club, brought upscale yuppies to the neighborhood, with their Porsches and limousines, Musician Boz Skaggs opened Slim’s, a blues club, on Eleventh Street. Undici, a hot Italian restaurant moved in across the street and the 20 Tank brewpub opened next door. The Paradise Lounge, Holy Cow, Ace Café, Hamburger Mary’s, Don Ramon’s, Minora’s and others are within a short walk. A few blocks away are such specialty businesses as The Great Entertainer, a massive pool hall and restaurant, and the Brain Wash, a laundromat and café. “I guess every Friday and Saturday night if you walk from 12th Street to Second Street you would see 20,000 to 30,000 people hanging out here going to clubs. There are at least 20 clubs and each one lets in 900 to 1,300 people. And they’re all packed,” says Ghanbarian. South of Market, SOMA for short, has become San Francisco’s fashionable club district. Pioneered by Billboard Café, the area is a testament to the continuing vitality of the beverage industry. Ghanbarian credits his trail blazing success to developing the right idea in the right place at the right time. In the early 1980s, North Beach, the longtime center of nightlife in the city, was expensive and crowded, and parking was all but impossible. Union Street was catching on as a popular club spot, but parking was difficult there as well. The viable area for expansion was South of Market, the district filled with warehouses and industrial operations. Rent was cheap, parking
warehouses and industrial operations. Rent was cheap, parking plentiful. Growth was inevitable, but it took an imaginative effort like Billboard to demonstrate that a business could be successful there. “What worried me for a while was that (SOMA’s) growth was one dimensional, just entertainment: restaurants and clubs. But that is changing, too,” says Ghanbarian. Indeed, SOMA now features highrise apartments, office buildings, hotels and other businesses. BOTH BILLBOARD Café and Club Nine are closed, sold by Ghanbarian in 1988 and 1987 respectively. A third venture, Café Photo, opened in July 1987 to rave reviews. It shut down just three months later, destroyed by the October earthquake. Ironically, some of the reviews appeared after the restaurant had closed for good. Now, Ghanbarian is publisher of SOMA, a magazine celebrating “Left Coast style.” It began as a vehicle to publicize the work of local artists and has expanded to cover the young and trendy of the West Coast. SOMA celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this year. Ghanbarian is also preparing at least two more businesses. He has purchased the former Gypsy Café at Gough and McAllister streets near San Francisco’s Opera Plaza. The place is being remodeled and he plans to open it under a new name this fall. The idea is to cater to the area’s civil servants, attorneys and others from nearby City Hall with quick, inexpensive but high quality lunches. Dinner will be more elaborate and a bit more pricey, he says. The second venture is still in the development stage and involves a major nightspot. He’s not revealing the details yet, but he naturally expects both endeavors to be successful. For starters, he has plenty of expertise now. “My knowledge of these businesses is not out of a textbook. I’ve done it the hard way, so I’ve learned my lesson,” he says. Considering what Ghanbarian achieved with no experience at all, the results this time could be spectacular.”
ITS ALL
ABOUT ME
If you eat it, drink it, visit it, view it, or read it, there’s a good chance it’s connected somehow to the mega-trend setter, Ali Ghanbarian.
Trendsetter Ali Ghanbarian
SOMA is the longest-running independent arts, culture, design, and fashion magazine in the country and is known for helping discover and launching the careers of thousands of iconic designers, architects, musicians, filmmakers, writers, models, photographers, chefs, and mixologists.
The spectacular success of his bars, restaurants, and highly praised magazine, offered Ghanbarian a unique ability and credibility to take on some of the best consumer brands and connect them to the desirable demographics, the influencers, and the trendsetters, a good many of whom are SOMA’s brand captive audience worldwide.
As a result, the majority of premium wine and spirits brands, as well as fashion and beauty producers, reach out to SOMA magazine and AKA marketing to connect them to the influencers. SOMA Magazine and the sister company AKA Marketing have become the go-to platforms for hundreds of brands. They are credited with launching, branding, placing, and positioning some of the most successful brands ever.
In essence, AKA Marketing and, SOMA Magazine, provide a social and innovative platform worldwide for creative people to be discovered, showcase their talent, and share their visions. “It was a simple leap to incorporate some of these incredibly creative and talented folks in the ‘fabric’ of SOMA and what AKA Marketing is all about.” The core demographic of both companies are the ultimate influencers. They are at the forefront of cultural evolution, brand awareness, and creation.
Even though the magazine serves all types of artists from all over the world, Ghanbarian has always remained closely tied to the service industry. Hence, spirits brands continue to approach Ghanbarian for assistance because of his influence and talent, to help connect their brands to his vast network of the influencers.
Part of the excitement of the journey for Ghanbarian is encountering extraordinary visionaries, a few of whom he idealizes. Currently, he is working with the Blue Angel ultra-premium vodka, created by the legendary Maurice Kanbar of the SKYY fame. Blue Angel is a result of Maurice’s long-running passion and desire to create an Ultra-premium vodka for the perfect martini.
“Being a vodka drinker myself, I agree with the result,” stated Ali. “A few years back, when I helped launch Soli Elit for Allied Domecq, I was responsible for placing them in hundreds of prestige accounts, as soon as I would step in, the bartenders would have my Elit-up ready, so they nicknamed me the Elitist. I guess my nickname now a days is Mr. BAM.” … for the Blue Angel Martini.
Between his magazine, marketing company, and boundless energy, you will find his fingerprints in most successful premium brands.
“I probably have helped create numerous iconic brands,” laughs the gregarious Ghanbarian!