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There is a particular kind of cold that lives out near Taraval Street. It is a day in late June and there is no sun out here on Taraval and 21st, just the greyness of Central Sunset and Muni whirring by periodically. I love that for us in a country that's sweltering in heat, and it affords me the opportunity to visit this spot's latest addition: Jandii Cafe.
Jandii (pronounced jan-dee, after the Korean word for a lush patch of grass) is the newest project from Jiyeon and Hoyul Steven Choi, the couple behind one of the Bay Area's quietly enormous restaurant families. You have probably eaten their food without knowing it: Sweet Maple, Kitchen Story, Blackwood, the U:Dessert Story boba shops, the Berkeley Social Club and its infamous Millionaire's Bacon.
I stopped going into an office a decade ago, but I wonder when everyone else did. My guess is these are all SF State students. Pictured is 11 am on a Monday. There are two main communal spaces, wall outlets, a couple bathrooms, and wifi with purchase.
Newness can die off or carry a business, as we've seen with the enduring success of Game Parlour down the street. Jandii soft opened this past week on a moderately quiet spot with mainstays I've seen for at least a decade: the KFC Taco Bell at 1150 Taraval. New Taraval Cafe at 1054. And my favorite greasy spoon, Tennessee Grill at 1128. It's also in spitting distance of a Public Library branch.
The business model focuses on three things: coffee, matcha, and scones. The matcha is ceremonial-grade and imported from Japan, and one early reviewer called the almond milk version the best they had ever had, all bright and grassy and spring-like. The scones arrive warm and split, spread with housemade jam and cream. The signature pour is a salted-butter oat milk brew on tap, creamy enough to pass for a small dessert. There is hojicha for the tea-curious, and not much else. They don't take cash.
I love the space, the ambiance, and the vanilla latte I ordered was not scalding, in a good way. The guy pictured above was way too friendly with the customers in front of me. They went on and on and on about coffee types or what they wanted while a line queued. Finally another barista helped me out.
I've not been to South Korea but I'd say the open ambiance and plants also gives Japanese. If it matters to you, though, the plants are fake and the elevator music sounds AI generated. The wall outlets are at a sort-of standing desk, which you might think would prevent all-day laptoppers. You'd be wrong.
 To be fair, the guy next to me put it away once he noticed I was snapping photos. He then proceeded to take a call on speakerphone. The tenacity of the human spirit.
Jandii co-owner Jiyeon Choi has said the idea came from a freezing day in New York years ago, when she ducked into a cafe to thaw out and was handed a warm scone with butter and jam. It warmed her from the inside, the memory stuck, and a concept was born.
The Chois bought the 4,700-square-foot building back in 2019, then watched their plans for it dissolve more than once. First it was slated to be a U:Dessert Story. Then, in 2022, a noodle concept that never materialized. The pandemic ate the timeline. What finally made sense for the corner was the thing the neighborhood didn't have: a big, airy, light-filled room built for lingering rather than rushing.
The Chois are already expanding. A second Jandii is planned for the former Kitchen Story space at 16th and Sanchez in the Castro within a few months, and a third is slated for Mountain View inside a year.
If I can be allowed a small rant, today's goes out to this ex-Meta employee who took to X to complain about SF cafes closing early. Jandii closes at 4 pm.
He probably has enough money already to open a Jandii, but like the rest of us, he knows that culinary spots are risky businesses without half the financial upside as the tech industry. These laptoppers give $5 to a local coffee shop and then complain about its lack of all-day outlets, clean poopatoriums and free wifi. Cafes should normalize kicking people out if this is hurting their business. (I say this on my laptop, writing this story from Jandii.)
Let's do better, and frankly, let's invest in SF. I'm sorry Menlo Park is so meh for you, Jeremy, that you considered driving to SF—only to consider that meh, too. You can also read my story on late-night spots. They are, in fact, too few in number.
Jandii Cafe is at 1100 Taraval St. Open daily, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saul Sugarman is editor-in-chief and owner of The Bold Italic.
The Bold Italic is a not-for-profit media organization, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. We operate under a fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)(3).
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