San Francisco restaurants have taken multiple drubbings over the decades. Quince, however, has been almost all boom. What began as an overly ambitious neighborhood restaurant grew into its own constellation of stylish satellites, anchored by Quince’s three Michelin stars.
When Michael and Lindsay Tusk opened the first iteration of Quince in a Pacific Heights town house in 2003, they bootstrapped it with credit cards and parental assistance, bringing in their folks to help strip the floors and finesse the cozy décor. The couple had met while working at Paul Bertolli’s Oliveto, in Oakland—Lindsay in the dining room and Michael, who had also cooked at Chez Panisse and Stars, in the kitchen.
