Stillwater
David Ruiz left Junior in the Mission, moved to Marin and opened a cocktail restaurant in Fairfax during the pandemic.1 Cameron Myers cooks.2
Why go
The backyard is the room. Esther Mobley put it plainly in the Chronicle: A semi-enclosed backyard stays warm enough, thanks to heat lamps and a pyramid-shaped fire pit, that you won't mind sipping an ice-cold mezcal drink and slurping a dozen oysters, which is definitely the move.
1 Ruiz did not stop here either. He went on to open the wine shop Souvenir and the wine bar Voyage within a few streets, which is one bartender rewriting how two Marin towns drink.1 The kitchen runs to ten on a weekday and to midnight on Friday and Saturday, in a town where the Chronicle notes plenty of restaurants still close at eight.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: a dozen oysters and a mezcal drink outside, then the fried chicken sandwich and
Kennebec fries with aioli
if you are staying for dinner.1 - Avoid: Monday, when the room is dark. The restaurant says its Tomales Bay oysters are two dollars on Tuesdays, which is its own claim and worth a phone call before you plan around it.2
What locals & experts say
- San Francisco Chronicle, Esther Mobley, 25 April 2024, on the patio:
A semi-enclosed backyard stays warm enough, thanks to heat lamps and a pyramid-shaped fire pit, that you won't mind sipping an ice-cold mezcal drink and slurping a dozen oysters, which is definitely the move.
1
Good to know
- Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 5 to 10, Friday and Saturday 4 to midnight, Sunday 5 to 9, closed Monday.2
- The room was designed by Margaret Ruiz, the owner's wife and partner, who runs the design practice The Strand.2
- The Chronicle files it as an "Also try" in its San Anselmo and Fairfax day out, under Village Sake.1
Verdict
should-visit — The strongest evidence is a critic telling you what to do rather than how she felt: oysters and a mezcal drink on the heated patio, and add the fried chicken sandwich if you want dinner. Fairfax shuts early and this kitchen runs to midnight on a weekend, which changes what the town is for. It stops short of the top rung because the Chronicle lists the kitchen rather than judging it.