Hillside Supper Club recently celebrated its first anniversary in its permanent location at the corner of Precita and Folsom, so the foodies at EaterSF decided to check in with HSC chefs Tony Ferrari and Jonathan Sutton to see how it’s going one year in.  For example:

What’s the reception been since you opened full-time?

TF: It’s been really good. It’s still a sleepy neighborhood; it’s going to take a little bit of time for people to realize that Bernal is a great place to come and check out, and that we happen to be here serving good food. We worked extremely hard at getting people to come to Bernal in general.

How did you do that?

TF: Grassroots, guerrilla marketing. We made flyers and went house-to-house meeting people, saying, “We’re in your neighborhood—check us out.”

How have you seen the dining scene change in Bernal since you’ve been here?

JS: A lot, especially over the last year. We feel good that we were part of taking that first leap, bringing people here and putting Bernal on the map. Holy Water just opened, and they have a great following because of sharing ownership with Churchill and Bloodhound. Blue Plate has been here forever, and they’re holding it down solid. We’re friends with those guys, and they’ve given us a ton of advice and support along the way. ICHI Sushi’s opening their second location, PizzaHacker just got started…Once we get the people here, they’re not going anywhere. They’re going to come back.

JS: And all the neighbors who live here will be able to walk down to somewhere instead of having to go to the Mission to eat.

TF: People don’t realize how close we really are here. We’re blocks away from the Mission—you can walk.

It’s true. Really. You can walk!

PHOTO: Olivia Terenzio/EaterSF