70 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {food coloring} sesame chicken, peanuts and mint). For dinner, pick your pleasure—Burmese at Burma Love, Spanish tapas at Canteen, omakase sushi at Robin, Italian at Che Fico or contemporary Mexican at Mirame. For late-night libations, head to Barebottle Brewing. Just one more thing about the food and drink tenants at Springline: They’re all based in San Francisco, with the exception of two. Canteen’s sister eatery, Camper, is in Menlo Park; Mirame is in Beverly Hills. That’s deliberate. Cyrus Sanandaji, Springline’s developer and the dynamic young managing principal of Presidio Bay Ventures, lives in San Francisco, has frequented all these restaurants and envisioned local brands that represent the City by the Bay’s distinct cultural identity and iconic pull. “We looked to see what would complement existing fine dining options in the South Bay, and what didn’t exist,” he explains. “Instead of just heavy dinner places, we wanted quality, approachable outlets that would drive both locals and our tenants to want to eat and drink at Springline seven days a week.” There’s nothing quite like Springline, a 183-unit low-rise luxury apartment complex new to the Peninsula. But that’s just fine with the Oxford-educated Iranian-Kurdish American, who was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Dubai, studied political science at Oxford, worked in London and moved in 2008 to San Francisco. He embraces challenges, to put it mildly. “I have a passion for people and want to design an experience to evoke emotion—that’s what makes life exciting. You spend 24 hours a day in a built environment, so let’s enhance the experience,” says Cyrus, who admits to being an “adrenaline junkie.” Among his favorite activities: windsurfing at Crissy Field and heliskiing. Springline’s abundant outdoor and communal indoor spaces (with a piano, library and record player in the sleek residential lobby) and robust amenities were shaped by the pandemic, he notes. “Pre-pandemic, restaurants didn’t appreciate the value of outdoor dining. A New York Times “36 Hours” travel story on Menlo Park could focus entirely on Springline, the new luxury mixed-use development across from Caltrain. Start the day with coffee and a pastry at Andytown Coffee Roasters. Eat lunch al fresco in the plaza by the fountain, perhaps a takeaway salad from Proper Food (seared lemon pepper tuna perhaps or green tea soba noodles with PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHANNA HARLOW / COURTESY OF SPRINGLINE ABOVE: Springline’s Burma Love is the newest location for San Francisco’s Burma Superstar family of restaurants founded in 1992; Springline’s plaza offers a new Peninsula gathering space.
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