The Spinnaker Restaurant

OVERVIEW

The Spinnaker Restaurant at 100 Spinnaker Drive has anchored its own pier extending into Richardson Bay since the late 1960s, offering 270-degree panoramic views of the San Francisco skyline, Angel Island, Alcatraz, and the Bay Bridge from floor-to-ceiling glass walls. An American-Continental seafood restaurant open seven days a week, it is one of the most dramatically situated dining rooms in the Bay Area, with an award-winning wine list and a fresh, seasonal seafood menu that has earned it a loyal following for over five decades. Named for the great billowing sail — the one the Portuguese sailors who built this waterfront knew best.

HISTORY

The Spinnaker sits on its own pier extending into Richardson Bay — the same waters where Azorean Portuguese sailors first put down roots in the 1860s and 1870s. Arriving as crew on Yankee whaling ships that stopped at the Azores, young men from São Jorge, Pico, and Faial stayed when those ships reached San Francisco Bay. By 1900, Portuguese-Americans comprised nearly one quarter of Sausalito's entire population. They built the sardine canneries along this waterfront, operated the anchovy fleet that supplied Bay Area fishmongers, and constructed the Nunes Brothers Boat Works, which stood on this stretch of shore for decades. The IDESST Portuguese Cultural Center at 511 Caledonia Street and Sausalito's sister-city relationship with Cascais, Portugal carry that legacy today.

COUNTRY - PORTUGAL

FEATURED WHISKEY - Venakki Woodwork Tawny Port Cask Single Malt

Venakki Distillery, Portugal  ·  Cask Strength

Jim Murray Liquid Gold Award; 96 points, 2024 Whisky Bible. Portugal's first single malt, matured in Tawny Port casks. The IDESST Portuguese Cultural Center stands on Caledonia. The Holy Ghost Festa has been celebrated in Sausalito since 1886.