Dario Barbone of Studio Aurora

In the vibrant heart of San Francisco, a new cultural hub is redefining the neighborhood experience. Studio Aurora is nestled at the intersection of 14th and Valencia. This multifaceted venue is not just a café or a wine bar; it’s a harmonious blend of art, food, music, and community. As Forever Neighbor Podcast host Ramzi Budayr describes it, Studio Aurora is the ultimate multihyphenate space, seamlessly integrating a restaurant, movie theater, art house, and radio station under one roof.

In today’s episode, we delve into the story behind this innovative space with its visionary owner, Dario Barbone, whose journey from molecular medicine to culinary arts is as dynamic as the venue itself.

Guests

• Ramzi Budayr, Dolores Deluxe owner and host of the Forever Neighbor podcast
• Dario Barbone, owner Studio Aurora 

About Forever Neighbor

Forever Neighbor is the official podcast of Dolores Deluxe. Owner Ramzi Budayr interviews small business owners, creatives, and activists as they explore what it means to be in community with one another. In this special four-episode mini-season, Budayr interviews five local business owners in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Transcript

Ramzi Budayr: What you’re hearing is the sound of one of my favorite new businesses in San Francisco. Studio Aurora, located on 14th and Valencia. It’s a new addition to the neighborhood. I go there three or four times a week. It’s the ultimate multihyphenate: cafe, wine bar, restaurant, movie theater, art house, and of course, radio station. And by the way, this is not an exaggeration. They’re actually managing to pull this off seven days a week with all these different layers of programming. As a regular there, and really as anybody can attest to after they walk in there, you’re just left wondering how the hell does something this complex get put together.

Hi, I’m Ramzi and you’re listening to The Forever Neighbor Podcast. This season brought to you by Square. We’re so excited to have Dario Barbone, the owner of Studio Aurora, on for our first episode of the season. Dario is a personal friend of mine. I’ve loved and admired his work and businesses since he started Alimentari Aurora in Potrero Hill, right next to Ruby Wine. Alimentari is a 250 square foot labor of love and really a canvas for all of Dario’s passions, starting with charcuterie and focaccia and these beautiful imports and gifts that he’s able to bring in. He’s got his tinned fish subscription and chocolate subscription. He’s just such a creative mind and someone with impeccable taste And that taste gets fed to us through these incredible spaces and we all get to benefit. Dario had the opportunity to open a new space through the Vacant to Vibrant program in downtown San Francisco, which was a really cool incubator and I think a fun pilot for people to expand their concepts.

And as you’ll hear, it was sort of a staging area and helped him flow into Studio Aurora pretty naturally since he was able to get all those permits transferred over to his new space on Valencia Street. It’s also a rare case in which the city really mobilized and made the opening process much, much, much easier for an operator. And if anybody from the city is listening, I think this is exactly what we need to be doing for all small businesses moving forward. So I’m very excited and very grateful for Dario to be sharing his experience. We’ve got some great interviewees this season. We’ll be releasing new episodes every Tuesday, and each interviewee is sort of offering a window into a different stage in a business’s lifecycle, in particular in San Francisco. But I think it’s so applicable to what’s going on in the country and dare I say, the entire world right now. So yeah, super excited for that. And I’m going to let Dario do the rest of the talking. So enjoy.

Dario Barbone: Hi everyone, my name is Dario. I was imported from Italy in 2004. No tariff. No tariff yet. My career was a little different back then. I came with a PhD in molecular medicine. But anyway, long story short, around 2017 I made the final switch and decided to follow my passion for food. After a couple of years of demounting and trying to figure out what really is me, I decided to invest in what really is me, which is food and entertaining and giving people the ability to create memories through food. That’s really what I love to do. So I opened Alimentari Aurora during the pandemic. It was the final trigger to do something that was meaningful, and I opened this tiny, tiny Alimentari Italian style in Potrero Hill in 2020. It’s 250 square feet, so probably half of your store. And then let’s say four years later, I got the opportunity to expand and I did it. It’s been a little bit of a wild ride, but actually I landed in probably the space that I always wanted to have. It’s called Studio Aurora, and it’s on Valencia, 302 Valencia. And I finally unified all my passions: art, food, wine, beer, sake, and music.

Ramzi Budayr: I love it. Yeah. Well, let’s talk about the early days of Alimentari, how you secured the space. Why Potrero? Because you could pick so many different neighborhoods.

Dario Barbone: I noticed. I’m going to say that it was a perfect star alignment of easy choices. It’s about Ikigai. You have to find the perfect balance of value, work, dedication in life, and vocation. And when you reach that point in life, choices become easier. You make a choice and then you make it work. So it was really simple. I was doing a popup at Ruby, we  were playing it disco, and I was making, I’m not kidding you, 12 portions or something, meatballs, lasagna, and people were flocking in. We were doing something so simple that it was almost ridiculous. But then COVID happened and we couldn’t do it anymore. Nothing in person. The shop was closed. So overnight I put a Square website online. I started selling one loaf of bread every week and let’s say 20 portions of something. I basically started creating overnight a small, tiny market online that every week was changing. Every week I was finding something cute, and it basically became a delivery service overnight. So every Thursday I was doing this, and honestly, I was even more successful than before I even started and I was providing comfort. I was providing something to look forward to the week after. And then I remember clearly it was one Thursday I was doing the drop-offs out to Ruby and the space next to me became available, but that was the trigger, like, oh my God, I need to make my move, and I got the place and I said, let’s see how it goes.

And then basically we’ve been sort of tinkering with different concepts. I was doing a 15 on Macaroni at one point. Soleil Ho wrote about it. It was great. We started doing at one point lasagna. Oh my God, that thing was crazy successful. At one point I started roasted chickens because my real dream inside of myself, the perfect goal in life is to open a rotisserie, but not the other department basically came about. They said, “Hey, you don’t have the right hood for this.” I’m like, “I know, okay, I’ll stop the chicken.” And he’s like, “No, you have to stop everything meats, even the lasagna.” Okay. So I stopped doing that, and then I was already doing focaccia, but I kind of pressed hard on the focaccia gas on the pedal, and now I got an article on The Chronicle for that. And I can say without bragging too much that I think I became sort of an instant classic after two years. If I don’t, I’m not there. But I think people would notice.

Ramzi Budayr: I would say, it’s absolutely an institution.

Dario Barbone: Thank you. It is absolutely an institution. I don’t think of it that much that way, but yeah, it feels that way. So yeah, that’s one badge of honor that I really cherish is that it’s completely self-funded, bootstrapped, done without really a business plan. That’s the way I love to eat. And so yeah, that’s pretty much, and then I filled it up with all my toys and books. I realized very quickly that I was living there more than I was living in my house. And so I made it my house. I guess examples of that, like the old Toy Boat Cafe on Irving, which eventually went sort of derailed, had the same vibe, completely local, Green Apple Books. There’s so many. Now I’m thinking about that area, Yamo, those places that have never changed, but they’re so full of identity and people love. Yeah. So I’m glad that I am sort of adhering to that realm of San Francisco.

Ramzi Budayr: I’m curious, so when you started operating out of Alimentari, how soon did you feel like, okay, I don’t quite have all the tools I need to do what I want to do, and at what point did expansion feel like more of a necessity rather than a desire? Or how did that unfold for you?

Dario Barbone: It’s safe to say that I crammed that place with a lot of stuff. At the beginning of 2024, I got a call from Vacant to Vibrant. They basically came about and said, we think you can do it. You should apply. So they approached you. They approached me basically saying, “Hey, we’re rounding up applications. We think you can do it. You should apply.” And I was like,

Ramzi Budayr: Did you already have contacts with the city at that point?

Dario Barbone: No. I think they were looking at that point for something that was really San Francisco vibe, right? San Francisco flair. Like someone that they could community-oriented and not cookie-cutter. Yeah, I checked every box for sure. I did do my homework. I went home. I brought a really good grant. This is actually kind of funny. I wrote so many grants in my life for science and got nothing, which was normally frustrating. I can say that every grant I wrote since I started writing grants for Alimentari Aurora, I got all of them.

Ramzi Budayr: Isn’t it funny how life is so circuitous and you basically went through training on how to write grants and now you’re actually using that training for real?

Dario Barbone: Yeah. It’s a skill that I’m very happy I have.

Ramzi Budayr: That’s incredible.

Dario Barbone: Yeah. So basically I won and then they gave me a space that was way too big.

Ramzi Budayr: How many square feet was it?

Dario Barbone: It was 3000. Yeah. It’s huge. And it was also, I’m not going to be unthankful for that, but it was lacking the neighborhood around it, and I tried my best to create a neighborhood around it, but being at Salesforce, the Transbay Terminal, there was a little bit of a disconnect to what I do. And then eventually ended up that the property told me that they found someone else and I had to vacate.

Ramzi Budayr: And that was kind of premature, right?

Dario Barbone: Kind of premature, but contractually doable. They were not in the wrong, I was in the hope. And at that point, the city, they came to vibrant and a lot of people in governmental offices came about and tried to help, and so everything happened much faster. Yeah. I’m very thankful for that. Yeah. Well, so I was also a little stranded, and so they totally saw that they came to help. They did. And eventually I found the place on Valencia and it was instant, instant love.

Ramzi Budayr: I do want to touch on something you said because helping small businesses not bleed money in the opening or the transfer of ownership process is not a huge lift from the city’s perspective, right?

Dario Barbone: Yes. I want to make clear that the city is not that just has funds around. Sure, sure. And at that time, there was nothing really available.

So it’s not that they can just wake up and say, “Hey, here’s $50,000,” or “Of course, of course.” Even if there was a plan like that. So what they could do silly things that honestly were super important. When I had to review my lease, there was all this jargon, but I had three days to do it. So they connected me with a lawyer at Bar, and that person really helped me listen on the phone three hours line by line. And those resources are there they are there they are there. You just have to be timely. Also, the city really didn’t have any fault in what happened is the property. Sure, sure. The fact that they came about and helped shows a lot of integrity. Yeah. Maybe this is the first page that I actually say it. Yeah. I don’t want to throw too much shade.

Ramzi Budayr: No, no. On the contrary, I witnessed how you were able to piece it all together so quickly. And I think it’s a really good use case of when the city deploys its manpower and its resources, not just financial, but its time and its system to support businesses. You can get a really impactful community-oriented place up and running within a few months rather than having to wait.

Dario Barbone: My case was sort of easy, but it still took a good five, six people on the case to consult at different stages to figure out how to get out of the pickles and stuff like that.

Ramzi Budayr: So let’s talk about Studio Aurora, and now you got your licenses in hand. I think the first time I walked into the space was the day that you got your notice from.

Dario Barbone: I think you did.

Ramzi Budayr: Yeah. From ABC (alcoholic beverage control license) for your wine and beer license, which is really exciting. So what was the process of, it sounds to me a lot of things came together, synchronistically.

Dario Barbone: Yes. Well, the beauty and the crux of Vacant to Vibrant is that you go in and you cannot have an expiration date of six months.

Ramzi Budayr: Sure, sure, sure.

Dario Barbone: That’s what I thought I had that it was eventually for, but this one is different though. This one, I signed a five-year lease. There’s a right attached to it. It’s a financial thing then. Yeah. So in the mission, you cannot have an ABC license brand new. Either you buy a business with it or you transfer it. So thank God they already had it on touch.

Ramzi Budayr: Sure.

Dario Barbone: So they were all mistakes and I was like, let’s go. I’m going to do it. Do it. I was like, and then we got that entertainment permit, which I already had downtown, so that was also easy. Oh wow. Wow. Yeah.

Ramzi Budayr: It was almost like a staging area. It’s getting all your ducks in a row so that you could deploy it when the time was right, when the space was right. So yeah, I mean, in a way

Dario Barbone: Monopoly, you bought all the corner and then you’re now starting to print hotels. You step on it, you’re like, you’re done. You’re done. Yeah. So slowly waiting game. Totally. And so there’s another thing that I want people to see. We started not in a rush, but sort of rushed. We left downtown the Salesforce Tower around end of October, if I remember correctly, like a week before the end of October the 24th, and then November 1st, we were already open here. So I haven’t really had the time to think of a concept.

So now that I know the numbers, now that I know who we serve and how we serve, and the radio is fully committed in who, by the way, I donate the space to, because they’re a nonprofit. So I support the arts that way. They’re happy. They keep my pace of screen. What I was saying is that I didn’t have a clear plan. I literally translated what I had and then the moment we started extending the menu and night on Friday, Saturday felt probably too much. So we’re still like when I got a car, like a NASCAR car and it bounces from side to side, and then eventually they find the right trajectory. Yeah. Yeah. I think that stage, it’s less dramatic than a car crash, but it’s more like we are adjusting the trajectory. Yeah.

Ramzi Budayr: Only a few months in. It’s like you’re ahead of schedule. If anything, you’re ahead of schedule. I’m two and a half years in.

Dario Barbone: There’s no spaces that open with a clear vision. Of course, that wasn’t me. That wasn’t me. And it will continue to evolve. Anyway, we just installed the movie for a screen for movies. There’s so much stuff going on coming up. But yeah, we’re probably going to pivot. We’re going to change our sandwiches, we’re going to pivot to something more light. Oh, that place is good for that. And then I will tell you right now what it is. Sure, sure, sure. We’re definitely working on something. But yeah, the reception has been great. There was an art show last week that it was like, bang it. We had low riders outside. The whole OG mission came out.

Ramzi Budayr: Hell.

Dario Barbone: And I was like, okay, well I’m doing great seeing all those people just celebrating the place and what was happening. It was so hard to work.

Ramzi Budayr: Well, I’m curious because you now have two ongoing businesses. When you opened Alimentari, how would you have defined your community then? Only with Alimentari.

Dario Barbone: I’m going to start with saying that I probably never use the word community. It’s important, but I don’t always have this feeling that when you say it, set goals, and then this is my community. What if it’s not? As I said, my goal is to create memories through food. And in all honesty, it’s curious people. My community is curious people and I don’t care where they come from or how they got to me. Yeah. It’s the customer that gets me. So my community has been built over the years for me. Exactly. The person that I am, I’ve never performed for anyone. I’ve told the story of my products. I will give you plenty of tastings. I give him plenty of discounts. I fed with rot during pandemic. There was a guy that was living in on block. I fed him every day until it kind of became an issue, but suddenly left it. And then you have to wake up in the morning knowing that you do something that you love. And that’s what I do. So I think my community is people who love what I do. They love to see me. I never spent a dollar in marketing because of that. I don’t want to be in my community for visual association or connection through something. It stumble on me. Sure. Those are the best places on vacation. I went to that restaurant room, man. He didn’t have restaurant written outside. I was with my friend and he said, let’s go drink. And then we stayed there with the order eating and drinking until 2:00 AM. That’s it. That’s the best. And that’s the best place. And you can’t fake that. You can fake out, fake that.

Ramzi Budayr: That’s one of the things I love about the space that you’ve built in the mission is the layering. And just to piggyback on what you’re saying, it’s all really organic melding of all of these people, all of these energies, these creative voices, but done so in a way that’s very authentic and very natural. And not to say effortless because there’s a lot of effort, but it’s not designed in a lab. It’s not like you’re not sitting here trying to put the right number of followers here and the right number of followers. You’re just doing okay. You don’t market three, these are my people, these are my people, these are my people. Let’s bring some sawa, what I eat and hopefully you like it too.

Dario Barbone: Hopefully, I guess what they do.

Ramzi Budayr: Yeah. Yeah. So I was going to ask, do you think how you would define community or whatever the word is for you differently now with studio?

Dario Barbone: Probably the best way is that every worker or mine, every employee at the end of the day is a trend. I’m really working with friends every That’s great. That’s great. Or they weren’t friends, but then they became friends and I had this relationship of like, oh, no crack of jokes. It was great. It’s not right. And then the other part is that I think customers are becoming that. I’ve become friends with so many customer. I’m getting to the point where there’s one ruling life that I have that my best friends in life, I told a friend of mine like a week ago, I don’t know what they do. I literally, I meet people that we talk and we meet over an interest or a conversation or a friend of a friend. It’s tangential, one degree of separation, and we never get to talk about what we do. They know what I do because Yeah, yeah, sure. But I don’t know what they do. And recently I found that there were some very successful Apple people there. There’s some crazy designers. I had no idea. But in that space, there’s this horizontal level of being there and it doesn’t matter. So your equalizer, it’s a great equalizer.

Ramzi Budayr: So I have to ask, as you scale your business, I mean, I just have this place, right? I’m struggling to manage everything, all the numbers and all the, just everything. And especially now we’re actually getting busier and tickets and all that stuff. What tools are you using to manage your businesses just from a nitty-gritty perspective?

Dario Barbone: It was hard at the beginning to delegate the new space, but it was clear that I couldn’t do itt. So the art of delegation is kind of funny with tools I need, I do believe not because this is for Square, but Square actually kind of provided me a good umbrella of services and payroll. I have this and that, and so kind of an inventory I could. So there was a good umbrella, but that was good. So those are the tools. Number one, something that could really run your business from whatever you are. Then it was popups. I could be on my phone right now. Now I can tap on your phone. What other tools do I need? Do I use,

Ramzi Budayr: Well, I want to go back to delegation because you do make shit happen. I’m overwhelmed in a very positive way by how much you guys are able to achieve. And more importantly, with as many different collaborators, it’s much easier to make shit happen when it’s four people in a room that are just there all the time. But you’re pulling from here, you’re pulling from there. You got this person, you got, again, layering. Whenever I experience your products, I feel the entire ecosystem that how I

Dario Barbone: Build to my vision. Of course, at one point. And I think I got a lot of attention during the transition from downtown to here, but also also I’ve been living here for 20 years. There’s a bunch of friends that they’ve been friends forever that want me to do. So people see me as a platform too. It’s cool to do stuff with me. And you know what? Instead of profiting for me, yeah, let’s do it. And honestly, I teach, let’s do it. It’s like I want to make desserts for you, and then okay, let’s do it. I don’t even think about it. I’m just super enthusiast. Okay. It takes a village at that village. Better collaborate. I like. Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Ramzi Budayr: So how are you managing all these relationships, all these decisions that need a follow-up? How the fact do you do that?

Dario Barbone: That’s actually my life. I complain that I’ll have a life, but that’s actually my life. Going around and talking to friends, and I’m talking to you right now. My life is the enjoyment that I derive from doing what I love. And what I love is a combination of selling stuff that I stand by and that I respect and love and flavor and everything, but also curious.

Ramzi Budayr: But it seems like you love collaboration too. You just love to collaborate all the time. Yeah.

Dario Barbone: Well that’s, that’s science also. You don’t do thing by yourself. It’s a team, right? It’s always a team. Right. So boiling it down, being humble, don’t think everything because you,

Ramzi Budayr: But that’s the thing, and this is what I really appreciate about what you’ve built, is that your spaces are a true reflection of you, and you can’t hide that for better or worse.

Dario Barbone: Yeah. Studios, again, it’s a team effort. Sure, sure, sure. For sure. And I’m even too, but clearly it’s larger and studio probably has less of me inside. There’s a radio too. The layering, well, in fact, right now I have to navigate a fine line between are we an event space, are we a restaurant, are we a radio? So I want to make sure that people understand that we have food, and that’s why also the collaboration really important.

Ramzi Budayr: Well, the neighborhood will tell you what you are eventually anyway, so you’ll find that…

Dario Barbone: Backwards. Food has been great. We serve good launches. Buyouts are coming. Awesome. People have asked me to do events, movie screenings, art shows, fashion shows, outlets, we’re going to have a sale for whatever. Yes. Neighboring shops. We have our university. Can you cater it? Yes. We’ve been doing a lot with Airbnb, if you want to like it or not. I’m pretty sure people have their opinion on Airbnb, but yeah, maybe hot is hot.

Ramzi Budayr: No, no, no. But actually we should touch on that because also in the context of this recording, we do live in San Francisco, right?

Dario Barbone: That’s my excuse.

Ramzi Budayr: Yeah. The business we do and the ecosystem we’re a part of is not our choice. And I do seeing these monolithic businesses with unlimited budgets supporting small businesses, I have to say that with their budgets,

Dario Barbone: I have to say that I did a bunch of caterings and always, Airbnb has always been the one driven by people that I see a couple of friends in the process. I have a specific friend that has been really enthusiast about what we do, and she’s been pushing a lot for us in there and every time feedback. This is fantastic. And they keep coming and yeah, they love what we do and they keep the, in a way, it’s keeping the dollar local.

Ramzi Budayr: For sure.

Dario Barbone: So I’m not disregarding that as a fault necessarily. That money could go to some other corporate or corporate situation. But they keep their money local.

Ramzi Budayr: Exactly. They’re small and they keep it small. That’s the other thing, because by keeping it small, it’s also ensuring that that money stays in the local economy because you’re spending all your money right here in this neighborhood, you’re not going anywhere else. The combination of acquisition and execution that you have, acquiring opportunities and then executing on those opportunities is blowing my mind. Thank you. Again. My heart rate just went up like fucking 45%.

Dario Barbone: It’s taking its toll. Sure. It’s like being perpetually in startup mode.

Ramzi Budayr: Yeah.

Dario Barbone: The return of investment is not great. And we all know that this is the elephant in the room in San Francisco. No restaurant is making a killing.

Ramzi Budayr: Sure.

Dario Barbone: Some are.

Ramzi Budayr: Some are. But they’re not built restaurants. They’re built like cruise ships,

Dario Barbone: Correct. Right. And there’s always the entertainment group behind it. And yeah, I want to make sure that there’s a distinction there is selling an experience and there is shaping a corner of San Francisco. I focus on shaping a corner of San Francisco through my identity, and luckily it caught people like what I do and they find honesty in what I do. There are places where I go eat in San Francisco that are not conducive of that thinking. I feel like, okay, I just went somewhere and just spent 200 bucks and that’s it. But for example, I love that pace cost is doing any his team or we don’t deserve it. How we became friends, it’s kind of silly, but he was doing a pop-up at or air, and he was his last pop-up. And at the time I just started a shop and I used to mop every day myself. So it was like a 14-hour day for me. And he’s in the kitchen after all this beautiful pop-up moping. And I said, Koska, we’re the same people. And he is like, yeah. So I helped him a little bit, but it’s just, yeah, he’s a dedicated person in that kitchen, that kitchen, that food speaks  about who he is. And sometimes you go to a restaurant, you just don’t feel that. It’s the plate that is the focus, not the rest. Make sense?

Ramzi Budayr: Yeah.

Dario Barbone: That’s when you feel the disconnect, the money spent. You always have to wonder like, “Hey, I spent the money, but I need to support the restaurant and this.” Whatever you can charge half and also not tend so much. Also, big rich is not really what I’m looking after.

Ramzi Budayr: Right. Well, that’s been the common thread with everyone who’s been doing something of importance. And that’s spoken to me personally, but also to our immediate community in a very visceral way. Realistically, where do you see the mission going in the next year? The Mission neighborhood?

Dario Barbone: The Mission neighborhood? Ooh. Oh man. I have certain opinions. So actually I lived in the Mission for 20 years. I think I probably formed some opinion. And the Mission is big towards here, towards Valencia. Although Valencia is separate from the Mission and there’s 14th Street and then there’s 24th Street. The focus is different. The Mission is Latino and it will always be, and it’s great. And that’s really honestly why I felt at home when I got here in 2004.

Ramzi Budayr: That community took you in?

Dario Barbone: Yes, it did. It’s honestly really warming, down to earth. And people don’t get mad at me, but it’s not the Marina. There’s a level of what’s transient, like the Marina, people who live in the Marina don’t usually live there for a long time.

Ramzi Budayr: Exactly.

Dario Barbone: And there’s always been this situation like the Marina being perceived as more rich and fancy and the Mission being more colorful and blue-collar. Well, yes, I joke with that. So I would’ve felt probably too bougie in the Marina, Pacific Heights, or whatever that is, and the Mission felt like home right away. But that’s the person who I am. So I think that will never go away. The Mission is a pulsing core of SF creativity, accepting and also not accepting because there’s been the infusions of capitalism that were rejected by the Mission’s immune system. And honestly, I jive with all of them. There were busy people and businesses that tried to piggyback on the success or the hipster nature of the Mission. And that was just, I’m glad the immune system of the Mission showed up and rejected those places.

Ramzi Budayr: I like how you put that.

Dario Barbone: But the Mission is also transient. And there was a time where a lot of techies were there, and I heard there was original 2000. I think I came kind of late for that to see that, but especially the outer Mission. But the Mission closer to Valencia was very influenced. So the Mission to this day, Valencia, I am in the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association, and it was perceived when I came as a very edgy and sort of very San Francisco vibe. And I feel that it’s still alive, but it’s like London. There are streets that have sort of taken a different look.

If the Mission looked like Valencia, the Mission wouldn’t be the Mission anymore. So I think the Mission still has that really natural, true aspect to it. Even the shops in the Mission are just really, they’re not trying too hard. You go to Valencia, there’s definitely a window dressing situation to it, and that affects the eye. That affects the price. And then the rents go up and there’s only certain people, and it’s basically a circle that gentrifies the place. Not saying anything against the business, I love everyone. I’m just saying from a visual perspective, the Mission has maintained a grounded aspect, not a human. Human is the wrong word. Grounded. Thank you.

Ramzi Budayr: Yeah.

Dario Barbone: While Valencia has beautified, it hasn’t just gentrified, but beautified. It’s a little more of a spectacle. Not in the block where I live, 14th, just sort of like three to four. It does feel like a different era of Valencia. Right. It does feel like an era of Valencia instead of being 17th to 21st, 22nd, it’s…

Ramzi Budayr: Like time traveling.

Dario Barbone: Almost. It’s a little time traveling. Also, a few residential apartments were built on Valencia that make your local less historic and more modern. I mean, change is change. You don’t want to be stodgy and change is change. Right. But yeah. So where do I see the Mission? I hope the Mission doesn’t change at all. The Mission is, I think, at the core of a lot of artists still.

Ramzi Budayr: Well, so we wrap every episode with two neighborly questions. The first, is there a neighbor you’ve had—residential, commercial in your childhood, now at any point in your life—that’s really made an impact on you? And if so, can you shout them out?

Dario Barbone: I mean Ruby. Ruby. Ruby, yes. I used to work at Ruby as well. Oh, back in the days. So I started working Mondays afternoon. Yeah. They have also the same level of service that I do. Very personal, very old school, very aloof sometimes, but like me, but human, human that is San Francisco. And in fact, one of the OG places in Natural Wine in San Francisco. The party is legendary. It was literally an easy stepping stone for me to just open next. And you think would target generosity on their end? Oh yeah. Helping After Ride, we open the parklet together.

It was hard for me after even three years to gain the independence. It was hard to establish yourself as, it’s me more than I’m the snack bar next to Ruby, which originally kind of felt like that. It was hard, and I felt like, how do I get, I think Studio now is going to get me, my gears going the way around, and I’m still going to be very proud to be Master Ruby. That’s never going away. I’m good friends with all of them. We never really agreed on anything, but every time we have to decide on something, we always agree. It’s a sort of very easygoing relationship.

Ramzi Budayr: Yeah. I believe in San Francisco was that dude, that’s so awful. What’s the second question? What does being a good neighbor mean to you?

Dario Barbone: Checking into each other. It’s easy to be a neighbor, just exist in the same place, but it’s the intentionality of checking on you. I know every neighbor of my block where I live, I’ve seen their kids growing, their name, their dog, whatever they do. So being a good neighbor is knowing personal, know your neighbor, which is kind of less and less obvious these days. Exactly. And then make things that are important to your neighbors. It’s easy to throw parties all the time, but it’s also very important to tell your neighbors that it’s happening. So they’re not surprised by, they’re not pissed off. Maybe they are part also, they feel included. So I don’t know what’s going on in their life, but does that be something, what if I’m adding negative value by throwing a party that pisses them off? So it’s nice. Hey, we’re having this party. You’re like, oh my God, thank you. It’s about knowing, talking, asking questions, asking questions, discussing, Hey, are you doing? I always kind of take care a little bit of people. Yeah, of course. Yes.

Ramzi Budayr: You’re paying it forward too.

Dario Barbone: I think so. I don’t care. I’m not taking phenomenal care of myself these days because clearly there’s a lot of stuff to do. It’s not cute. We’re in a world where you see Instagram a year, it says, and reward people can fake a lot of stuff. Not everything that shines is gold. What we do is the product of hard work and nimble that work for me do exactly the same. Yeah. Want to highlight that this is not something that I did just by myself. It’s people who work for me, people that I supported, and I worked hard for them too. So it’s not, yeah, that’s great, man. Yeah.

Ramzi Budayr: Okay. Okay. You hungry? You want a little something for the road? Okay. Okay. I have to here. I got you. I got you. And that, my friends, was Dario Barbone, who you can meet in person at Alimentari Aurora in Potrero Hill, and of course, Studio Aurora at 302 Valencia Street at 14th and Valencia. Really look forward to having you guys there so you can meet all these fabulous people face to face and get to talk to them. And of course, eat and drink and listen to great music, et cetera. You can support Dario online as well at Studio Aurora SF on Instagram. And you can visit us over here at Dolores Deluxes at 3522 22nd Street, seven days a week, 7:30 to 7. Thanks again and we’ll see you next Tuesday for the next installment of Square Presents: Forever Neighbor.