Cafe Jacqueline and The Art of the Souffle
For more than 40 years, Chef Jacqueline Margulis has run a charming restaurant tucked away in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, where she serves up her exquisite soufflés—and only soufflés.
“I wanted to do soufflés only, and they said, ‘Oh, it will never work...’”
- Jacqueline Margulis
Dear Friends,
Chef Jacqueline Margulis, a native of southern France, has dedicated nearly half her life to perfecting one delicate, demanding dish: the soufflé. Against all practical advice, she opened her tiny restaurant, Cafe Jacqueline, in 1979, and it has since become a beloved institution in San Francisco’s’ North Beach neighborhood—and the only one in the U.S. focused exclusively on soufflés.
In today’s featured offering, filmmaker Phoebe Rubin immerses us in the meticulous craft that built Cafe Jacqueline and the career of its eponymous chef. The film delves into the precision, technique, and unwavering commitment required to create each soufflé—an artistic process that transforms simple ingredients into a fleeting, yet flawless masterpiece.
We hope you’ll enjoy watching “A Perfect Note,” a short film by Phoebe Rubin (with a brief, written introduction by yours truly.)
We always welcome your thoughts and suggestions, which you can offer in a comment, by tagging us in Substack Notes, or via email. Thank you for reading and sharing our stories, for supporting our work with a paid subscription if you can, and for being such a loyal part of the Craftsmanship community.
Sincerely,
Todd Oppenheimer
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Craftsmanship Magazine
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Everything about this makes me feel good: the old bookstore, Jacqueline’s tenacity, her determination to do something that SHE wanted to, despite others saying it won't work, a place that’s remained the same…it’s like going home, it holds nostalgia and present times together.
Is the narration by Todd AI? He or it mispronounces soufflé the first time.