By Su Yardimci

On Judah Street, near the western edge of the city, mornings begin before sunrise. Surfers cross the dunes from Ocean Beach, dog walkers loop the block on their way home and the N-Judah arrives at the end of its line, releasing the last of its riders into the salt air.

For 15 years, the corner storefront at 46th Avenue belonged to Trouble Coffee, the cafe credited with starting the cinnamon toast craze and shaping much of the modern identity of the Outer Sunset. Trouble passed the keys to Damn Fine Coffee in 2022, which served the neighborhood until last fall. This summer, 4033 Judah St. will open again as Black Jet Luncheonette, the second location of the beloved Bernal Heights bakery.

Black Jet is not new to this corner. For years, the bakery delivered pastries to Trouble, and later to Damn Fine, watching the storefront change hands while staying part of its daily rhythm. When Damn Fine’s owner, Laura Seymour, decided to close the cafe last October, she introduced Black Jet to the building’s manager, championing the bakery as the next steward of the space.

Black Jet has operated out of Bernal Heights since 2017, where owner Gillian Shaw Lundgren and her business partner Max Newman have built a quiet kind of devotion among regulars. Customers stop in for morning pastries on their commutes, and return throughout the year for layered cakes that mark birthdays and anniversaries. The bakery has built its reputation on an unmistakably American nostalgia, one that runs through housemade pop tarts, “sprinkledoodles,” sour cream coffee cake and devil’s food cake.

The Sunset location, at 325 square feet, is roughly the size of a parlor and will not replicate the Bernal experience. Instead, the team is leaning into something new: a rotating, made-to-order sandwich program led by Newman. Coffee will come from Dear Francis, a Portland roaster run by friends of the bakery, who developed a custom Black Jet blend for the new location.

The space will also offer something the Bernal bakery does not: a parklet. Customers will be able to sit outside with a sandwich and a coffee, watching the corner that has fed surfers, students and Sunset families for two decades.

The Outer Sunset has spent recent years becoming a neighborhood other parts of the City pay attention to. Restaurants, shops and small businesses have settled into the quieter blocks west of Sunset Boulevard, drawing visitors from across San Francisco. Black Jet joins a stretch that already includes Outerlands, Pemulis Water and Power and Case for Making.

Black Jet Luncheonette is expected to open in June, picking up the rhythm of a corner shaped, over many years, by the people who have chosen to call it theirs.

Black Jet Luncheonette is anticipated to open this summer at 4033 Judah St., at 46th Avenue. Find more information at blackjetbakingco.com.

Su Yardimci is a San Francisco enthusiast who has turned her childhood dream into reality. After moving to the Bay Area for college, she has been sharing her love for the City through film photography and neighborhood guides.