By Klyde Java

After three years of operating out of a tiny pop-up booth at the Outer Sunset Farmer’s Market, Maillards, a Sunset staple known for smashburgers, opened its first location on Noriega Street in late April, joined with a taproom courtesy of Two Pitchers Brewing Company.

The opening celebration saw hundreds of people line up out the restaurant’s minimalist facade. The smell of caramelized beef and onions wafted throughout the dining room. Empty beer glasses and green mesh restaurant trays flooded the wood-carved tables.

With more than 10,000 Instagram followers and countless TikToks made about their signature smashburgers, there was much hype surrounding this first, permanent location.

The allure of this new spot attracted many first-time customers including Richmond District residents Alex and Ailsa Nelson.

“We’ve never been able to make it to the pop-up,” they said. “We have the pop-up saved to our ‘things to eat’ (list), but I haven’t gotten around to it.”

Although burgers and beer are their specialties, the menu featured other items including a chicken sandwich titled the “Tender Sammie” as well as soft serve ice cream.

Harmony Carillo from Petaluma said she was “gobsmacked” by the quality of their burgers, but a surprising heavy hitter was the chicken bites.

“The chicken tendies should not be slept on. They are very good. It was good for the table,” she said. “I recommend burgers, fries and a side of chicken tendies. It was a great spread.”

Sitting along one of Noriega Street’s busiest business corridors, the high levels of foot traffic attracted many pedestrians walking by.

Many buildings along Noriega Street, including the one that houses Maillards and Two Pitchers, are zoned to allow clusters of businesses to promote economic growth. The taproom and burger joint are located across the street from another famous business, Devil’s Teeth Baking Company.

For 37-year-old Tommy Hester, the co-owner of Two Pitchers Brewing Company, choosing to open a brewery in the Outer Sunset was about finding a space with character and carving out their own niche.

“It’s a neighborhood in flux,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity and we’re pumped to be on the forefront of it. There’s some awesome businesses already out here, but I think people are always looking for more stuff in this neck of the woods, and I think the park is a big draw as well.”

Hester first pitched the idea of opening a joint location with Maillards’ owner Max Ponzurick after reading an article about the pop-up.

“What caught my eye obviously was that they were saying (Max) was making some of the best burgers in the Bay Area,” he said. “He happened to be doing the Sunset Farmers Market right around the corner from where I live. That next weekend I went over, introduced myself and started chatting with them. We started looking around at spaces and kind of just hit it off.”

The taproom-burger joint idea is not a new concept for Hester. Two Pitchers has another shared location in Oakland with Lovely’s, another Bay-Area based hamburger stand. In the future, Hester hopes to bring some of the charity-based events from the Oakland location to the Outer Sunset.

Despite the overwhelming success of soft opening, some kinks still need to be ironed out. Crowd control was a main issue.

“We got some stanchions to help control the line. A lot of bartenders and folks in the kitchen, it’s their first shift,” he said. “As we continue to get smoother, we continue to get more efficient working on table layouts. But honestly, I think it went really smooth. Everything’s been great. The benefit of doing this previously is we have a pretty generous sense of the pitfalls and stuff.”

As Maillards and Two Pitchers establish their foothold in the Outer Sunset, Hester and his team are just excited for the ride.

“We’re thrilled to be opening this. We’re thrilled for the opportunity,” he said. “It is really really fun to see it all come together and a lot of hard work that a lot of folks have put into this. It’s exciting, and it’s hopefully onward and upward from here.”

Maillards and Two Pitchers are located at 3821 Noriega St. and open Wednesday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m.; Friday, 4-11 p.m; Saturday noon-11 p.m. and Sundays noon-9 p.m. For more information, visit maillardssf.com.