Suzu enters the new role on the Wildhawk team with 18 years of industry experience at restaurants and various well-known cocktail bars in San Francisco, and was a national finalist for Bombay Sapphire’s “Most Imaginative Bartender” competition this past year. In their new roles, Suzu and Regan will work to create menus, manage the bar program and oversee staff and general operations at Wildhawk.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Marguerite as the new “Head Birds in charge” at Wildhawk and continue the bar’s legacy as a safe space for all to enjoy cocktails and conversation,” says Christian “Suzu” Suzuki-Orellana, bar manager at Wildhawk. “Wildhawk truly stands out with a unique and welcoming atmosphere, and I look forward to reflecting that in our cocktail programming.”
Suzu will bring his distinctive perspective, creativity and personality to the Wildhawk beverage program which he has honed during his life and career. He comes from a legacy of hospitality industry professionals and grew up in his grandparents’ successful restaurants in Japan which opened in the 1940s after World War II. This environment provided his first lessons in hospitality, management, and food under their tutelage. His professional career began at the North Beach speakeasy 15 Romolo as a cocktail server, working his way up to become a manager and later a bartender. Before becoming bartender at Wildhawk in 2018, he held roles at other notable San Francisco establishments including Tradition, and Benjamin Cooper.
During the pandemic, Suzu focused his efforts on teaching online cocktail classes which quickly gained popularity. He also launched a passion project called Kagano Bar, a pop-up based on a bar his grandparents ran in Japan in the 1950s and ’60s. The concept focuses on Japanese-centric ingredients while also collaborating with and supporting communities and hospitality workers who identify as POC, LGBTQ+, people of all genders and immigration statuses, and those who have physical and developmental conditions, through events and fundraisers. His broad range of experience in bars across the city and his generational legacy in the industry uniquely position Suzu to find success as a leader at Wildhawk.
Marguerite Regan has been in the hospitality industry since she was 15 years old. Her early days were spent in a childhood home from the prohibition era with an antique bar in the basement located in Dearborn, Michigan. After being introduced to the television program “Cheers” at a young age, she and her sister often played “bartender.” Regan’s interest continued into adulthood as she was guided by her true passion of becoming a bartender. She held roles at Drexl in Oakland, and Rye in San Francisco, before being hired as part of the opening team of bartenders at Wildhawk. Over the course of her career, Regan has competed in several bar competitions including the Tullamore D.E.W. Bar Stories competition which she won in 2015. As bar supervisor at Wildhawk, Regan will manage overall bar operations,; bar promotions and events; and driving sales.
Wildhawk is led by a team of veteran bartenders who embrace the art of hospitality as much as the art of making a fine cocktail. The menu features cheeky cocktails with personality, plus beer, wine and bar snacks to accompany the libations. The bar will continue offering a broad range of Wildhawk classic cocktails with new menu updates in the works. Each month, the bar celebrates friends in the industry and invites them to share their preferred martini in its My Martini section.
The name Wildhawk was inspired by a European expat with a firecracker persona named Lola Montez who was referred to often as a “Wildhawk.” Her namesake lives on in the neighborhood bar on the corner of 19th and Lexington in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Wildhawk is located at 3464 19th Street and is open for indoor and outdoor seating Tuesday through Friday 4 p.m. to midnight, Saturday 1 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday 1 to 10 p.m.
