A renowned fine-dining restaurant in San Francisco has teamed up with a California cannabis farm to create its own custom marijuana strain.
Lazy Bear, which holds two Michelin stars, has partnered with Sonoma Hills Farm to debut “The Lazy Bear Reserve,” a strain they describe as a refined “social tonic” intended for upscale gatherings. The collaboration took three years of cultivation and testing, with the team planting and evaluating thousands of plants before selecting the final variety.
Executive Chef and Owner David Barzelay, along with Chief Operating Officer Colleen Booth, say the final product features subtle notes of wild California bay laurel, redwood, and Douglas fir—flavors intended to reflect the local terroir and culinary ethos of Lazy Bear.
Despite marijuana being legal in California, Barzelay says there’s still hesitancy in the fine dining world to openly embrace it.
“There’s this fear, like, ‘What will Michelin think about this?’” Barzelay told The San Francisco Standard. “Does this erode the dignity of a restaurant that is in many ways quite serious?”
Barzelay emphasized that the product isn’t meant to be consumed before dining at the restaurant, but rather as a curated enhancement to the overall experience: “The right strain of cannabis is like the salt in your food. It elevates it.”
