Perhaps no other Bay Area location gets better recognition in the Apple TV+ series “The Last Thing He Told Me” than beloved Sausalito restaurant Poggio, which has been feeding locals and tourists on Bridgeway for more than 15 years. And it’s not even actually featured in the show — it’s just referenced as a place Jennifer Garner’s character Hannah Hall, who lives on a nearby houseboat, goes to get take out.
Poggio was first highlighted in the eponymous book the show is based on. According to Michael Mindel, a partner in the restaurant, manager Morgan Peterson heard about Laura Dave’s 2021 novel from a customer and told Mindel, who immediately bought all five copies from Sausalito Books by the Bay, which is right across the street from Poggio. The book became a New York Times bestseller and was featured in Reese Witherspoon’s book club, so its popularity has led “countless” patrons to comment on the restaurant’s role in the novel, especially in the run-up to the TV series debut on April 14.
Sidewalk Italian restaurant Poggio in Sausalito, Calif., was frequented by actress Jennifer Garner when she filmed in the Bay Area in 2022.
Dashiel MindelBut the most interesting Poggio customer to have a connection to the book is none other than Garner herself, who ate there “quite a few times” during filming, Mindel said in an email. He and his staff had heard from locals that the show was setting up shop, but they didn’t know Garner would actually eat at the restaurant.
According to Mindel, Peterson was at the host stand and saw a woman seat herself at the bar. She was struck by how much the woman looked like Garner, so when the woman’s friend approached Peterson and said she was checking in for her reservation, Peterson mentioned that the woman at the bar bore a striking resemblance to Jennifer Garner. To which her friend replied, that’s because she is Jennifer Garner. Peterson told Mindel she almost fainted.
Jennifer Garner stands on a dock in Sausalito, Calif., in a scene from “The Last Thing He Told Me” on Apple TV+.
Courtesy of AppleTV PlusGarner, who is somewhat of a foodie (check out her well-known “pretend cooking show” Instagram videos), ate at Poggio enough over the show’s filming to have a favorite dish, the schiacciata, a wood-fired flatbread. According to Mindel, the restaurant even made her a vegetarian version of its bucatini, which normally features pancetta. The actress’s charm has been noted by Sausalito residents, and the Poggio team seems to agree. “The entire staff found her equally warm and engaging and she was also a great tipper,” Mindel wrote in the email. “Pretty much a dream celebrity to have at our restaurant.
“On her last day here, she yelled as she went driving past ‘Goodbye Poggio, I love you! ’ … we had a completely full patio at the time and had to explain to a befuddled dining crowd who that was and why she was yelling,” he added, calling the event “hilarious.”
In honor of the book and series, Poggio chef Ben Balesteri added to the menu a housemade buckwheat linguine with brown butter sauce and spring vegetables: morels, ramps, peas, white asparagus, scallions (the description in the book is “homemade multigrain linguine”). “It’s been a big seller,” Mindel wrote.
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