Haute Top 5: Juice Bars in San Francisco in 2017

Neka Pasquale is a food healer and the trusted nutritionist to models Cindy Crawford, Angelia Lindvall, and Josie Maran. She’s also the founder of Urban Remedy, a 100 percent organic, non-gmo, low-glycemic, small-batch, plant-based meal and juice company. Following the practices of Chinese medicine, Pasquale believes that food has powerful healing qualities. From inflammatory reduction to performance enhancement to hydration to recovery, all of her juices have different functions. There are also Urban Remedy lemonades, nut milks, cold-brewed tea and coffee, and meal replacement shakes. Urban Remedy has nine locations in the Bay Area including a Hayes Valley flagship and two new storefronts coming soon to the East Bay. Last month, Pasquale launched a new holistic program, Metta-Morphosis, a cleanse for the body, mind, and spirit that includes juice, expert instruction in an online movement class, guided meditation sessions, and access to a supportive community.

When Charlie Gulick was diagnosed with a rare liver condition he was told he would have to endure a lifetime of procedures that would eventually lead to a liver transplant. However, he and his family looked for an alternative approach and after being placed on a strict raw vegan diet with an emphasis on juicing, all of his symptoms had vanished and his liver functions were back to normal. His juicing experience led him to start the Juice Shop, which he now runs with his two brothers and wife. Today, they oversee seven SF juice shops that offer six different types of green juice, as well as fruit-centric flavors—lemon, beet, citrus, apple lemon ginger, and pineapple pear chia.

Sōw, pronounced like sew and meaning to scatter seeds into the earth, is the Ferry Building’s newest fresh juice company. The cool thing about Sōw is it uses fresh in-season produce and herbs and flowers. For example the monarch juice consists of orange, persimmon, pomegranate, ginger, lemon, and buddha’s hand citron. The hula girl has mandarin, beet, kiwi, ginger, lemon, and sage. Their thick almond cream is a housemade almond milk sweetened with dates, local honey, and fresh ginger. All the ingredients are sourced directly from California growers and the juices are made the same day they are delivered.

Thrive Juicery has two locations downtown, at Rincon Center and Embarcadero One, but delivers to everywhere in San Francisco and the surrounding regions for a fee. Thrive specializes in juices that are completely fresh and totally raw. They must be consumed within 72 hours and are made on a large hydraulic cold press that ensures the juice is packed with all of the fruit’s and vegetables’s nutrients, vitamins, live enzymes, trace minerals, and vital elements. Thrive offers six different kinds of cleanses, nine juices, several nut milks, lemonade, immunoboosters, wraps, oats, and bone broth. Some of their most popular juices? Turmeric sunrise (turmeric root, carrot, apple, pear, celery, lemon, and ginger) and green machine (kale, romaine, spinach, cucumber, lemon, parsley, and ginger).

With locations throughout California, Hawaii, Las Vegas, and New York, Pressed Juicery is a pioneer among juice companies. Pressed’s philosophy is "living well, without compromise," and this specifically applies to the taste of their flavor rich juices, which are produced on a custom hydraulic press. It uses thousands of pounds of pressure to extract the maximum amount of nutrients from the produce. Pressed has a wide range of juices: greens, roots, citrus, fruits, and signature combos like matcha and hemp and coconut cinnamon. They also make water enhanced with alkaline, aloe vera, chlorophyll, and activated charcoal. In San Francisco, Pressed can be found at multiple locations downtown, in Noe Valley, and on Union Street.