Tiburon couple’s S.F. restaurant Dacha offers haven for queer community
When Tiburon residents Suki and Katya Skye opened Eastern European restaurant Dacha Kitchen & Bar in San Francisco last November, they wanted it to serve as a cozy oasis in the middle of the bustling city.
The name comes from the Russian word for the traditional country cottages where many Russian families, including the Russian-born Katya’s, spend their summers.
But the name, Suki’s idea, initially gave wife Katya pause. She reflected on the challenges of growing up queer in Russia, a country that declared the LGBTQ+ rights movement “extremist” late last year. Now 42, Katya moved to the U.S. in 2014 as a political-asylum seeker after experiencing violence and discrimination because of her sexual identity.
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