Strawberry Village in Mill Valley has a new tenant serving up organic acai bowls, Spam musubi, bone broth and soft serve under one roof. Lulu Dae's is now open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 802 Strawberry Village, filling a storefront that sat through more than one previous life as a frozen-treat destination.
The shop is the first Marin venture for Duncan Ley and Lucia Camarda, who spent nearly two decades opening and managing restaurants and bars across San Francisco, according to the Marin Independent Journal. Ley co-founded San Francisco's Tonic nightlife group with Ben Bleiman in 2008, and Camarda joined Tonic in 2012, later overseeing operations and human resources for nine establishments and holding management roles at Brown Sugar Kitchen and Flour + Water, per the same report. The pair also partnered in the 2024 revival of Harrington's Bar & Grill, and Ley and his wife moved to Marin four years before the story published.
Their path to Strawberry Village started, fittingly, as customers. Ley and his wife were regulars at the Polk Street location of Bowl'd Acai, the San Francisco chain co-owned by Reza Morvari and Angel Serratos, the station's report notes. Morvari and Serratos launched Bowl'd as a food truck in 2014, and the business has since grown to two San Francisco storefronts plus a regular presence at four weekly farmers markets, the monthly Alameda antique fair and Bay Area festivals.
From Customer to Co-Founder
Morvari, now Lulu Dae's third co-founder, told the outlet he found it rewarding that a longtime Bowl'd customer became a business partner after being inspired by what the Bowl'd team had started twelve years earlier. Angel Serratos is also part of the Lulu Dae's team, while soft serve duties fell to Patrick Keshishian, a friend of Morvari's and an East Coast transplant who grew up in the ice cream business.
The acai bowl base blends organic Brazilian acai, strawberries and banana, and the Dae Bowl is listed with organic, gluten-free granola, according to Lulu Dae's own menu. The business's website advertises five signature bowls alongside a build-your-own option, while the Marin Independent Journal's reporting describes four signature bowls — a discrepancy that remains unresolved between the two sources. One standout, the Lucky Lulu, is topped with Nutella, and build-your-own orders can be dressed up with nuts, seeds, nut butters, proteins and superfoods including bee pollen, maca and goji berries. Signature bowls run $14.50 for 16 ounces and $18.50 for 24 ounces, while build-your-own starts at $10 or $14 before toppings, per the shop's site.
Smoothies, Poke and a Taste of Kauai
Lulu Dae's lists eight smoothie blends, most delivering 25 grams of protein from whey or pea protein, with the amounts posted on the menu board. Flavor names lean playful: Dae Fuel blends coffee, banana, peanut butter, chia and flax; Mom Mode combines mango, pineapple, banana, matcha and creatine; and Berry's Bootcamp mixes acai, three kinds of berries, peanut butter and cinnamon. Fresh juices include Green Jeans, which pairs kale, spinach, cucumber, celery and green apple, and It's Always August, which brings together grapefruit, orange, lemon, turmeric, ginger and cayenne pepper.
The Ahi Dae poke bowl layers line-caught wild ahi tuna over organic brown rice and spinach with seaweed, edamame, pickled ginger and crushed macadamia nuts, with tofu available for vegetarians. Morvari told the Marin Independent Journal he fell in love with poke while driving around Kauai with his wife and stumbling on a small food truck; he and his wife have visited the island annually for 15 years, and he added poke to the Bowl'd menu 11 years before the story was published.
Spam Musubi and Bone Broth Round Out the Menu
Rounding out the savory side, Lulu Dae's serves Hawaiian-style Spam musubi inspired by a San Francisco Outer Sunset spot Camarda frequented, built from seared Spam set on rice and wrapped in nori, with or without a baked scallion egg, and a house-made gochujang-sesame dipping sauce on the side. The bone broth, made with chicken or beef simmered with vegetables, herbs and spices, is served in a coffee cup with cayenne and lemon and delivers 10 grams of protein. Morvari said the idea echoes his mother's soup, and he added bone broth to the menu after his wife drank it during her pregnancy.
Soft serve, overseen by Keshishian, includes fior di panna made with organic whole milk, chocolate, peanut butter and a vegan strawberry sorbet, plus strawberries 'n' cream and peanut butter cup swirls. It can be served in a cup, sugar cone or cake cone, with a waffle cone for a dollar more; a four-ounce Lil' Sis runs $5.50 and a six-ounce Big Sis is $7.50, according to the shop's website. Toppings range from chocolate, butterscotch, caramel or strawberry sauce to toasted marshmallows, cereals, Oreos, olive oil and sea salt, Nutella, peanut butter or macadamia nuts. The menu also includes an iced matcha latte and a matcha cloud made with whole milk and cream, customizable with alternative milks or a strawberry add-in.
A Storefront With History — and a Mural in Progress
The space previously housed Woody's Yogurt Place, which closed in January 2020 after more than two decades, and later Noble Cow Creamery, per the Marin Independent Journal's reporting. The new owners have refreshed it with new flooring, paint, tile, countertops and light fixtures, and seating includes four indoor tables plus additional plaza seating and an online-order pickup window. A San Francisco artist is currently painting a mural featuring Northern California imagery, including Mount Tamalpais, poppies and the Grateful Dead. Strawberry Village itself dates to 1964 as a Town & Country-style, open-air shopping center, according to EDENS, which manages the property.
Lulu Dae's growth fits into a broader health-food trend playing out across the Bay Area. Palmetto Superfoods, which first opened in 2019, had grown to roughly 20 locations by July 2026, with CEO Charles Lee telling The Mercury News that people care about what they put in their body since the pandemic. That chain keeps small bowls under roughly $10 and leans on self-ordering kiosks and online ordering to manage demand; it announced Matcha Chill at two locations starting May 20, 2026. Lulu Dae's, for its part, is hiring full-time food-prep workers at $20 to $23 an hour plus tips, with its contact number listed as 415-384-8201 for those interested.
