Jay Barmann

There's a taker for the large bar-restaurant space at 1875 Union Street that was formerly known as Hollow Cow and Lightning Tavern, and it's called Sacred Taco

Apparently not all of restaurateur Charles Phan's landlords have worked out deals with him for pandemic-closed properties. Nine-year-old New Orleans-themed whiskey bar and restaurant Hard Water has now been hit with a lawsuit from its landlord at Pier 3.

Cafe du Soleil, the well-loved and worn-in Lower Haight Cafe at the corner of Fillmore and Waller streets, is making a surprise comeback, a little less than two years after it closed permanently at 200 Fillmore Street.

Another local restaurant that had a mid-pandemic opening is calling quits already, and that is Daughter's Diner in Oakland.

The latest retail casualty in the ongoing shutter parade around Union Square — and in the ongoing retail decline nationwide — is the Market Street/Westfield Mall location of Abercrombie & Fitch.

A new banh mi shop, Banh Mi Viet, has quietly opened at 518 Divisadero, in a former beauty salon, offering both banh mi sandwiches and a couple of Vietnamese entrees as well.

A new retro-diner-inspired brunch spot, Hilda & Jesse (701 Union St. at Powell) has just opened in North Beach, in the space formerly occupied by North Beach Gyros.

Rare Device, the housewares and gift store and art gallery at 600 Divisadero, is opening up a spinoff plant shop across the street later this week called Plant House by Rare Device (505 Divisadero). 

'Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story,' opened Tuesday night at Club Fugazi (678 Green Street), marking a new life for the venue that for 45 years was home to 'Beach Blanket Babylon.' 

The Duggan family, who own two Original Joe's locations in San Francisco and Daly City and Little Original Joe's, which opened late last year in West Portal, are preparing to open another restaurant in their home neighborhood — but this time it will be Mexican-American food, instead of Italian-American.

This is going to make some Zeitgeist regulars and people who live near Safeway Heights and the edge of the Mission very sad, but Hoodline regrets to inform you that the KFC/Taco Bell at 200 Duboce Avenue (at Guerrero) has transitioned to being just a KFC, so no more tacos.

The Eagle Tavern, or as it's most recently been known the SF Eagle (398 12th St.), was given landmark status by the SF Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, becoming the third LGBTQ bar site in San Francisco to get the historic landmark distinction.

There's now a petition and multiple news stories about the fight to allow local burrito favorite El Farolito to open a new location in North Beach, which would be the brand's 12th in the Bay Area.

San Francisco artist Optimist Williams says he grew up decorating his Trapper Keepers with paper Muni transfers, and using the now defunct tickets to record little memories, like scraps in a diary.

One of only two hotels in Japantown, the Kimpton Buchanan Hotel, has been identified as one of four properties around SF that the city hopes to purchase by the end of the year to turn into permanent homeless housing, but neighbors are pushing back.

The eight-story, 21-unit residential building being planned on the site of the historic Grubstake Diner (1525 Pine Street) has hit another hurdle this week, as we learn that an appeal has been filed opposing the project.

Well-loved, 11-year-old Dogpatch ice cream shop Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous (699 22nd St.) is remaining open as an ice cream shop, however its co-founder and owner, Annabelle Topacio, has sold it to a new owner, and its name will be changing to Sunday Social come October.

Another company has run afoul of San Francisco ordinances and spray-stenciled ads on sidewalks in the Mission District.

Frjtz, the go-to place for Belgian-style frites and waffles that first opened in the year 2000 on Hayes Street and later had locations in the Mission and Ghirardelli Square, has now ceased to even be a delivery option, which it had been for the past two years. 

The 2021 Michelin Guide for California, the company's first guide for the state in two years, is set to be released in late September. And ahead of the release, Michelin inspectors on Wednesday revealed 10 Bay Area honorees in the new category of "New Discoveries."

The Mission District space formerly home to Namu Gaji and more recently Namu Stonepot (499 Dolores St.), across the 18th & Dolores intersection from Dolores Park, has gone dark, marking the second closure for Namu Stonepot this summer.

With anxieties rising about the Delta variant and the current surge of COVID cases, more SF bars and restaurants are going to start carding — looking for your vaccine card along with your ID.

Most of the Bay Area is masking back up, at least in some situations, and tensions are high as COVID cases and hospitalizations tick up. But things continue to reopen, and events are still happening.

We have news of a taker for the prominent corner space that was briefly home to AL's Deli (598 Guerrero St.), and beloved doughnut spot The Jelly Donut at 24th and South Van Ness is finally back alive.

A new wine bar with dance bar aspirations is coming to the former Thieves Tavern space at 496 14th Street (at Guerrero), and it's called Bar Part Time.