Jay Barmann
San Francisco Embarcadero
Anthony Strong's SuperStella Van, Red Bay Coffee and more new businesses arrive at the Ferry Building
A spate of high-profile closures at San Francisco's once-thriving Ferry Building is being followed by some more positive news, as four new businesses announce openings at the iconic shopping and dining complex. Read More
San Francisco Divisadero NoPa
Bay Area bagel boom continues with opening of Schlok's in NoPa
After months of operating a wildly popular bagel pop-up, Schlok's is getting set to open a brick-and-mortar shop at 1263 Fell Street, in a former laundromat off Divisadero in NoPa (in the same complex as RT Rotisserie and Nopalito). Read More
San Francisco SoMa
30-bed drug sobering center proposed for Howard Street office building
SF Mayor London Breed on Tuesday announced a proposal to lease an empty office building at 1076 Howard Street for use as a 30-bed drug sobering center, making good on a promise first made before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The facility will focus on those living on the streets who are experiencing methamphetamine-induced psychosis. Read More
San Francisco Castro Duboce Triangle
2100 Market Street, formerly Home, Church Street Station, and The Truck Stop, makes appearance in 'Doodler' podcast
The one-story, flatiron-shaped building that once lived at 2100 Market was home to multiple businesses over several decades. One of its brief incarnations in the 1970s, a 24-hour diner called The Truck Stop, figures into the unsolved case of "The Doodler," a serial killer who preyed on gay men in San Francisco, and about whom Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan has just done a new podcast. Read More
Oakland
New Latinx LGBTQ+ club Que Rico opens next week in downtown Oakland
A new nightclub catering to the LGBTQ+ Latinx community of the East Bay is debuting on Tuesday, April 13 — but for obvious reasons it's going to start out sort of low-key serving drinks and quesabirria tacos. Read More
San Francisco Ingleside
New Jersey-based Korean American grocery chain H Mart set to open at the edge of Oceanview
At long last, after about an 18-month delay, popular Korean American grocer H Mart is opening its first San Francisco location in OceanView Village at a near-term date still to be announced. Read More
San Francisco Excelsior
Neighborhood-serving COVID vaccine clinic opens in the Excelsior
A new neighborhood vaccination clinic at 20 Norton Street in the Excelsior District, similar to those that have opened in the Bayview and Mission in the last two months, just opened on Wednesday morning. Read More
San Francisco Cow Hollow Mission Russian Hill Tenderloin
News from the Bay 'hoods: Liholiho Yacht Club relocates, Cow Hollow gets a dispensary, and more
Liholiho is temporarily moving the Dear Inga space on 18th Street, a new Japanese fine dining spot from a former Californios chef is taking the La Folie space in Russian Hill, and Oakland is getting a new ghost kitchen food hall. Read More
San Francisco Outer Richmond Outer Sunset
More than half of SF residents surveyed say the Upper Great Highway should remain car-free
A majority of respondents to a recent survey by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority say they think the Upper Great Highway along Ocean Beach ought to remain closed to vehicle traffic post-pandemic. 53 percent of residents, many of them living in the Sunset District, said the four-lane stretch between Sloat Boulevard and Lincoln Way should remain the pedestrian and bicycle promenade that it has been for the past year. Read More
Oakland
An update on Oakland's internet-famous duck couple, now settled in at their "forever home" in Marin
They've been called "Oakland's cutest couple" and "Ebony and Ivory" and various other things, but a pair of domesticated ducks that were evidently dropped off at Lake Merritt last year to fend for themselves have officially settled into new digs at a rescue sanctuary for injured or neglected farm animals in Marin County. Read More
San Francisco Mission
El Rio reopens its patio for the first time since March 2020
Beloved Mission District bar El Rio is finally reopening its patio, 12 and a half months after it was forced to close along with the rest of the bars across the city in March 2020. Thursday, April 1 is the big day — and the patio will reopen for table service at 4 p.m. Read More
San Francisco Castro
Former Harvey Milk camera store in Castro may become National Park site as HRC vacates space
The storefront at 575 Castro Street, which for over a decade has been home to a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) merchandise store but which was once the home of the camera store out of which Harvey Milk did much of his early political work, may be destined to become a national historic site. HRC announced that they are vacating the space in April, and the landlord has hinted at something "much larger" on the way. Read More
Oakland
News from the Bay 'hoods: Worker-led restaurant Understory set to open in Old Oakland
As more businesses get to reopen around the Bay, we have news of some new ones opening for the first time, as well as a vaccination promotion from Krispy Kreme, and a Cal/OSHA fine for Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. Read More
San Francisco North Beach
Tapas spot Red Window opens Friday in North Beach
Boasting 100 seats outside on two sidewalks, a much anticipated new tapas bar is finally debuting in North Beach following several months of introducing itself to the 'hood via a takeout window. Read More
San Francisco Embarcadero Financial District
Cowgirl Creamery shuts down its Ferry Building store; Slanted Door will reopen after renovation
Sad news arrived late last week that Cowgirl Creamery is closing its Ferry Building store after 18 years of cheesemongering in the beloved food hall. Both the store and its next-door Sidekick Cafe will close on April 10, ending an era for cheese lovers across the region. Read More
San Francisco Noe Valley
Noe Valley Malaysian restaurant Mahila closes after less than two years
Sad closure news came this week out of Noe Valley, where local chef and food entrepreneur Azalina Eusope's first brick-and-mortar Malaysian restaurant, Mahila (1320 Castro Street), has permanently closed after just 21 months. Read More
San Francisco SoMa
Don Ramon's avoids closure for now, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The iconic, nearly 40-year-old SoMa Mexican restaurant Don Ramon's (225 11th Street) has skirted a permanent closure for now as it attempts to escape its current financial woes via Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Read More
San Francisco
News from the Bay 'hoods: Maven closes, Sweetgreen comes to Old Oakland, and so does Square Pie Guys
Nine-year-old cocktail-focused spot Maven is closing its doors later this month in the Lower Haight, one of the swans at the Palace of Fine Arts has died, and Old Oakland has a new pizza spot and a salad spot on the way. Read More
San Francisco North Beach
Tosca Cafe reopens parklet, indoor dining to come
102-year-old Tosca Cafe (242 Columbus Ave.) is coming alive yet again in North Beach, after a too-brief rebirth last year, and following its much bemoaned 2019 closure. Read More
San Francisco Noe Valley
Delayed pub project Mr. Digby's plans April debut in Noe Valley
Mr. Digby's, a casual restaurant and cocktail spot from a couple with established SF restaurant cred in the former Noe's Cantina space (1199 Church St.), is now aiming for an April opening after being delayed nearly a year by the pandemic. Read More
San Francisco Chinatown
100-Year-Old Far East Cafe in SF's Chinatown is saved
One of the last vestiges of a long-gone era in San Francisco's Chinatown, the worn-in Far East Cafe (631 Grant Ave.), is remaining open after all, following an announcement in December that it might have to close. Read More
San Francisco
The Cliff House's mini-museum of SF artifacts is up for auction and history buffs hope some of it stays together
A local group of history buffs and conservators is hoping that the collection — at least some of it — can remain together and available for public view, even after the Cliff House potentially becomes a different restaurant. Read More
San Francisco Bernal Heights Mission
Virgil's Sea Room closes permanently while next door El Rio reopens for to-go drinks
Two bars, two different fates. Over in Bernal Heights/La Lengua, next-door bars El Rio and Virgil's Sea Room, which almost share a backyard were it not for a fence, have arrived at diverging moments in this COVID year. Read More
San Francisco
San Francisco could end up having 3,000 semi-permanent dining parklets once pandemic ends
Thanks to a streamlined approval process from the city and a proposed law making its way through the state legislature, San Francisco could be looking at an outdoor dining explosion in the coming years — going from a town with very few al fresco dining options to one with several thousand relatively new ones. Read More
San Francisco Japantown Marina Mission North Beach
News from the Bay 'hoods: Muddy's closes in the Mission, Senor Sisig opens Oakland location
A priest has died of COVID-19 at Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach, 27-year-old Muddy's Coffee House has closed at 24th and Valencia, and an East San Jose gym that had remained open in defiance of health orders has temporarily closed. Read More