Jay Barmann
San Francisco Japantown
Community pushback succeeds in slowing city effort to convert Japantown hotel into homeless housing
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.
San Francisco Polk
Condo project on Grubstake site appealed by next-door neighbor condo owners
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.
San Francisco Dogpatch
Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous changes owners in Dogpatch, will become Sunday Social (and keep the ice cream)
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.
San Francisco Mission
Belgian fry shop Frjtz shuts down SF operations after 21 years
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.
San Francisco
Bernal Heights restaurants Marlena and 3rd Cousin get Michelin Guide recognition
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."
San Francisco Mission
Namu team abandons space at Dolores & 18th, closing Namu Stonepot for good
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.
San Francisco Mission North Beach SoMa
News from the Bay 'hoods: Folsom Street Market weekend, Park Tavern to renovate, and more
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.
San Francisco Mission
Mission Updates: The Handroll Project moves into AL's Deli space; The Jelly Donut reopens after long closure
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.
San Francisco Divisadero Mid-Market
SSP Beer Hall debuts in former Perennial space — "the first beer hall and NFT gallery in the world"
As businesses in Mid-Market and SoMa slowly come back to life, the Namu Gaji/Namu Stonepot/Sunset Squares team of Dennis Lee, David Lee, and Daniel Lee are opening up SSP Beer Hall (59 9th Street). Also, there's a Sunset Squares Slice Shop opening on Divisadero, in the former Namu Stonepot space.
San Francisco Union Square
Shake Shack opens at Westfield Centre food court on June 28
Starting next week, San Franciscans don't have to go to Cow Hollow to get your Shake Shack fix. The chain is opening its second San Francisco location in the heart of downtown, at the Westfield San Francisco Centre mall (845 Market St.), just a hop and a skip from the Powell Street BART station.
San Francisco North Beach
30-year-old North Beach staple The Stinking Rose seeks new owner to reopen, keep it going
The Stinking Rose (325 Columbus Ave.), which opened in 1991 in North Beach and maintains a loyal clientele of tourists and garlic-loving locals, has been closed throughout the pandemic. And now we learn that it won't reopen unless a new owner steps in and wants to keep the concept going, with the original owners deciding to retire.
San Francisco Divisadero SoMa
Namu Stonepot closes its Divisadero location; team set to open unnamed food hall — with pizza! — in SoMa
Namu Stonepot (553 Divisadero) is no longer serving its loco moco bowls and stonepot rice from the Divisadero space where it's lived since 2017, but the menu is still being served at Dolores and 18th, and will be appearing at a new food-hall concept the team is opening soon on 9th Street.
San Francisco Mission
Osito, a tasting-menu restaurant centered on live-fire cooking, aims for October opening in the Mission
Osito, a much-delayed restaurant with a celebratory, communal tasting-menu concept centered around live-fire cooking of meat and fish, is finally taking shape and aiming for a fall opening at 2875 18th Street (at Florida).
San Francisco Hayes Valley
The Brixton is expanding to the former Stacks space in Hayes Valley
We all knew that the Stacks space (501 Hayes St.) at the corner of Octavia and Hayes likely wouldn't stay empty for long, and as the pandemic wanes we learn that the owners of Cow Hollow's The Brixton (2140 Union St.) are set to open a new location — their third — there in the coming months.
San Jose
Mass shooting claims at least eight lives in downtown San Jose
A mass shooting on Wednesday morning at the Valley Transit Authority (VTA) light rail yard (101 W. Younger Ave.) in downtown San Jose has claimed the lives of at least eight people, likely all VTA workers, and the shooter also reportedly took his own life at the scene.