Posts Tagged ‘restaurants’

The many resurrections of Valencia Street’s restaurants

June 21st, 2021
Freekeh (Pork Store Cafe) on 16th Street

 

As documented on this very blog many businesses in San Francisco were boarded up during the beginning of the pandemic, with many if not most gradually returning. But what’s more surprising are the places that officially went out of business only to reopen — some of which closed long before the pandemic. Here are the restaurants along the Valencia Street corridor that went through this unlikely chain of events.

 

Pica Pica

The original and last location of the Pica Pica chain known for its Venezuelan food closed its doors for good in August 2020, only to quietly return in March with new investors.

The closure of Pica Pica felt like a blow simply because Venezuelan restaurants are hard to come by in the Bay Area. However it turned out to be a sign of things to come when they reopened their doors.

 

Valencia Pizza & Pasta

Despite closing forever at the start of 2020, Valencia Pizza & Pasta returned with a fresh coat of paint and a renovated interior.

Of all the restaurants on this small list, this one has to be the most surprising as it was a fairly unassuming restaurant that certainly never made anyone’s top ten lists. Though there is something to be said for reasonably priced wine and carbs.

 

Pork Store Cafe’s Mediterranean offshoot

Those with longer memories might remember the 2009-era “Morak Lounge,” the hookah bar on 16th Street just off Valencia which was the nighttime moniker of Pork Store Cafe. To sell the vibe customers would enter Pork Store through a Moroccan-themed side entrance, which later became Stanza Coffee.

Despite being an American style diner, Pork Store never completely abandoned Mediterranean cuisine (though they did drop the hookahs.) However as seen in the image at the top of the post, Pork Store’s side hustle as a full on Mediterranean restaurant is back, now under the name “Freekeh.” It remains to be seen if Stanza Coffee fully reopens.

 

Luna (Park)

The team behind Wayfare Tavern have been quietly working to reboot Luna Park as just “Luna,” and while it’s not open just yet they’ve renovated the interior of the place and put “now hiring” signs in the window.

This effort is seemingly unrelated to several previous efforts to reopen Luna Park, including one from the owner of Mission Beach Cafe which crashed and burned long before Mission Beach itself went under, and by governor Gavin Newsom’s Plumpjack Group. Indeed, the efforts to bring back Luna Park are more storied at this point than the original restaurant. Fingers crossed, this time is the charm.

 

Update: Luna has now opened.

Namu Gaji’s colorful new paint job

June 12th, 2019

Namu Gaji's new paint job
 

A few months ago a building at the corner of Dolores and 18th Street started a somewhat belated seismic retrofit, which meant the temporary closure of its two ground floor tenants: hip Korean restaurant Namu Gaji and the ever popular Bi-Rite Creamery.

Bi-Rite Creamery never closed entirely, instead operating out of a food truck parked right outside until they recently reopened their indoor ice cream parlor. Fans of Namu Gaji are still waiting for it to reopen, or have been heading over to its sister restaurant Namu Stonepot on Divisadero.

Today I wandered by to find the Namu Gaji space is preparing to reopen with a colorful new paint job. According to their Instagram page it’s the work of Namu Gaji’s own @danseung and @maliciouslee, along with local muralist @rys78.

Visually it’s the biggest change to that corner since Dolores Park’s renovation. Namu Gaji itself largely retained the dark gray-ish exterior it inherited from that one woman’s boutique it replaced many years ago.

When it reopens Namu Gaji will rejoin the 18th Street “gourmet ghetto” including Delfina and its sister pizzeria, Tartine Bakery, Bi-Rite (both the grocery/deli and creamery), and Dolores Park Cafe — and soon a new offshoot of Al’s Place.

Details leaked regarding mysterious new restaurant at 17th and Valencia

August 8th, 2016

Almost a year ago I reported that the team behind Garcon seemed to be quietly working on a new restaurant at the former site of Young’s BBQ in the Mission. Normally restaurant openings involve some press releases and fanfare, but this one seemed to fly under the radar. Naturally, that made it all the more intriguing.

Now new details are slowly starting to emerge in public: namely, the name: “Bayou.” New signage recently appeared above the space:

Bayou
 

Here’s where things start to get a little fuzzy though. A quick Google search revealed a link to Bayou’s website, which is still incomplete. There’s missing information, like the phone number being listed as “(415) XXX-XXXX.”

Other signs that the website is incomplete include the fact that many links go nowhere, and the social media links direct you a brand design agency called The Imagists.


 

Sleuthing a bit further, The Imagists have a page on their online portfolio about Bayou, which includes this description:

A new multi-location concept, Bayou Creole Kitchen & Rotisserie proposes a casual offering of creole and cajun-inspired dishes to the lunch crowd of the Mission and Financial districts [sic] of San Francisco.

The second Financial District location isn’t mentioned on Bayou’s website, nor could I find any reference to it in the California liquor license database. Perhaps that’s intended for the future or was just a bit of wishful thinking. As for the “lunch crowd of the Mission,” that’s not even a thing.

Regardless, the one item on their website that appears to be (mostly?) complete is the menu. As the name suggests it’s focused on the cuisine of New Orleans. It features everything one might expect such as gumbo, fried green tomatoes with shrimp, rotisserie chicken, and po boys. Not much for vegetarians or vegans at the moment.

Perhaps the biggest bombshell on Bayou’s website is bad news for fans of Garcon. Though he’s still listed as the executive chef on Garcon’s website, Arthur Wall’s bio on Bayou’s website indicates he’s moving on:

Arthur Wall is the Executive Chef and proprietor of Bayou Restaurant in San Francisco. He previously spent six years serving as Executive Chef of Garçon restaurant in the Mission district, where he developed a strong, local following and connection to the community.

Obviously I can’t vouch for any information on an unfinished website, but it’s certainly unusual for news to leak like this in the hyper-scrutinized world of Bay Area dining.

I’ll update if I hear more.

Garcon team apparently taking over Young’s BBQ space

September 14th, 2015

Young's BBQ space Young's BBQ space
 

Young’s BBQ, the (ostensibly) Korean hole in the wall restaurant behind El Toro that you never went to finally closed a few months ago. Recently the space has undergone a soft story retrofit.

Now a new liquor license application has appeared on the window with the name “Jerartdon LLC.” What could it mean?

Two of the names on the license in the state’s liquor license database shed some light on the situation. Jerome Rivoire is the owner of Valencia St.’s Garcon, and Arthur Wall is their executive chef.

What can we expect? So far the Garcon folks have been quiet about the whole endeavor, but it’s safe to assume pot stickers served by a woman who calls herself “Honey” are out.

Top 5 strangest things in Little Delhi’s Twitter feed

April 5th, 2015


Photo from littledelhisf.com

 
One of my favorite Indian restaurants in San Francisco is Little Delhi in the Tenderloin. Great food, reasonable prices, and they offer takeout and delivery. Can’t recommend them enough!

But you’d never know how great Little Delhi’s food is judging by their completely off the rails Twitter feed. Here’s the top 5 strangest things they’ve posted on Twitter so far.
 

5. The word “Restaurant.”

Their first Tweet back in 2010 is simply the word “Restaurant.” Not a bad start — after all Little Delhi is a restaurant. Maybe a tweet isn’t the right place for this information but at least it’s true and relevant.

 
4. Netflix’s login URL

If you visit the URL in this tweet you’ll be taken to a page where you can log in to your Netflix account. While Netflix might be useful for takeout customers who are looking for a TV show to binge on while eating, most customers probably have this information already. If not, Netflix is a quick Google search away.

 
3. Some lady reviewing a Play-Doh set on YouTube

Little Delhi is so excited about this woman’s toy review on YouTube that their tweet includes not one but two hearts! Hopefully no Play-Doh extruders are being used in food preparation, although personally I don’t really care as long as they clean the Play-Doh out first.

 
2. An iOS app that turns photos into caricatures

This tweet links you to an iOS app that turns photos into caricatures. I can’t even think of something snarky to say about how this could possibly be related to Little Delhi, that’s how strange this one is. Also, the app has terrible reviews.

 
1. Whatever the fuck this thing is

Finally, their #1 strangest tweet links to a surreal and somewhat disturbing video. The video’s creator took a certain European stop motion cartoon and edited it with new sounds and visual effects. And while I’m no World War 2 expert, I’m pretty sure that one guy’s voice is a recording of Adolph Hitler. Not normally the kind of thing one would associate with traditional North Indian cuisine.

 
So there you have it: this has got to be the strangest Twitter feed of any restaurant in the city. If you want to see more feel free to head over to their Twitter feed yourself. But you’d might as well call in an order for curry and naan while you’re at it.

Mission Public SF moves before opening

March 10th, 2013

Mission Public

Mission Public SF, an upcoming gastropub one can only assume is named after a public restroom, has relocated prior to opening.

Originally slated to open on Mission and 15th, the restaurant is now being built instead in the former Om Shan Tea space at the corner of 14th and Natoma.

As you may recall, Om Shan Tea ran into some financial troubles but managed to reopen, only to be shut down by the police because of the owner’s other business ventures.

Hopefully the new restaurant will be a success. And if it doesn’t work out, well hey, they can always turn to selling acid.

Curry Village takes over Cafe Petra space

July 14th, 2012

Curry Village 2

The long-shuttered Cafe Petra finally has some action, with a new sign promising a second outpost of the Inner Sunset’s popular Curry Village Indian buffet.

It remains to be seen if this particularly quiet stretch of Guerrero can support a restaurant, or how this tiny storefront can house a full buffet. With Pakwan, Gajalee, and Alhamra all a stone’s throw away, there’s increasing competition for Indian restaurants in the area — great news for those of us who love Indian food.

Grill no longer thrilling

July 10th, 2012

Nizario's Pizza

The former Thrill of the Grill on Valencia has closed up shop, and is now a Nizario’s Pizza, part of a small local chain apparently owned by someone named Nizar.

While I was never a huge fan of Thrill of the Grill, and their “whenever we feel like it” operating hours couldn’t have been good for business, it was admittedly a perfect spot for those times when you were too drunk to wait in line at Arinell.

The good news is that all three of Nizario’s SF locations claim to stay open until 2am and (according to their Yelp reviews) all sell pizza by the slice. Those are two things we could use more of in this city!

Food trucks officially jump the shark

May 17th, 2012

Burger King food truck

The Whole Foods food truck was embarrassing enough. But now that Burger King has entered the game, the game is officially over.

The items sold by Burger King do not qualify as “food” by any normal standard, and their attempt to disguise this fact by placing them inside of an imitation food truck seems eerily reminiscent of a cargo cult.

So next time you’re hungry, don’t check Twitter, don’t go to Off the Grid, and stay away from the sOmA sTR3@t f00D pArK. You’ll have to go to a restaurant instead — thanks to Burger King, food trucks are over and done.

West of Pecos opens Monday, May 14th

May 10th, 2012

West of Pecos opening day West of Pecos

West of Pecos, the new restaurant from the Woodhouse Fish Company folks, is slated to open this Monday, May 14th.

As you may recall, this newly built-out restaurant replaces the old Valencia St location of beloved Indian ice cream joint, Bombay Bazar.

For more on West of Pecos, check Eater’s coverage here.