Food

SAN FRANCISCO—On Sunday, August 30, Gujarati restaurant Besharam, located in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, became the latest local restaurant to announce its indefinite closure due to the economic pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic. La Cocina star Heena Patel and celebrity chef Daniel Patterson collaborated to open the restaurant in May 2018. Less than a year later, Patel broke ties with...

SAN FRANCISCO— Moroccan restaurant Aziza has started outdoor dining near Geary Boulevard in San Francisco’s Richmond District, after its closure of indoor dining due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An owner and Michelin-starred chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza announced it opens outdoor dining on their website. "~BIG NEWS~ aziza's parklet is NOW open for DINNER Wednesday through Sunday BRUNCH on Saturday & Sunday!!!" Dinner is...

UNITED STATES—I probably should NOT be using the word diet, but for this column so be it. It actually has become a lifestyle change for me. Since March I took drastic changes to eliminate unhealthy items from my eating habits. The thing about giving up something that you crave is that it is quite difficult for the first week...

SAN FRANCISCO—Takeout and delivery orders were not enough to prevent CatHead’s BBQ restaurant located on 1665 Folsom Street in the northern Mission District, from losing the bulk of its business and ultimately closing permanently. CatHead’s BBQ was featured on the Food Network, and has 1,875 followers on Instagram.  Owners Richard Park, and his wife, Pam, were inspired by their memories...

SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, August 17, owner Richard Wong announced that Ton Kiang, his family's dim-sum restaurant and Hakka-style banquet hall, will permanently close at the end of the month, The restaurant is located on Geary Street in San Francisco's Richmond District, where the Wong family has been serving dim-sum to San Franciscans for 40 years. Wong's father Ching Boon Wong...

SAN FRANCISCO—The City Board of Supervisors passed a vote on August 11 to reduce the consumption of animal products significantly in jails and public hospitals in the city of San Francisco. The passed vote's content should be as follows; jails must reduce consumption of animal products including meat, eggs, and dairy by 50 percent by 2024, and public hospitals, including...

SAN FRANCISCO—Armstrong Brewing, a brewery in South San Francisco announced on Tuesday, August 11 they are closing permanently due to its financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as announced on their website. "To our loyal patrons and guests we are sad to announce that we will not be reopening for business and have made the difficult decision...

SAN FRANCISCO—On August 6, 2020, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association launched the #ShowUsYourMaskSF campaign on Twitter, which asked restaurant owners to hang posters in their restaurants, which the association created, and requested that they ask their customers to scan a QR code and check the regulation while dining at the restaurants. However, many restaurants reported that it was hard...

OAKLAND—Brokeass Cooks, a backyard pop-up restaurant, was founded by three out-of-work chefs, Bilal Ali, Hoang Le, and Keone Koki, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brokeass Cooks sells family-style jerk chicken in the West Oakland backyard they share. They offer a whole chicken ($50), a half jerk chicken ($25), and organic soy milk ($4). According to their ordering site,  “To order a...

SAN LEANDRO—Ricky Sports Theater and Grill faces closure due to major financial complications that come as a result of the closure of indoor dining due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the negative impact that the closure of indoor dining has had on their finances, Ricky's owners Ricky and Tina Ricardo are also having to deal with Ricky's Alzheimer's...