“What happened to San Francisco?” It’s a provocative question, one that news media outlets across the country are parachuting into our city to get a piece of. Embedded in the question is a key conceit: San Francisco used to be a great place, but now it’s Gotham City without a Batman to save it. CNN recently devoted a primetime special to allegedly trying to find an answer. Its takeaway treaded a familiar path: San Francisco is too compassionate toward unhoused people, who are also drug addicts and criminals. More criminal prosecution is the answer. To arrive at this determination, host...…“What happened to San Francisco?” It’s a provocative question, one that news media outlets across the country are parachuting into our city to get a piece of. Embedded in the question is a key conceit: San Francisco used to be a great place, but now it’s Gotham City without a Batman to save it. CNN recently devoted a primetime special to allegedly trying to find an answer. Its takeaway treaded a familiar path: San Francisco is too compassionate toward unhoused people, who are also drug addicts and criminals. More criminal prosecution is the answer. To arrive at this determination, host...WW…

Art’s Cafe, one of San Francisco’s beloved old-school diners, has closed after more than 30 years in business. The owners, Sarah and Hae Ryong Youn, closed the Inner Sunset diner at the onset of shelter-in-place in mid-March, posting a sign in the window proclaiming that they’d reopen in early April.Little did we know that March’s hash brown sandwiches would be their last. The couple are retiring, and so is the cafe, according to family members.Music label manager Ari Simon was the first to break the news on on Thursday. “I’m happy the owners get to retire but I’m sad this part of my...…Art’s Cafe, one of San Francisco’s beloved old-school diners, has closed after more than 30 years in business. The owners, Sarah and Hae Ryong Youn, closed the Inner Sunset diner at the onset of shelter-in-place in mid-March, posting a sign in the window proclaiming that they’d reopen in early April.Little did we know that March’s hash brown sandwiches would be their last. The couple are retiring, and so is the cafe, according to family members.Music label manager Ari Simon was the first to break the news on on Thursday. “I’m happy the owners get to retire but I’m sad this part of my...WW…

To be honest, I was expecting to be grossed out by the . I’m a veggie burger agnostic who prefers the imperfect, rugged texture of a handmade bean patty over a beef-adjacent facsimile, and I was expecting the plant-based chicken nugget to possess the same uncanny, meat-but-not-meat properties as the vegan burger that bleeds. I find the bleeding rather spooky, like the statues of the Virgin Mary that bleed from their eyes.So it was with some trepidation that I approached the assignment to try the nuggets ($12.99), which were recently launched as a special at the Gott’s Roadside restaurants...…To be honest, I was expecting to be grossed out by the . I’m a veggie burger agnostic who prefers the imperfect, rugged texture of a handmade bean patty over a beef-adjacent facsimile, and I was expecting the plant-based chicken nugget to possess the same uncanny, meat-but-not-meat properties as the vegan burger that bleeds. I find the bleeding rather spooky, like the statues of the Virgin Mary that bleed from their eyes.So it was with some trepidation that I approached the assignment to try the nuggets ($12.99), which were recently launched as a special at the Gott’s Roadside restaurants...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateUpdate: A previous version of this story mistakenly listed in San Francisco as closed. The restaurant is still in operation though the location is , according to its listing agent.As part of our ongoing reporting on the impact of the pandemic on local businesses, here is a running list of Bay Area restaurants that have permanently closed since Feb. 1.Feb. 16Moonstar Buffet, a pan-Asian restaurant popular for parties in Daly City for almost 30 years, is closing at the end of February as first . Since buffet-style dining has not...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateUpdate: A previous version of this story mistakenly listed in San Francisco as closed. The restaurant is still in operation though the location is , according to its listing agent.As part of our ongoing reporting on the impact of the pandemic on local businesses, here is a running list of Bay Area restaurants that have permanently closed since Feb. 1.Feb. 16Moonstar Buffet, a pan-Asian restaurant popular for parties in Daly City for almost 30 years, is closing at the end of February as first . Since buffet-style dining has not...WW…

This app works best with JavaScript enabled.In this latest edition of the Top 25, penned as the summer fog gulps the whole of San Francisco, it seems that the prix fixe menu has, in turn, engulfed the Bay Area’s restaurant scene. The times? Uncertain. But the menus don’t have to be.From a logistical standpoint, a set menu is a good way for a restaurant team to ride the waves of supply-chain woes — they’ll know exactly how many carrots and scallops they’ll need on a given night. From this Pollyanna-ish diner’s perspective, I admire when a restaurant says, “Trust us,” and I often lunge for...…This app works best with JavaScript enabled.In this latest edition of the Top 25, penned as the summer fog gulps the whole of San Francisco, it seems that the prix fixe menu has, in turn, engulfed the Bay Area’s restaurant scene. The times? Uncertain. But the menus don’t have to be.From a logistical standpoint, a set menu is a good way for a restaurant team to ride the waves of supply-chain woes — they’ll know exactly how many carrots and scallops they’ll need on a given night. From this Pollyanna-ish diner’s perspective, I admire when a restaurant says, “Trust us,” and I often lunge for...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateOn this episode of the Extra Spicy podcast, Simileoluwa Adebajo, owner of San Francisco’s Eko Kitchen, speaks with hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips after her restaurant burned down in a major fire. She remains positive she can rebuild and has in support of her business as well as several others that lost property in the fire. She also talks about performative support for Black-owned restaurants by white folks amid the surging Black Lives Matter movement.Listen to the episode by clicking on the player above, and scroll down to...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateOn this episode of the Extra Spicy podcast, Simileoluwa Adebajo, owner of San Francisco’s Eko Kitchen, speaks with hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips after her restaurant burned down in a major fire. She remains positive she can rebuild and has in support of her business as well as several others that lost property in the fire. She also talks about performative support for Black-owned restaurants by white folks amid the surging Black Lives Matter movement.Listen to the episode by clicking on the player above, and scroll down to...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, co-host talks to San Francisco and professional companion Adahlia Cole about the ways in which sex work intersects with the food industry. Cole also talks about her pandemic-era work documenting the myriad side hustles that laid-off or underemployed restaurant workers have taken on in recent months to supplement their incomes.Plus: Justin Phillips and Soleil Ho tackle some listener questions about foie gras and the things they miss about restaurants.Listen to the episode by clicking on the player above, and scroll down to read a...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, co-host talks to San Francisco and professional companion Adahlia Cole about the ways in which sex work intersects with the food industry. Cole also talks about her pandemic-era work documenting the myriad side hustles that laid-off or underemployed restaurant workers have taken on in recent months to supplement their incomes.Plus: Justin Phillips and Soleil Ho tackle some listener questions about foie gras and the things they miss about restaurants.Listen to the episode by clicking on the player above, and scroll down to read a...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateOn this episode of Extra Spicy, co-host talks with Daniel M. Lavery about potatoes for dessert, imaginary restaurant ideas and the persistence of the dinner table as the place where family tensions come to a head. Lavery is a writer and advice columnist who has produced satirical writing on the rhetoric of beans, breasts and "Columbo" in his newsletter, .Plus: In this week’s Dear Spicy, and dole out their own advice about making it as professional food writer on the Dear Spicy segment of the podcast.Here is a full transcript...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateOn this episode of Extra Spicy, co-host talks with Daniel M. Lavery about potatoes for dessert, imaginary restaurant ideas and the persistence of the dinner table as the place where family tensions come to a head. Lavery is a writer and advice columnist who has produced satirical writing on the rhetoric of beans, breasts and "Columbo" in his newsletter, .Plus: In this week’s Dear Spicy, and dole out their own advice about making it as professional food writer on the Dear Spicy segment of the podcast.Here is a full transcript...WW…