Free scooter!
October 21, 2018
It was CAPPtured.
Capp Street come-on
August 1, 2018
Do you want to get really high and mess around? We can go to the park across from Safeway. 16th and Potrero
Who needs roses? Romance!
Neighborhood blessing: St. Francis is back in business
July 27, 2018
St. Francis Fountain is again operational – sort of.
Capp Street Crap got word this morning that the beloved diner and ice cream parlor, which turns 100 this year, has returned after a three-month closure for repairs. A friend, who agreed to go by and check it out, reports that only the Candy Kitchen portion of the diner was open for business but employee told her they hope to have the front room open by the weekend. Hooray!
Sigh … Ken Ken is gone gone
April 5, 2018
After five years, popular Mission ramen spot Ken Ken Ramen has called it quits.
A note posted in the window of the 18th Street restaurant says the decision to close was for “personal, financial and professional reasons.” The restaurant’s last day open was apparently Saturday.
While Ken Ken is no more, it looks like the space will remain a ramen restaurant. A transfer of ownership notice on the front door says the name of new restaurant is Ramenwell.
Not a whopper: Burger King has closed
January 10, 2018
The (Burger) King is dead.
The fast-food franchise has abdicated its throne as the last standing cheapo burger joint at the intersection of 16th and Mission streets following the closure of McDonald’s, which formerly sat across the street, in 2015. Joe Arellano, a spokesman for a proposed housing development the Burger King sits in the middle of, at 1979 Mission St., said the restaurant’s owners decided to shut down on their own.
“They have been on a month-to-month lease term for a couple of years now,” Arellano wrote in an email. “We had hoped that they would have stayed open longer, but ultimately it was their decision to leave.”
Despite its royal name, the establishment was rated a mere 1.5 stars on Yelp, a fact pointed out by Twitter SFCitizen, and racked up some impressively bad reviews. Here are some nuggets:
Balompi-YAY! Beloved pupusa restaurant reopening soon
November 11, 2017
Missing Balompie Cafe’s amazing pupusas? The wait is almost over.
Signs have gone up in the restaurant’s entrance at 18th and Capp Street announcing a reopening date of November 24th. The spot has been closed since late May of 2016 while their building has underwent a seismic retrofit.
Urban Fish out of water, becoming Japanese spot
October 30, 2017
Urban Fish took its last gasp months ago, and it appears a Japanese restaurant is set to breathe new life into the space.
Signs have gone up outside 2193 Mission near 18th Street, indicating that the tiny restaurant space could be soon home to a restaurant called Tawara that offers “sake dining,” which I can only assume is Japanese food with a substantial sake menu. Based on a peek in the window last night, it seems as though the new owners still have a way to go on the restaurant’s interior.
Urban Fish, which was Weird Fish under previous ownership and known for its vegan and pescatarian options, closed roughly four months ago. An attempt to reach Urban Fish’s owner in August was unsuccessful, but an employee at his neighboring restaurant, L’Emigrante, said the other restaurant had sold.
Mau to stay after last-minute deal with landlord
October 1, 2017
Finally, some good news for a Valencia Street tenant. Much-loved Vietnamese restaurant Mau appears to have reached a last-minute deal with its landlord on the day it was slated to close.
A sign in the restaurant’s window states that as of 2:40 p.m. Saturday their landlord reached out and both sides were able to come to an agreement that will keep Mau open at 665 Valencia St. The restaurant is currently closed and will remain so until late October or early November to “regroup,” the sign says.
A man cleaning windows this morning at the restaurant said he didn’t know anything about the new agreement, only that Mau had been scheduled to close due to a rent increase.
Thanks to Twitter user klau who alerted us to the good news.
New sign at Mau says they’ve come to an agreement with the landlord. Still closing, but only temporarily now pic.twitter.com/wKxRQk0Wmp
— klau (@lnbot) October 1, 2017
Senegalizza? Little Baobob now African-inspired pizza place
September 27, 2017
Top this: San Francisco newest fusion pizza is Senegalese.
Inspired by the success of Indian pizza in the city, Bissap Baobob owner Marco Senghor has converted his second space in the Mission into a pizza restaurant that offers three Senegal-inspired pies alongside traditional flavors.
Senghor said he struggled to come up with the right formula for the spot since he reopened in 2016 following a fire, but ultimately decided the wraps and crepes he was serving were too similar to what he was offering at Bissap Baobob, its adjacent sister restaurant and dance club.
“It was a big mistake … doing the same thing, having the same concept next door,” Senghor said Sunday, days after the new restaurant’s reopening.
The spot’s old name, Little Baobob, still hangs above the new 19th St. Pizza sign on the front of the building, but Senghor hopes the new menu is enough of a switch to attract a bigger late-night crowd.
19th St. Pizza, between Mission and Capp streets, is currently open from about 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. most days and closed Mondays. Senghor hopes to start offering delivery in the next couple months. Its thin-crust pizza offerings include yassa, inspired by the popular Senegalese dish, barbecue chicken with Senegalese flavors and an African seafood option.
The African pizzas, the first he’s aware of, got a great reception when he tried them out on patrons at Bissap Baobob, Senghor said. The pizza restaurant was already busy on Friday night, and on Saturday night, there was a line out the door.
Ultimately, Senghor said he hopes that the familiarity of pizza will entice people who would not otherwise be adventurous enough to try African food.
“People say, ‘African pizza?’ “I say, ‘Why not?,” he said.