Could Serra Bowl re-open in the Richmond District?

RichmondSFBlog reader Gideon happened by the former Delano’s Market space on the corner of 27th Avenue and Geary the other day, and observed a man checking out the property.

Turns out he was a representative from Serra Bowl, the Daly City bowling alley that was forced to closed in late April after losing their lease. They had been in business for 51 years and longtime customers were crushed by the closure.

On their Facebook page, Serra Bowl recently asked fans for recommendations on a new location in San Francisco:

Here is your opportunity to help us out. We are looking for a building large enough to build a new Bowling Alley in the greater San Francisco area. The building needs to have at least 20 thousand and up to 50 thousand sq.ft. with plenty available parking. The cost to lease needs to be no more than $1.00 a sq.ft. per month. Please reply if you know of such a space available.

We contacted them to see if the former Delano’s location, which has been empty since December 2010, is in the running for the re-birth of Serra Bowl. If we hear back with an update, we’ll let you know!

Could be cool to have a bowling alley in the neighborhood – aside from a market or car dealership, what else would need all that space?

Sarah B.

On Tuesday, the Entertainment Commission approved the request for an after-hours permit from the Subway sandwich shop located on Geary near 21st Avenue. The permit will allow the restaurant to resume 24 hour operations.

Captain Eric Vintero and Tobius Moore, the Permit Officer for the Richmond District station, recommended conditions for the approval at the hearing, such as adding one security guard on Thursday through Saturday nights between 10pm-3am.

The final approval did not incorporate the recommended conditions, but Office Moore says they don’t anticipate issues with Subway being open again 24 hours a day.

“Considering we have never had a police issue at that Subway, we are confident that all will be well,” Moore wrote in an email.

The Entertainment Commission also plans to conduct a 6 month and 1 year review to determine if any conditions would be appropriate in the future.

So the next time you have a craving for a turkey sandwich at 4am, you know where to go.

Sarah B.

This is SF Made Week, a week-long celebration of San Francisco’s manufacturing companies and people that bring locally produced products to fruition.

In addition to offering educational events and factory tours at local businesses, the event also puts on SFMade day, in which participating businesses host special retail events.

This Saturday, several businesses here in the neighborhood will participate in “Shop SFMade Day”, spotlighting their manufactured goods and donating 10% of their proceeds to SFMade, a non-profit that “sustains companies producing locally-made products, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, and creates employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.”

Stop by these businesses on Saturday to check out their unique, made-right-here-in-SF goods:

Paul’s Hat Works | 6128 Geary near 25th Avenue
Kumquat Art | 147 Clement
Foggy Notion | 275 6th Avenue
Covet Boutique & Design Studio | 391 Arguello
Table Asia Gallery | 1101 Lake Street

To see the full list of San Francisco businesses participating in SFMade week or Shop SFMade Day, visit the event website.

Sarah B.

We got word last week that a local Pedicab company is looking to expand across the city, including adding routes in the Richmond District.

Cabrio Taxi, known for their glittery red cabs, currently operates on the Embarcadero, offering rides to locals and tourists via their fleet of bicycle-powered taxis. According to their website, they also offer tours and services for special events.

Apparently business is booming and Cabrio wants to add more routes in the city. In their route map application to the SFPD and SFMTA (view application (PDF)), the company says they have plans to “grow into the cultural and commercial pockets of San Francisco such as the Marina, North Beach, SOMA, Mission, Polk St., Haight and the GGPark/Panhandle areas.”

Officer Tobius Moore, Permit Officer for the Richmond District station, said in an email that Cabrio Taxi wants to offer transportation between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, and to support large events happening in Golden Gate Park (like Outside Lands, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass).

“Their main focus for the Richmond District is to provide “green transportation” for people between The Presidio and Golden Gate Park on normal days and nights. When there is a large event or festival in Golden Gate Park, the company’s focus is transporting people from Golden Gate Park to businesses and bus routes along Geary Boulevard, Clement Street, and California Street to help alleviate pedestrian congestion around Fulton Street and Golden Gate Park,” Moore wrote.

The route map in their application shows service running along JFK and MLK Drives in Golden Gate Park, as well as along Lake Street. Pedicabs would use 25th Avenue to exit and enter the park during the day, and 8th Avenue as well in the evenings.

No word on how much Cabrio Taxi plans to charge for rides. I haven’t been in a pedicab for years and the last time I inquired about a ride down on the wharf, I was pretty surprised at how high the price was. One Yelp reviewer notes that it’s “about twice as expensive per mile as a cab, but they can go up all the walking streets too!”

In addition to providing green transportation, Cabrio Taxi says the presence of their drivers can also help reduce crime in local neighborhoods. “Part of our legacy contribution to the City will be the fact that we will help in crime prevention. We hope to have our operators work with the local stations to become educated and certified for simple emergency response procedures. This has proven to be effective in other cities,” they wrote in their proposal.

Cabrio’s goal is to be permitted to operate their pedicab service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but note that they would likely not have any in operation between 4am and 10am in the mornings. Their “staging” areas would be at fire hydrants, per suggestion from the SFMTA.

Officer Moore notes that the pedicab company has engaged in ample community outreach about their plan, yet no Richmond District organizations made their contact list. In his email, Moore reached out to local groups like the Planning Association for the Richmond (PAR), the Geary Merchant’s Association, The Richmond Review newspaper, as well as local business owners and landlords for feedback.

What do you think about a pedicab service operating in the neighborhood? Leave a comment to let us know.

Sarah B.

Ono Grindz owners (and married couple) Bradley Lum (Executive Chef) and Josefa Carballo Lum (General Manager)

On Sunday, I stopped in to check on a new spot that’s opened in the neighborhood called Ono Grindz, a new Hawaiian restaurant opened by a husband and wife team.

The restaurant’s name means “delicious food” – “ono” is Hawaiian for delicous and “grindz” is Hawaiian slang for food or eats. Owner and Executive Chef Bradley Lum first used the name on his line of specialty sauces which have done well, allowing him to open his first restaurant sharing the name.

I sat down with his wife and business partner, Josefa Carballo Lum, to talk about the restaurant, which just underwent a soft opening this past weekend. They invited about sixty friends and family members to come by and dine, allowing the staff to get in the groove and work out the opening kinks. While I was there, a steady stream of residents popped in to dine or grab a menu.

Ono Grindz’s menu consists of traditional Hawaiian fare with an emphasis on chicken, egg, spam, sausages, and meat dishes. Josefa says her favorite dishes are the “Spam & Cheese Waffles” ($6) and the “Kalua Pork Benedict” ($9), consisting of toasted Hawaiian bread, Kalua pork, taro leaves, plantation potatoes and lomi lomi tomatoes.

Despite the descriptions of those favorite dishes, Chef Lum says their offerings are different from the “plate style” food that you sometimes see at Hawaiian eateries here on the mainland. While portions are still generous, Lum makes an effort to cut down on the fat in his dishes and offer local, fresh, and organic ingredients whenever possible.

Lum says that rather than frying the meat in their dishes, they are char-broiled. And they hand grind their beef on site, opting for sirloin and chuck which makes for a less fatty ground beef. Lum also plans to add some lighter fare to the menu like “Ahi Tataki” (seared Ahi) and miso butter fish.

In the meantime, Ono Grindz may become the new favorite spot for hungry breakfast eaters. Try the “Chicken and Waffles” ($10) consisting of chicken katsu, spam and cheese buttermilk waffle. Or you might want to dig into the Apple Banana Pancakes or “Veg N Eggs” ($9) if you’re looking for something lighter (2 eggs, zucchini, spinach, leeks, chili oil and plantation potatoes).

And if you’re accustomed to really fueling up in the morning, try the “The Big Island”, complete with 2 eggs, plantation potatoes, apple banana pancakes and your choice of a side meat for $11.

Lunch items include a Hamburger Steak ($10), Garlic Shrimp ($12) and Ox Tail Jook (porridge, $9) and a BBQ Chicken Salad ($9).

While Chef Bradley Lum has been in the food business for nearly two decades, it’s the first restaurant that he has owned together with his wife, Josefa, who is the General Manager. “I come from a legal background so I’m bringing my management skills to the business,” she said. The two got married last year.

Bradley, who is Chinese-Hawaiian, got his passion for cooking from watching his “mom, paw paw & gong gong” (grandmother/grandfather in Chinese) in the kitchen when he was growing up.

“I watched each of them for hours and later found myself trying to recreate dishes from scratch that I tried at restaurants. Coming from a Chinese and Hawaiian background, enjoying good food and making things came naturally,” he says on their website.

Bradley and Josefa, both native San Franciscans, commute to work from their home in Potrero Hill, but Josefa says they’re keeping their eyes out for a new home here in the neighborhood. Josefa says they chose to open Ono Grindz in the Richmond District because of Clement Street’s foot traffic and eclectic mix of cuisines. “We also liked the blend of mom and pop businesses with larger ones, but still not big chains,” she said.

The space was previously home to a vegetarian restaurant, and Josefa said they made mostly cosmetic changes to get ready to open, which has been in process since March. “We also asked a lot of questions of small businesses to learn as much as we could,” Josefa said.

The couple are also interested in art, supporting local artists by featuring their work on the restaurant walls.

Ono Grindz currently only offers breakfast and lunch. Josefa says in the future, they may stay open on Friday and Saturday nights to offer a traditional “luau plate” menu, but for now they’re keeping things simple as they break in the new space and train their staff.

Ono Grindz is located at 832 Clement near 10th Avenue, and is open daily for breakfast and lunch from 8am until 3pm. Stop in to say “Aloha!” and welcome them to the neighborhood.

Sarah B.

Thanks to RichmondSFBlog reader Mark T. for the tip.

Last Thanksgiving, the Jack in the Box on Geary and 11th Avenue came under scrutiny when a verbal argument began in the restaurant between two men, which later escalated to a brutal hit and run at a gas station a couple of blocks away.

The incident left the victim, Albert Bartal, in critical condition. Just last week, Bartal’s mother posted via a Facebook page that he was still in the hospital and undergoing emergency surgery due to complications from an earlier brain opreation.

At the time of the incident, Jack in the Box was operating 24 hours a day, but investigators discovered that their after-hours permit had expired and as a result, forced the restaurant to close between 2am and 6am.

Jack in the Box re-applied for their permit and after multiple hearings and lobbying from concerned neighbors, the Entertainment Commission ultimately allowed them to operate 22 hours a day, closing only between 4am and 6am. The Commission also imposed a laundry list of conditions that the Jack in the Box must satisfy to retain their permit, most of them requiring additional security measures and presence during the late night hours.

The only other restaurant in the neighborhood that was operating 24 hours a day at that time was Subway Sandwiches, located at 5650 Geary near 21st Avenue. It turned out that their after-hours permit had also expired, and the Entertainment Commission also curtailed their hours as a result.

Subway has re-applied for their after-hours permit, asking that they be allowed to operate 24 hours a day again. Their permit will be reviewed at this Tuesday’s Entertainment Commission meeting (6:30pm, City Hall Room 400).

The SFPD, namely the Richmond District police station, does not have any issue with Subway being allowed to operate 24 hours again. When they were open all the time, the SFPD “did not any problems at that location after hours,” wrote Tobius Moore, Permit Officer for the Richmond Station, in an email ast week.

Nevertheless, SFPD are recommending that Subway increase their security during the late night hours.

“Captain Vintero and myself had recommended approval with the condition of one security guard Thursday-Saturday 10pm-3am. After hours does not seem to pose a parking problem and I believe that there is plenty of street parking available. This area is not as heavily traveled by bar patrons as the Jack in the Box,” Moore wrote.

If approved, Subway would be the only restaurant in the neighborhood open 24 hours, and specifically between the hours of 4am and 6am. But as stated above, police never had issues with the restaurant when it was open 24 hours a day, albeit with an expired permit.

Nevertheless, the Jack in the Box incident is still fresh and some residents may resist having all night businesses operating in the neighborhood, fearing increased noise, trash and crime.

In last week’s police blotter post that mentioned Subway’s permit, RichmondSFBlog reader Renee warned, “If Subway, which never seems to have more than 1 or 2 people inside at the counter, gets a permit to stay open 24/7, we will have the same problem in the area of 21st and geary that the beseiged residents near that jack in the box have further down on Geary. watch for it!”

Still others, like RichmondSFBlog reader Brian C., think Subway “doesn’t attract as bad a crowd as Jack in the Box,” so the same issues that rattle residents there are unlikely to occur further down Geary.

The Subway location is significantly smaller than Jack in the Box, further off the busy thoroughfare of Park Presidio, and as Officer Moore points out, not located near a bevy of bars like Jack in the Box. Many of the late-night patrons at Jack in the Box are craving greasy food after tying one on at nearby bars.

What do you think? Should Subway be approved to resume operating 24 hours a day? Leave a comment to let us know.

Sarah B.

Back in mid-April, we got an email from Purple Skunk Skate Shop owner Lizzie, telling us that they were in a bind. Their lease was up and after the building had been recently sold, the new landlord was imposing a 50% rent increase. Despite being at their 5820 Geary location for 20 years, Purple Skunk had no choice but to pack up.

The good news is that the shop found a new home just down the street at 6037 Geary. They’re located next to the Jiffy Lube on the corner of 25th Avenue and across from the House of Flowers. The space had been vacant for about a year.

Lizzie says they’re not fully moved in, “but we have landed. We love our new location, our new neighbors and the energy it brings.”

Purple Skunk doesn’t have any signage up on the outside yet, and when I peeked in last night it looked like they were still unpacking a few things. But they are open for business – skateboards, longboards and snowboards are aplenty.

Given all the commercial vacancies in the Richmond District, you have to wonder what goes through a landlord’s mind when they don’t renew a business’ lease, or jack up rents that end up forcing tenants to move.

Joe’s Ice Cream was forced to move for similar reasons after decades in their corner location on 18th Avenue and Geary. It worked out well for them – they moved just a half a block away into a new space, and business has been booming ever since.

But it didn’t work out well for the landlord of the old space. A cafe opened up in the old Joe’s but only lasted a few months. The space is still standing empty.

Cherish card store at 115 Clement closed recently, telling customers that they “lost their lease”. It’s unclear if building owners failed to renew their lease, or if the rent became too steep. Either way, it will be another empty storefront in the neighborhood.

Let’s hope Purple Skunk’s next chapter is similar to Joe’s, and that they thrive in their new location. CBS News recently named them one of the best skate shops in San Francisco, and after 20 years in business, I’m sure their customers won’t mind going a couple of extra blocks down Geary to find them.

Sarah B.

Photo by Kathryn Salamin

Cajun cooking is coming to Clement Street in place of the Prime Rib Shabu House on 5th avenue.

The Cajun House, a Louisiana-style kitchen specializing in crawfish, oysters and crab, is set to open its doors sometime this May. Owners Serena Seto and Jon Xie are excited to bring a new flavor to the Inner Richmond.

“Cajun cooking is not new to San Francisco. But this is a first for the Richmond District,” Seto said.

The Cajun House is also not the first crawfish restaurant for owner Jon Xie to open. He previously owned the Craw Station, a popular Asian-Cajun style kitchen in the Sunset District. Xie is also behind the Cajun Houses’ fusion inspired menu, boasting eclectic fare such as fried catfish, Cajun spicy wings, and lemon butter clams.

Seto expects items anywhere from garlic noodles to gumbo, from sweet potato fries to steamed rice to please both sides of the Asian-Cajun pallet. But it’s the main dishes like crawfish and Dungeness crab seasoned with your choice of lemon-pepper, garlic butter, or their House Cajun sauce that Xie and Seto believe will reel in customers.

“Our style of cooking crawfish will likely satisfy everyone’s choice of flavor,” Xie said.

Though not originally from the South, the San Francisco-based owners’ love and knowledge for Cajun cooking was passed down from Xie’s good friend’s uncle, a New Orleans chef for over 25 years who recently retired back to San Francisco. It was he who inspired Xie to bring a new style of seafood to the Richmond and Sunset Districts.

Adjacent to popular dessert destination Toy Boat, and a block away from local favorite Green Apple Books, the Cajun House is sure to feel right at home on the melting pot streets of Clement, Seto said.

“I think we are in a very good location with plenty of foot traffic,” Seto said. “But as always, our best advertisement is word of mouth.”

UPDATE: The Cajun House plans to open on Thursday, May 3.

Story by Kathryn Salamin
Journalism Student, CCSF