••• The folks behind Happy Cat Eats, opening next to Oku on Cabrillo Boulevard, tell Restaurant Guy that they’re hoping to open in January and they’re “still deciding whether to have a grab-and-go counter or table service.”
••• I road-tested the frozen Bettina pizzas available via Kitchenette, and they’re very good—particularly the white pie with sausage. Are they as good as fresh at the restaurant? Of course not. But they’re far better than any frozen pizza I’ve ever had, and not all crackery, as I feared—some of the chew is still there. (And we don’t even have a pizza stone. Or a nice wooden cutting board to serve them on….) They go from freezer to table in 10 minutes, plus time for preheating, and I plan to always have a couple on hand in my freezer for emergency situations.
••• Elena’s Kitchen, on State between Ortega and De La Guerra, has closed after ten months. The landlord posted a pissy note in the window. —Restaurant Guy
••• I was out of town for a bit so I missed this: the Coast Village Road outpost of Los Arroyos is closed for renovations till October 15.
••• An update to the recent item about Tamar making progress on a permanent home: it popped up this past Friday at the old Tyger Tyger space, and founder Logan Jones is a former Lark chef. (And Tyger and Tyger and the Lark are both Acme Hospitality establishments.) Are these clues?
••• The folks at Garrigan Seafood Co. want everyone to know that the local spiny lobster season has started, and you can buy them at the Saturday Fishermen’s Market.
••• Broad Street Oyster Co. is opening a location at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.
••• Signs of life at Bruxie, the chicken-and-waffles chain long in the works at Paseo Nuevo. Thanks to P. for the photo.
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I know this isn’t exactly a voting forum, but if it was, I’d vote that Tamar should open in the TigerTyger space!
I know you have commenters interested in this but SB 478 banning “junk fees” was just signed j to law. As of July 1 2024, no more mandatory “service charges”, “employee wellness charges”, “resort fees” on top of advertised prices – the advertised price is the price you’ll pay (sales tax excluded).
What are the owners of the chase and via maestra going to do now that they will need to disclose that additional service charge or they will need to not charge it any longer.
FYI the owner of Via Maestra commented on a different post that the restaurant does not impose such a charge.
The owner specifically said he didn’t charge for employee insurance, but he failed to explain what his extra fee on the check is for. I heard him explain to a customer in Via Maestra that he charges the fee for credit cards and did so instead of increasing menu prices. However, if you look on Yelp menu images, he clearly increased menu prices as well.
Any mandatory charges will have to be included in the posted menu price instead. So $10 burger becomes a $11.50 burger if there’s a mandatory 15% “employee services” charge.
Really excited to see Happy Cat open. Maybe a system of serving like Lucky Penny would work great there.