Celebrity Chef Scraps Major Chase Center Restaurant Plans

The restaurant meant to be the “crown jewel” of the Chase Center just went belly up. The San Francisco Chronicle reports celebrity chef Michael Mina, who announced plans for the ambitious food hall in 2019, just pulled out of the 16,000-square-foot space. “As a result of COVID, we have shifted our priorities and are focused on reinvesting in our current restaurants,” a Mina Group marketing officer wrote to the Chronicle.

According to other restaurant owners who opened in the stadium’s Thrive City, it’s no easy feat. The pandemic delayed the opening of Gott’s Roadside by a year-and-a-half, though now the restaurant does plenty of business on game nights. Mina’s departure won’t stop the expansion of the surrounding business culture; a representative from the Warriors told the Chronicle development of Thrive City remains “ongoing and fluid.”

Napa restaurant accused of racism by visiting musician

Goose & Gander recently served South African singer-songwriter Jonathan Butler and, according to San Francisco Chronicle, he was followed to his car by a manager after the meal. In a lengthy TikTok the musician says the manager asked if he had “taken care” of his server; Butler says the treatment would never have happened were he white. The restaurant, for their part, posted on Instagram to apologize.

San Mateo food hall startup receives significant seed funding

Byte Kitchen, a San Mateo-based food hall chain, just raised $6 million in a recent round of funding. The San Francisco Business Times reports the business will host a ribbon cutting this month to celebrate and raised $130,000 in cash from Y Combinator last summer.

This San Francisco Starbucks is the first to unionize

The national Starbucks union drive, which is booming in Santa Cruz, has come to San Francisco. SFGATE reports the 4098 18th Street location voted 7-2 in favor of forming a union. “We hope this win encourages our San Francisco sister stores to seek a union too,” James Kreiss, a worker at the Castro location, told SFGATE.

Wine harvesting party at a Yerba Buena restaurant

Press Club is offering tuna tartare, duck fat financier, grass-fed hamburger sliders, Thai chicken lettuce wraps, and mushroom ravioli — in addition to a major bevy of wine — for their 14th annual harvest party. The dionysian fun runs on August 26 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.