So long, Sinbad's. Troubled waterfront restaurant is getting demolished right now https://t.co/dm2Pv4hxpq pic.twitter.com/v0rnSpHfHQ
— Inside Scoop SF (@insidescoopsf) March 9, 2016
Sinbad's has been on the waterfront since 1975, and it seems like that for almost as long as it's been there the Port Authority has wanted the restaurant gone. Well, Sinbad's closed late last year after an extended legal battle to make room for an expanded ferry terminal, and Inside Scoop reports the Port Authority is now in the process of demolishing the building.
The restaurant was mainly loved for its spectacular view of the Bay Bridge, and was named for Sinbad the Sailor in homage to Herb Caen's nicknaming of San Francisco Baghdad By the Bay. On an episode of Parts Unknown, food writer John Birdsall explained why a restaurant with such questionable food held such a spot in his heart.
I tell anyone to come and meet me here, my friends, and they sort of laugh at me. They're like "Sinbad's?" But it's this thing that doesn't really exist in San Francisco anymore. It's not self-consciously divey. It has this kind of faded glamour. It's kind of worn out; it smells kind of sour.
"Sour," you say? Huh.
As our very own Jay Barmann pointed out when he wrote about that SF-focused episode of Anthony Bourdain's show, neither Bourdain nor Birdsall ate there — they both just stuck with the drinks.
Previously: [Update] Sinbad's Thwarts Eviction AGAIN By Seeking Bankruptcy Protection