2019 Update: Saha Restaurant is back open in the Hotel Carlton at 1075 Sutter Street after a hiatus and three-year relocation to Berkeley.
Original post below:
A Mediterranean spot especially popular with vegans and vegetarians, Saha Restaurant (1075 Sutter Street), has recently closed, and a message on the restaurant's website confirms that husband and wife owners Mohamed and Marmee Aboghanem are moving the entire operation to Berkeley taking over the space occupied up until last week by Herbivore at 2451 Shattuck Avenue. They say they will reopen there in October 2016.
A liquor license application I spotted today from a proprietor named Ryan Olson has a business name of Love Crumbs LLC, but that may not have any relation to the name of the restaurant moving into the space, which is within the Hotel Carlton.
Efforts to reach Joie de Vivre Hotels, which manages the Carlton, have so far been unsuccessful.
Saha made its debut in 2005, earning raves for the Yemen-born Mohamed Aboghanem from the Chronicle, for his "soulful cooking," and from Patricia Unterman at the Examiner a noted aficionado of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine saying "it's the completeness and lightness of the cooking that dazzles."
The place maintained a solid four stars on Yelp, and recently scored 4.5 out of 5 for food on Zagat.
The loss of Saha is sure to be mourned particularly by vegan diners who have lost two locations of Herbivore, the final Bay Area location of Cafe Gratitude, and the SF location of Millennium, which relocated to the East Bay last year.
