Today we have two more restaurant closures to report, and both are well loved neighborhood spots that are going to be missed.
Nopalito owners Gonzalo Guzman and Nopa partners Jeff Hanak, Allyson Jossel, and Laurence Jossel say that they've come to the decision to permanently close the Ninth Avenue location of Nopalito in the Inner Sunset. While the original Broderick Street space has remained open for takeout and will continue serving as restaurants reopen, the larger footprint of the Ninth Avenue space makes it too expensive to staff up again as restaurateurs face an uncertain second half of the year.
Guzman tells the Chronicle that in addition to losing its catering business the last three months — the Ninth Avenue kitchen was responsible for the catering output — the future looks infeasible for the second location. "That restaurant doesn’t do as well as Broderick on to-go and it just takes more to be open — more staffing, more everything," Guzman says.
The Nopa/Nopalito team debuted the Inner Sunset offshoot of Nopalito in 2012, just three years after the booming success of the original Nopalito's opening in 2009. The inspiration came from Mexican family meals that Guzman and co-chef Jose Ramos used to cook while working in the kitchen at Nopa. Nopa chef-owner Laurence Jossel was so impressed with the food that he decided Ramos and Guzman deserved their own restaurant, and the place opened with the Chronicle's Michael Bauer raving that it served "far and away the best Mexican food in the Bay Area."
Going forward, the catering business will be covered by a commercial kitchen in the Mission — the one used by 18 Reasons at 3690 18th Street. As the Chronicle reports, until catering ramps back up, the plan is to open a small takeout window so that Dolores Park-goers can snag some tacos while having their socially distant picnics.
Over in Hayes Valley, another closure to add to the wave looks to be Stacks. The popular weekend brunch spot is one of a handful of Stacks locations around the Bay Area, and Hoodline reports that this one, along with possible the Menlo Park location, both appear gone for good — though that can't be definitively confirmed. The Hayes Valley spot never reopened for takeout during the pandemic, and the phone line has gone dead — though Yelp still lists the place as open.
Also earlier this week we learned of the closing of Ichi Sushi in Bernal Heights, and last week it was Dobbs Ferry in Hayes Valley and Walzwerk in the Mission.