Two-and-a-half-year-old Divisadero Spanish restaurant Barvale, which is part of the ever-expanding restaurant empire of Adriano Paganini and his Back of the House restaurant group, has permanently closed. In its place, as announced on a sign on the window, will be a pop-up featuring food and drinks from Paganini's popular Mission spot Beretta.

"Bringing Spain to San Francisco was truly a joy," the sign reads. "We have made the difficult decision to permanently close the restaurant. This decision was not made lightly."

Explaining that the Beretta pop-up will be appearing in the space in the coming weeks, the team writes, "While sad to see this chapter close, we are optimistic about our future here on Divisadero, and hope that you will support us in our new endeavor."

It remains unclear if the pop-up is a trial for a possible permanent second location of Beretta, or just that — a pop-up.

Paganini's expansion has led to his restaurant group to open over two dozen locations of 12 different sit-down and fast-casual concepts across the Bay Area. Originally a founder of the Pasta Pomodoro chain, Paganini sold that in the last decade and began making his mark first with the pizza-and-cocktails-focused Beretta and its near identical twin Delarosa, and then ten years ago with his burger concept Super Duper, which now boasts 18 locations.

And in addition to being no stranger to Italian food — he's also got the successful A Mano in Hayes Valley — he's no stranger to pivots in concept. Last year, the formerly Belgian spot Belga in the Marina transformed into the vegan restaurant Wildseed. Barvale was his first venture into Spanish cuisine, but his restaurant array also includes three Mexican concepts and the Argentinian-inspired steakhouse Lolinda.

Stay tuned for word on an opening date for this second location of Beretta — but Hoodline says it will be the week of August 10.

Photo: Candace Choe