Humphry Slocombe is closing its original Mission District scoop shop, the owner of El Faro is selling the business after a series of break-ins, Bun Mee opens in the Marina, and Alice Waters gets a special honor in DC, all in This Week in Food.

Two of the biggest food stories of the week are unhappy ones. Firstly, we learned Thursday from Mission Local that Raymunda Ramirez, the owner of El Faro taqueria at Folsom and 20th streets, has decided to sell the business after suffering three break-ins in the span of a week. Ramirez began working at El Faro 45 years ago, and became its owner 25 years ago, but she says she can't continue covering losses and damages and suffering the stress that the repeated break-ins have caused. El Faro is one of a couple SF businesses that claim to be the originators of the Mission-style burrito, and it opened in 1961.

And Friday morning, the owners of Humphry Slocombe sent out an email announcement that they will be closing their original Mission District ice cream shop off 24th Street as of October 30. "Throughout COVID, we were able to keep all of our shops open thanks to the loyalty and support of all of you. We were especially proud of keeping our original shop at the Mission open to continue to serve our first neighborhood. However, all things must come to an end," they write. Since first opening in 2008 to immediate popularity, the quirky ice cream chain known for flavors like "Secret Breakfast" (corn flakes and bourbon) now has nine other Bay Area locations, including one at the Ferry Building and one in Dogpatch.

In better news, Vietnamese sandwich specialists Bun Mee just opened their fifth location in the Marina district, at 3330 Steiner Street. The shop opened on October 11, which happened to be National Banh Mi Day, as KRON4 reports, and offers the same menu of banh mi options, pho, egg rolls, and salt and pepper chicken wings as at other locations.

We learned earlier this week that the team behind Schroeder's and Press Club, Sidecar Hospitality, and bar star Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Haven, are opening an enormous new sports bar at the Chase Center's Thrive City. It's called Splash — as in Splash Brothers, no relation to the queer bar in San Jose — and it will feature two levels, a massive curved LED TV screen by the main bar, a sports news ticker ringing the room, an outdoor patio, and sports arcade games like pop-a-shot and golf swing suites. There will also be an "upscale" food menu, good cocktails, and 16 beers on tap. Planned opening is "early 2025."

And the Chronicle points us to a new cafe in Burlingame, Goodthing Coffee, which is serving "cloudlike" Japanese-style, Hokkaido milk cheesecakes that are selling out daily, and other crave-worthy treats like a Dubai chocolate cookie filled with pistachios. (There's also a green-hued matcha-yuzu flavored cheesecake, pictured above.) They're also importing special coffees from far-flung places, including Amsterdam’s Dak and Coffea Circular from Sweden.

At the Smithsonian’s food history gala Thursday night, Berkeley slow-food pioneer and Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters was honored with the 2024 Julia Child Award. As Eater DC reports, the event was star-studded as far as the food world is concerned, with  José Andrés, Jacques Pépin, Rick Bayless, Susan Feniger, Mary Sue Milliken, and Danny Meyer all in attendance. Waters spoke of honoring Child's legacy, and how she learned from the elder cookbook author that "one should adopt the cultural perspective of the dish to cook it well."

Chronicle critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan filed a review this week of the nearly 50-year-old Mission District Italian restaurant La Traviata. She points to Michael Bauer's last review of the place in 1995, and his description of the interior lined with portraits of opera stars, which remains unchanged. And while she can't rave about all of the food — she recommends avoiding the dishes named after opera singers, and sticking to pastas like tortellini alla Romana and homemade gnocchi — she says "to be clear, I am incredibly charmed by La Traviata" and "everyone at La Traviata is having a great time, and I think you will have one too."

Photo via Goodthing Coffee/Instagram