Hard Knox Cafe closes its original location in Dogpatch, Lobby Bar is changing owners in the Castro, and The Forge is moving from Oakland's Jack London Square to Rockridge, all in This Week in Food.

The last gasps of the year usually bring some unexpected closures, and this year's batch included bagel maker Daily Driver, which closed its Ferry Building and Dogpatch locations earlier this week. And we learned that Reem's is closing at the end of January, along with next-door Red Bay Coffee, because the Port of SF is planning some construction to combine the two spaces. Ultimately, the next tenant in this Ferry Building location is expected to be a full-service restaurant.

25-year-old soul food institution Hard Knox Cafe closed its original, corrugated-metal-paneled location for good on Christmas Eve in Dogpatch (2526 Third Street), with chef-owner Tony Hua saying he was unable to renew his lease for the space. "We are deeply grateful for your support, friendship, and love over the years. Serving our community has been an honor, and the memories we’ve shared will stay with us forever," Hua writes on Instagram. The restaurant, known for its fried chicken, expanded to the Richmond District (2448 Clement Street) in 2008, and that location remains open.

After sitting empty for more than four years, the Seal Rock Inn restaurant is reopening under the ownership of French-born chef-owner Alfred Schilling. As the Chronicle reports, the oceanfront restaurant across the street from the former Sutro Baths is being transformed into "a Parisian bistro with a black-and-white checkered floor, statues and plants." This means that in the new year, potentially, we will have new life in this space as well as the nearby Cliff House and Louis’ Diner, which has also sat dark through to most of the pandemic.

Lobby Bar in the Castro is changing hands, about ten months after the business first went on the market. Rumors have been swirling about the bar being for sale for months, but now, as Hoodline reports, we know that new owner Grace Huntley plans to maintain the name — and, we assume, the general concept. The two-and-a-half-year-old Lobby Bar initially offered a more robust food menu, but now offers just a few bar bites, along with a creative cocktail menu. It was originally opened by Hi Tops co-owner Jesse Woodward and business partner Blake Seely, in the base of the Hotel Castro.

Legendary Mission bar Zeitgeist is in the process of rebuilding its outdoor kitchen, and apparently its French fries will be returning sometime soon. An inspection earlier this year dinged the bar for its outdoor kitchen, which had been in use over a decade. But the rebuilt kitchen will apparently be turning out other fried foods, in addition to fries, according to BrokeAss Stuart.

In Oakland, popular wood-fired pizza spot The Forge closed Thursday after a decade in business at Jack London Square. The closure was announced on Facebook, and it comes as the owners are opening two new outposts — so this sort of amounts to a relocation of the business, and yet another blow to beleaguered Jack London Square. The Forge will be opening a location at Oakland International Airport in the new year, and, as the Chronicle reports, a new Forge will be opening in the former Beer Baron space at 5900 College Avenue in Rockridge, though lease negotiations there are reportedly ongoing.

The owners of Berkeley's Rose Pizzeria,  Alexis Rorabaugh and Gerad Gobel, say that being featured among the 22 Best Pizza Places in the United States by the New York Times this past summer was both a "blessing and a curse." They tell the Chronicle this week that it made for a lot of work, and a couple of months of mad-rush, totally booked evenings. But things have calmed down, and they may have just gained a few regulars in the end.

Photo: Mike C./Yelp