The Happy Crane graduates from pop-up to permanent in Hayes Valley, modern Afghan restaurant Jaji readies to debut next week, and Mission sandwich spot Turner's Kitchen announces it's closing, all in This Week in Food.

The biggest news in the local food world this week was the sudden death of chef and restaurateur Charles Phan, of Slanted Door fame. Phan died of cardiac arrest at age 62, after a career building a small empire of restaurants in the Bay Area — and, more recently, one in Beaune, France. Phan's two US Slanted Door locations in Napa and San Ramon remain open, and it is unclear if his team will push forward with the planned reopening of the original Slanted Door location on Valencia Street. Read Tablehopper's extended tribute here, with quotes from friends and colleagues.

Also in the news was new West Portal doughnut shop and Parisian-style cafe, George's Donuts & Merriment, which faced some backlash after SFist reported on the owner's company's $1 million donation to the Trump inauguration fund. Reviews on the barely three-week-old spot are currently being monitored on Yelp, after it received a flood of one-star reviews from the anti-Trump majority in the Bay Area

A new, modern Cantonese restaurant called The Happy Crane is taking over the former Monsieur Benjamin space at 451 Gough Street. Chef James Yeun Leong Parry, an alum of Michelin three-starred Benu as well as other Michelin-caliber kitchens in Hong Kong, is expanding from his pop-up of the same name, which had become a popuar tasting menu experience. Leong tells the Chronicle that the new restaurant will be primarily a la carte food, served also at the central bar in the space, and there will also be a shorter prix fixe option available. And, Leong says, while fans may expect out-of-the-box contemporary dishes from him, "equally important for me is bettering the standard of the basics." The Happy Crane is aiming for a summer opening.

The modern Afghan restaurant Jaji is readying for an opening next Thursday (Jan. 30) in Oakland's Uptown neighborhood. As SFist noted previously, it's the second big project from husband and wife Paul Iglesias and Sophia Akbar, the pair behind nearby Colombian spot Parche. Having made a tribute to the cuisine of Iglesias's heritage, they now turn to Akbar's, with what will likely be a new dining hot spot for downtown/Uptown Oakland, with a modern, casual take on Afghan food.

Sad news from Mission Local: Tiny 17th Street sandwich shop Turner’s Kitchen is closing at the end of the month, with chef-owner Ken Turner saying on Instagram he wants to "slow down, get lost in the woods, smell the fckin roses and have a hot girl summer." He says he plans to continue catering and doing pop-ups "sandwich and non-sandwich," and he's not selling the business because "who knows, maybe I’ll reopen it again." Turner's was previously the sandwich shop Clare's Deli, until the Zuni alum Turner took it over in 2015.

The Castro location of Il Casaro may be closed for good, as the owners have just announced a "temporary" closure, citing a lack of foot traffic on Church Street. As Hoodline reports, the owners still have the original North Beach location, and they've recently bought and reopened the historic North Beach Restaurant nearby.

And Ayesha Curry and Michael Mina's collaboration International Smoke, which launched in San Francisco in 2018, is shuttering its Las Vegas outpost at the MGM Grand hotel. As Eater reports, the Las Vegas restaurant closed on January 19.

Top image: Photo via TheHappyCraneSF/Instagram