It's a week that has seen three high-profile closure announcements as well as fire-caused closure at Che Fico, but on the brighter side, Esme is now softly open on Divis, and we have more in This Week In Food.

Sadly, we kick things off in this week's column with four high-profile restaurant closures.

Late last week, Anomaly chef-owner Mike Lanham announced on Instagram that he was closing Anomaly "indefinitely" after June 20, citing his own health issues and "some family members I need to spend time with while I still have the opportunity." The ambitious prix-fixe restaurant in Lower Nob Hill opened in January 2023 after several years in which Lanham had wowed diners at his Anomaly pop-ups. The closure sounds fairly permanent, but Lanham says, "I will certainly be back to do something in the future."

And late Thursday, Shuggie's owners Kayla Abe and David Murphy announced that they are closing their much acclaimed Mission District restaurant on July 11. "It has been a slow build over the past year — seeing costs climb and patronage decrease," they write. "We have tried every conceivable pivot over our last 4 years to make a long lasting version of Shuggie’s." The restaurant took a major pivot away from it's original concept last year, having originally been named Shuggie's Trash Pie & Natural Wine, in order to offer more ambitious dishes and a tasting menu and shift the focus away from pizza and more toward the sustainable use of ingredients that would otherwise be discarded. But despite being named one of the best new restaurants in the country by Bon Appetit in 2023, Shuggie's has joined the ranks of acclaimed restaurants that still can't make the numbers work in SF.

Also closing, as we reported Thursday, is Park Tavern in North Beach, following a reopening about 18 months ago that brought in consulting chef Jonathan Waxman. Park Tavern's last day will be June 21.

And as of this morning we learned that Che Fico will be closed for some unknown period of time while its building is repaired after a Thursday afternoon fire. A fire department source tells SFist that the damage to the restaurant's roof and HVAC system were significant.

In brighter news on the Divisadero corridor, Esme, the much anticipated new bistro in the former Ragazza space from Pearl 6101 parter Susan Dunn, softly opens this weekend, with reservations still not yet available online (check back here in the coming days). Tablehopper reports on the opening menu, which features classic bistro fare like steak frites and a roast chicken, as well as pastas like a linguini with clams, and starters like a potato pavé with caviar, chicken liver mousse, and a whole artichoke served with saffron aioli.

And a new location of Super Duper has opened in the former Japantown Burger King space at Fillmore and Post streets. We first reported on the move by Super Duper in February, marking the burger chain's ninth location in San Francisco, and its 21st location in the Bay Area.

The Chronicle reports that troubles continue with the acclaimed Horn Barbecue, and chef-owner Matt Horn has shuttered his six-month-old location in his hometown of Fresno. This follows the closures of the original West Oakland location, and two others in Lafayette and Elk Grove, leaving only the seemingly part-time location in Old Oakland, in the former Matty's Old Fashioned space, still open, but only sometimes.  

Also, two well-loved, well established Mission District dive bars and music venues, the Make-Out Room and the Latin American Club, are both up for sale. As the Chronicle reports, longtime owner Martin Rapalski is selling both businesses, the former for $450,000 and the latter for $350,000, saying, "I have to retire eventually. I have been doing this for so long."

And Chronicle critic Cesar Hernandez (his title has quietly changed to Restaurant Critic from Associate Critic, FYI) has filed his review of Maria Isabel, the ambitious and upscale new Mexican restaurant from Mexican-born chef Laura Ozyilmaz and husband Sayat, who also own Dalida in the Presidio. Hernandez asserts that "no other restaurant in the Bay Area currently offers as much diversity of Mexican gastronomy than Maria Isabel," and he raves that the "aguachile is nothing short of a stunner," and the "most show-stopping dish" is the duck carnitas enmolada, which comes with a quartet of moles in stripes on the plate.

Top image: The caviar guacamole buñuelo at Maria Isabel, by Jay Barmann/SFist