Prubechu, SF’s Only Guamanian Restaurant, Stays Open for Extra Month

The Mission’s only taste (and tasting menu) of Guam and the Marianas Islands has one extra month thanks to a last minute reprieve from its landlord at 2847 Mission Street. Prubechu partner Shawn Camacho, who operates the restaurant with chef Shawn Naputi, says “extenuating circumstances” kept their landlord from enacting a planned rent increase this month — which is driving them from the space — but that they’ll definitely be out by November 1 when the rent goes up.

After the four-year-old Prubechu announced it would close, it received “an outpouring of love,” says Camacho. Now they’re “awkwardly” back after some of their busiest nights ever. Following a week off to regroup, Camacho and Naputi returned to 2847 Mission last night: They’ll operate Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. until the end of the month.

“One of the cool things for us now is we couldn’t let everybody in on the last push, and now we can share the restaurant with more people who maybe hadn’t known about it,” Camacho says.

Prubechu has provided a glimpse — rare in SF — of the Spanish, Japanese, and Filipino flavors that make up Chamorro cuisine. At Prubechu, Naputi interprets foods like keleguen, a ceviche-style dish of meat marinated in coconut and citrus, and titiyas, a coconut tortilla, with local California ingredients.

Over the past weeks, “the industry showed us so much love,” Camacho says, with stars like Charles Phan (the Slanted Door) stopping by to dine. “Now more than ever, people are offerings support, and showing us spaces [for a new location,” says Camacho: Prubechu hopes to return in some form in the near future.

• SF’s Only Guamanian Restaurant to Close [ESF]
• Prubechu [Official]