Cult Favorite French Dip Sandwich Shop Closes, Citing Permit Woes

DIP, a cult favorite North Beach sandwich spot at 1318 Grant Avenue, has closed. Owner Mahmoud “Mo” Khossoussi — who has run nearby Persian restaurant Maykadeh with his family since 1983 — tells Eater SF that the city’s difficult permitting system forced him to shutter the business. He opened DIP with his daughter, Haleh, in 2016. They’ll use the empty retail space for events.

“The [SF] supervisors don’t care about businesses, which means they don’t care about people either,” Khossoussi says. “They’d rather have a place empty than people have a glass of wine with their meal,” he added, apparently alluding to difficulty with permitting for beer and wine (the restaurant did not serve alcohol).

DIP was particularly popular for its pochetta and roast beef french dip options. In a blurb in San Francisco magazine, Luke Tsai called DIP the city’s best (non-veg) sandwich of the year for 2017, writing that “the star of each plate is that slow-simmered au jus, which is made with beef bones, red wine, root vegetables, fresh herbs, and, naturally, a whole lot of love.”

According to Khossoussi, it’s “very difficult to work with the city of San Francisco,” on permitting, “and lots of people feel like me, they don’t want to open in San Francisco.”

• SF Eats: Philmore Creamery, Shabu House debut, DIP Bistro closes, more [Hoodline]
• Dip Bistro Has the Classic French Dip Sandwich Locked Down [San Francisco magazine]