Presidio Social Club Owner Closes Los Gatos Restaurant the Catamount

The Catamount goes extinct in Los Gatos

Ambitious Old Town Los Gatos restaurant and bar the Catamount, opened just over a year ago by Ray Tang of SF’s long-running Presidio Social Club, has closed. The restaurant replaced the California Cafe in that space, but Tang says that while it was a “great chapter,” it didn’t reignite the neighborhood spark once held by the California Cafe.

SF chef remembers mentor Joël Robuchon

Claude Le Tohic, the chef and partner of forthcoming French dining complex ONE65, learned his trade from the late, great chef Joël Robuchon, and like many others, is mourning the loss of the food world icon. “My dear friend and mentor Mr. Robuchon played a very important role in my career and gave me the confidence to open my own restaurant in San Francisco,” Le Tohic writes. I” look forward to carrying on his legacy and continuing to share incredible French cuisine with the world, as he did so passionately. He will be dearly missed.”

Pizza for the homeless

Miguel Elliott, a former member of the Occupy movement, has been feeding homeless people in an encampment dubbed the Village at 23rd Avenue and 12th Street in Oakland out of his cob pizza oven. Village dwellers have been told they need to leave the encampment by November, when a freeway nearby will be retrofitted. But Elliott hopes to raise money in the meantime, at least, to demonstrate how to build tiny homes (his passion) out of natural materials lying around.

RT fried chicken

Fans of Rich Table’s fast-casual hit RT Rotisserie will already know all about the Sally Hurricane fried chicken sandwich and its buttermilk-Douglas Fir brine. What’s new: A weekend-only, dine-in fried chicken option. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, whole fried chickens are $24 and half chickens are $13.

Fiorella’s new chef and Violet’s late night happy hour

Richmond District Italian hit Fiorella has a new chef: Eli Franco of Delfina’s Valencia restaurant Locanda. Fiorella’s former chef, Dante Cecchini, is now at their new bar and tavern Violet’s full-time. Over there (just down the block) they’ve got a new late-night happy hour with cocktail and food deals: