Berkeley Tells Barbecue Restaurant to Stop Barbecuing

A Black-owned restaurant alleges harassment

After serving barbecue in Berkeley for 50 years, KC’s BBQ has received a notice of violation from the city. According to a petition the family-owned restaurant posted on Change.org, the violation instructed the restaurant to stop using its smoker immediately — and forcing a barbecue restaurant to stop smoking meats would essentially shut it down. KC’s is calling on the community for support, and outlined in its petition a series of inspections and neighbor complaints despite the smoker being permitted when the restaurant first opened last summer. (The restaurant’s original location was destroyed in a fire.)

Caffeine in the East Bay

Souvenir Coffee Co., the cafe and roaster on Claremont Avenue in Berkeley, has expanded with a second shop in Albany. Formerly Squeeze Juice Bar, the new cafe at 1114 Solano Avenue is a relaxed place to get an espresso, flat white, or bag of beans.

More pies for Hayes Valley

The owners of Javalencia Cafe have gotten into the pizza game with Crossroad Pizzeria, now open at 1596 Market Street in Hayes Valley. The former Pastry Cupboard space now serves pies named after San Francisco streets (Market Street, for the record, is topped with roasted garlic sauce, mushrooms, goat cheese, mozzarella, and truffle oil.) The menu also features salads, egg dishes, breakfast pizzas, and coffee.

Try this tasting menu through the end of the month

Outer Richmond favorite Cassava, known best for its popular Japanese breakfasts, is getting into the San Francisco Restaurant Week spirit early. While the city-wide event doesn’t start until January 23, Cassava will start serving its special four-course tasting menu starting tonight, January 16. For $40, diners receive a frisee, beet, and blood orange salad; seared trout with buckwheat spaetzli; lamb chop with stewed fennel; and black sesame panna cotta. It’s available through January 31.

A win for Coffee Manufactory

The 10th annual Sprudgie Award winners are here, and the national coffee competition honored Tartine Manufactory’s coffee arm with the award for best design packaging. Oakland’s Red Bay Coffee didn’t come out on top, but it did receive the still-impressive honoree title for best coffee roaster.