A BART Director Led an ‘Eat-in’ at Embarcadero Station

A BART board member led a sandwich-eating protest at Embarcadero Station

The video went viral on Friday: A man, later identified as Concord resident Steve Foster, says that BART police approached him last Monday at the transit agency’s Pleasant Hill station, where he was “just up there eating my sandwich waiting for the train to come,” he told ABC 7. In the interaction, the BART cop told Foster, “you’re going to jail,” and claimed that Foster was “resisting arrest.” Foster was cuffed and led to a private room at the station, where BART spokesperson Alicia Trost tells SFGate that Foster was issued a citation “for eating, which is a violation of state law.” In response, District 8 BART Director Janice Li led an “eat-in” protest at the platform of Embarcadero Station on Saturday, the Ex reports, where Li said “there are WAY bigger issues at BART than enforcing no drinking/eating.”

Business Insider paid a visit to Travis Kalanick’s SoMa ghost kitchen

Earlier this year, TechCrunch reported that ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was working on a “cloud kitchen” startup based in “underutilized real estate that Kalanick is snapping up through a holding company called City Storage Systems.” Inside the spots are kitchens in which food is prepared for caterers and delivery services, all backed by a $400 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, the Wall Street Journal reports, a financial source many find to be problematic for a number of reasons. One such cloud kitchen is allegedly located at 60 Morris Street, and when Business Insider scoped out the spot, they saw couriers from Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash picking up food from Moonbowls, $5 Salad Company, Colombo’s, and Zoodle2.

A fire has briefly shuttered Iyasare

According to an Instagram post from Berkeley Japanese restaurant Iyasare, the restaurant suffered a fire in mid October and has shuttered for remodeling. The spot is expected to open in early 2020.

The House of Prime Rib has hired its first female meat carver

For 70 years, House of Prime Rib diners have had their meat cut by a male carver — one who pushes a cart to the table, making for a theatrical serving experience. SFGate reports that 31-year-old Caitlin Elliott just joined the team as its first female carver, ever. The San Rafael resident has been going to HOPR with her family since she was 10, and says, “My parents are so proud, because they see me fulfilling my dreams and this is part of it, working here.”

Paolo Lucchesi has left the SF Chronicle

Paolo Lucchesi was the founding editor of Eater San Francisco, and left to run the Chron’s Inside Scoop blog nearly a decade ago. He ended up at the top of the paper’s food and wine section, and is arguably responsible for blowing the dust off the department and bringing it into the 21st century. He says he’s left the Hearst-owned pub for reservations app Resy, which is launching “a new editorial initiative.”