Japanese Ramen House Bringing More Noodles to FiDi

All about the dashi

Japantown’s Hinodeya Ramen is expanding with a second San Francisco location, landing in a ground-floor space at the former Balmoral Hotel North No. 2 at 668 Clay Street. The popular SF ramen shop was the first international expansion effort for the Tokyo restaurant, which specializes in whole grain noodles and umami-rich dashi broth. If it brings a similar menu to the new Financial District space, expect to see some chicken, pork, and vegan ramen as well.

Beware the robots

Berkeley’s first robot cafe is now open. Bbox is located inside the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and features coffee from Highwire Cofee Roasters and pastries from Semifreddi’s. Prices are lower than most local cafes — due to said robot overlords — with customers placing orders through an app or tablet and then picking up their order from a dispenser. It’s similar to the robo-barista-led Cafe X in San Francisco.

Coffee from the sunnier side of the state

Los Angeles-based chain Klatch Coffee is coming up to San Francisco for the first time with a new location at 1450 Franklin Street in Polk Gulch. Klatch currently has five cafes in Southern California, with the SF spot being the first up north. No word yet on opening timeline.

A loss for Ethiopian food fans

We’re a bit late here, but it’s just come to our attention that Moya, the popular SoMa Ethiopian restaurant, has closed for good. After eight years, Moya is transitioning to a catering-only operation.

The roof was on fire

Berkeley’s 68-year-old burger joint Smokehouse suffered a small fire last night and is currently closed. The blaze was mostly confined to a rooftop fan in the kitchen, so the restaurant hopes to be back open Tuesday.

Minty fresh

Oakland cannabis company Sublime is getting into the food game. Its first edible is here: Dosies, a sweet, orange mint with 2mg THC prime for microdosing. More flavors are still to come.