SoMa Pioneer Fringale Closes, Says Construction, Tech Companies To Blame

Construction for the Central Subway killed Fringale, its owner says

Since 1991, Fringale has served French food out of its location at 570 Fourth Street, but that 28-year run ends on January 25, owner Jean-Marie Legendre tells the Chron. According to Legendre, his business dropped by 30 percent when Central Subway construction — which is underway just outside Fringale’s doors — began six years ago. The neighborhood’s influx of tech workers didn’t help, he says, as “they don’t go out for lunch anymore, because they all get food from their offices...these people are always on the clock and they want everything right away.”

Four alleged gang members were charged in an attack at Abe’s Pizza

Berkeleyside reports that four men attacked a 21-year-old UC Berkeley student at Abe’s Pizza, a campus standby located at 2340 Telegraph Avenue last October. Police say that they’ve been searching for the suspects in the assault (which was caught on video) ever since, and linked the men to an East Bay gang called “Family over everything” (aka FOE), police say. According to BPD, when they were tracked down, two of the men “admitted to their involvement in the assault” to arresting officers, and “ identified themselves in the surveillance video and stated the assault was ‘unreasonable.’” The suspects have since been released on bail and will return to court on Thursday.

Actor Adrian Grenier headed to Oakland for margaritas

Adrian Grenier, an actor perhaps best known for his role in the toxic masculinity enabler known as Entourage (though his role as the pouty, unsupportive boyfriend in The Devil Wears Prada is also worthy of ire), visited Oakland restaurant Nido this week, where he quaffed their mezcal margaritas, an Instagram post from the restaurant reads. Grenier was a serious Bay Area fixture back in 2012, when Tablehopper noted his appearances at local spots on a near-monthly basis. The actor is currently starring in an Oakland-set Netflix series called Clickbait, and while the show is actually being shot in Australia, it’s possible he’s in town for some Oakland exteriors unavailable Down Under.

For the best omakase deal, go right after the restaurant opens

Writing for The Move, an email newsletter in which Eater’s editors to reveal their recommendations and pro dining tips, longtime San Franciscan Caleb Pershan says that Bay Area diners shouldn’t wait to hit a new omakase spot. “Every omakase sushi place I’ve seen open — particularly in SF, where I’ve spent the last several years — has steadily bumped up its prices after gaining recognition,” Pershan writes in the newsletter, which can be subscribed to here. A place to test that advice out might be Sushi Shin, which per the Chron, is a nine-seat omakase joint recently opened by NY sushi vet Jason Zhan in Redwood City.

A $50,000 robbery at St. Helena’s Beringer Vineyards was allegedly an inside job

The Napa Valley Register reports that the offices of Beringer Vineyards, which claims that it is “California’s oldest continuously operating winery,” were robbed on January 5 by thieves that got away with $50,000 of goods (including a 2016 Ford F-150 truck) — but no wine. According to St. Helena police, they suspected an inside job from the start, and after viewing surveillance footage they arrested the guard who was on duty that night for the crime. He, along with an alleged accomplice, were booked into Napa County jail, but other than the truck, none of the stolen items have been recovered.