Watch an SF Pizza Legend Trade Tricks With the Harlem Globetrotters

Tony Gemignani and the Harlem Globetrotters hit Chase Center’s court

Tony Gemignani, the San Francisco celebrity chef known for his 13 wins at the World Pizza Championships and a restaurant empire that includes Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Capo’s, and Tony’s Coal-Fired Pizza, joined the Harlem Globetrotters at Chase Center this past weekend to trade basketball and pizza dough tricks, a spokesperson for the team says. A video of the maneuvers — which is viewable below — shows Gemignani messing around with Shan “Lucky” Jiang, who made headlines last weekend as the first Chinese Globetrotter in the team’s 93 year history.

A SF Supe wants more intel on the impact food delivery companies have on local restaurants

At Tuesday’s meeting of the full Board of Supervisors, Supes Ahsha Safai and Aaron Peskin made a plan for a public hearing to talk over the impact food delivery apps like “Postmates, Uber Eats, Grubhub, (and) Caviar” have “on small businesses here in San Francisco,” the SF Examiner reports. The Small Business Commission and the Planning Department will also participate in the hearing (which has yet to be scheduled), a confab Safai says was spurred by “countless small business owners that have talked about how the rates at which they are being charged for these delivery services once they become part of their business model are having a significant impact on their bottom line.”

Ristobar is back

Famed pastry chef Gary Rulli has revamped his 2300 Chestnut Street space a couple times over the years. In 2010, he transformed his Emporio Rulli cafe into a spot called Ristobar, but a closure in 2017 for ostensible retrofitting put Ristobar’s future in question. Tablehopper has answered that question, reporting that Rulli has divided the space into a restaurant on one side and a pasticceria/caffè on the other. The restaurant side — which is still called Ristobar — is now in soft open mode, and the pasticceria (basically, a cake shop) should open some time in April.

The Castro’s Flying Falafel faces another complaint

When Flying Falafel owner Assaf Pashut attempted to open a branch of his chain at 463 Castro Street, complaints from a competing restaurant threatened to thwart his plans. But though Pashut triumphed with the Planning Commission, it looks like his troubles might not be over: According to Hoodline, as opposed to opening the full-service restaurant he promised, Pashut says he will instead offer grab-and-go items at the address, which he has opened as a co-working space called Socialhaus. According to a Planning Department spokesperson, use of the address as a membership-required social club violates the Pashut-driven change of use to a limited restaurant, so an investigation is ongoing.

Iron Chef Morimoto’s ramen restaurant will open in San Jose this summer

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Momosan, a Bay Area branch of Iron Chef star Masaharu Morimoto’s New York Ramen restaurant, will open in San Jose’s Santana Row this summer. In a statement released this week, Morimoto said that San Jose was chosen for his busiuness because its “a city with traditional culture, including traditions that are adapted from Japan, as well as the most advanced technology as the center of Silicon Valley.”