Welcome to p.m. Intel, your midday roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news from publications near and far. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.
- It’s hard to know how seriously to take Sam Young, the owner of Polk Street’s 11-year-old porn-themed bar, Kozy Kar. A spin through his greatest hits includes doxxing a Yelp reviewer, seemingly defending a pro date-rape sign on the premises, and posting a sign claiming that he was leaving the bar biz for a career as an adult dancer. Most have his gestures pegged as a Andy Kaufmanesque pose, but it’s hard to find the humor in his latest announcement: Speaking with SF Gate, Young apparently represented himself as “an ardent believer in herd immunity and masks being unnecessary” and “contends the coronavirus is just the flu,” Grant Marek writes. Quoth the 50-year-old Young, an SF native raised in the Richmond District: “Life is not meant to be lived behind a piece of plastic. They’d never shut down for any virus in 1976. I’m extremely disappointed in San Francisco, not allowing people to make their own decisions.” His bar, which does not serve food, remains temporarily closed.
- Lily To Go, the nascent Clement Street upscale Vietnamese restaurant turned pandemic takeout spot, is open for business, Tablehopper reports, with three bánh mi and a forbidden rice soigné cha. The Chron terms the restaurant “thrilling” and “most promising,” and says it “could change the game” within its first three paragraphs of coverage, if you needed more encouragement to check Lily out.
- Harrington’s Bar and Grill’s 85-year run in the Financial District has ended, writing on its website that (sic) “It is with a heavy heart, that we at Harringtons Bar and Grill are Announcing the sad news that we have closed our doors permanently. The decision was very difficult to make but with everything we have to do regarding reopening in an unsafe environment for each of us. To wait out this pandemic was financially unreasonable.”
- Chestnut Street classic the Dorian is serving $5 martinis all weekend, to mark its fifth anniversary and raise money for the Sonoma County Resilience Fund. They ask that you book a table in advance via OpenTable to ensure social distancing and avoid crowding.
- Removed for a revamp, the iconic sign atop Ghirardelli Square is back, Hoodline reports. The new version of the 19-foot-tall, 152-foot-long sign has been equipped with color-changing LED bulbs, so expect a rainbow light show come the city’s next special event.
- Restaurants in San Jose’s deserted downtown are dropping prices in an effort to lure diners. [Bay Area News Group]
- A Mission District ice cream shop held up by opposition from its potential competition is again in limbo, as SF’s Department of Building Inspection’s permitting program is backed up through — brace yourself — spring of 2021. [SF Chronicle]
