Fans Mourn the Death of Ricky Ricardo, the Owner of Ricky’s Sports Theatre and Grill

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.

• Ricky Ricardo, the owner of Ricky’s Sports Theatre and Grill, has died at age 75, the spot announced via Facebook. The San Leandro bar has been known as a gathering place for fans of the Raiders and other Oakland teams since it opened in 1960, and his death prompted an outpouring of fond memories from patrons, the East Bay Times reports. According to ABC 7, he was felled by “complications of Alzheimer’s disease.”
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom is apologizing for an outdoor dinner he enjoyed at the French Laundry. The dinner was a 12-person, multi-household birthday party for Newsom friend/adviser Jason Kinney on November 6, the Associated Press reports, an activity against the advice Newsom has been giving the state but isn’t against state or local health orders. After reports of the event appeared, Newsom released a statement of apology, saying “while our family followed the restaurant’s health protocols and took safety precautions, we should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner.”
• SF Chronicle urban design critic John King has some advice for restaurants that offer outdoor dining as colder weather kicks in.
• There’s a new farmer’s market on Lower Polk, Hoodline reports. It runs on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m, at the corner of Polk Street and Austin Alley.
• Peony, an Oakland Chinatown banquet hall that’s served dim sum to scores of fans for 20 years, is struggling to make ends meet as the pandemic rages on, Oaklandside reports.
• COVID-19 dramatically changed SF State’s food vendor strategy, as its campus residence base has dropped from 4,500 people to 414. [Golden Gate X-Press]