Historic Castro Gay Bar Reopens With an Assist From a Neighboring Restaurant

Twin Peaks Tavern, a Castro District institution since 1972, started seating customers outdoors over the weekend

Twin Peaks Tavern — the so-called “Gateway to the Castro” and one of the only bars in SF to receive historical landmark designation — had been shuttered since the beginning of shelter in place, but the beloved gay bar reopened over the weekend, seating cocktail patrons at tables placed out on the sidewalk, Hoodline reports.

Of course, with outdoor drinking on an indefinite pause in San Francisco, the only way Twin Peaks was able to reopen legally was by serving food, which it’s now doing courtesy of its neighbor, the diner Orphan Andy’s, which is offering its full menu of burgers, omelettes, and hotcakes to Twin Peaks cocktail imbibers. As one Twin Peaks bartender told Hoodline, “Sometimes you want an Irish Coffee with your pancakes.”

The collaboration is just one of what are sure to be many such bar and restaurant partnerships to come during this time of uncertainty for bars without the capacity to serve food on their own. Over in Uptown Oakland, for instance, another such collab effort kicks off today: SF Gate reports that the Modern Times taproom is kicking off outdoor seating today thanks to a menu of guava chile barbecue-glazed wings and jerk pork shoulder from alaMar, Nelson German’s seafood restaurant down the block.

And in other news...

• Over at the SF Chronicle, food critic Soleil Ho has a nice Q&A with Briones Bedell, the Bay Area teen whose online petition calling for Trader Joe’s to change what she characterizes as racist, exoticizing branding made national news. On the company’s response to her petition — essentially, that it has already been in the process of phasing out and rebranding problematic product lines like “Trader Ming” — Bedell says: “I found this Nylon article called “Who is Trader Ming?”, and the company issued almost an identical statement over a year ago to this reporter. It just seems like a continual deflection. Meanwhile, the company won’t commit to a date by which the products will be phased out.” The whole interview’s worth a read. [SFC]
• Apparently, Souvla’s reopening of two locations last week caused utter mayhem among the city’s salad enthusiasts, with two-hour-long queues that started forming as early as 7 a.m. [KCBS]

• Sister restaurants Perbacco and Barbacco, both highly esteemed FiDi Italian spots, have closed temporarily, pending the return of indoor dining in SF, according to a press release. They’re hoping to return in the early fall.
• Fremont joins the list of Bay Area cities that have capped the fees delivery app companies can charge local restaurants at 15 percent. [BANG]
• Today, San Jose launches its first street closure, intended to help San Pedro Square restaurants expand their outdoor dining footprint. The program is set to remain in place at least through September. [BANG]
• Our long national nightmare is finally over: After receiving a slew of complaints, Costco has apparently brought back its temporarily discontinued sheet cakes, at least at the wholesale club’s Santa Clara and San Jose locations. [NBC Bay Area]