Pornographic SoMa Bakery Closes for Good

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.

• The Cake Gallery, a SoMa bakery known for its X-rated (kids, ask your parents) cakes, has closed for good after 38 years in business. The news comes from local figure Marke Bieschke, who posted a photo of its closure sign to his (non-public) Facebook page. The closure was picked up by Broke-Ass Stuart and SFist, both of which posted a panoply of NSFW cakes to remember the bakery by.
• Pretty much every news outlet in town reported on a new program announced by Mayor London Breed Friday that allows free permitting of live music at outdoor dining areas. But don’t expect a Sing On! experience, as the permits ban shouting, singing, or the playing of wind or brass instruments, as those activities can spread saliva droplets — and can therefore transmit COVID-19.
• Mario Gongora Castaneda, the owner of Novato restaurant JJ’s Burger Joint, was struck and killed by a driver last week as he took out the trash, the Bay Area News Group reports. Witnesses say a man drove onto the sidewalk and struck the restaurateur, before slamming into the center of a nearby roundabout. The suspect has since been arrested on allegations of DUI and vehicular manslaughter.
• The SF Chronicle takes a look at the rise of vegan fast food in the Bay Area, saying that these new restaurants attract diners “looking to adjust their diets in a healthier direction,” but that “the cadre of new vegan burgers and pizzas are not always going to win awards for nutrition.”
• The SF Business Times is again arguing (see past agenda-driven pieces here and here) that the city needs to relax its restrictions on chain restaurants and other businesses. Only these big companies can afford to pay San Francisco rents, the publication claims, and otherwise, the city will be a mass wasteland of empty storefronts. If only there were another way to make San Francisco rents more affordable! Oh, well, San “Applebees” Francisco, it is.
• Former Meetinghouse owner Joanna Karlinsky is now spending her time to feeding homeless folks. [KRON 4]
• Swine-focused cooking event Cochon 555 is cooking up a bunch of virtual pigs this year, with Zooms scheduled from October 7-9. [East Bay Times]