Telethon Pulls SoMa Nightclub Oasis From the Brink of Disaster

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your bite-sized roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• Oasis, the SoMa nightclub known for its pandemic-era Meals on Heels drag food delivery service, says that a telethon it held last weekend will allow it to stay afloat, SFist reports. The Bay Area Reporter has a blow-by-blow accounting of the 12-hour event, which has raised $268,838 as of this writing. Owner D’Arcy Drollinger told the SF Chronicle last month that rent for the spot is $20,000 a month, and that expenses run an additional $8,000-10,000., so this new pool of donations might be enough to get them to the other side of the coronavirus crisis.
• Don Ramon’s, a SoMa Mexican restaurant popular with City Hall power brokers, has filed for bankruptcy in an effort to avoid foreclosure. [SF Business Times]
• Bay Area macaron baker Chantal Guillon retired last fall, but French pastry chef Patrick Lassaque and his wife Lubna have purchased the business, and has revived it in Palo Alto. [Bay Area News Group]
• The Bay Area’s fried chicken sandwich trend continues apace. [SF Chronicle]
• Chinatown merchants like China Live and the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory are popping up at the Ferry Building this weekend. [SF Station]
• Daly City is the latest Bay Area city to approve a $5/hour hazard pay bump for some grocery store workers. [KPIX]
• Yosemite-adjacent bar the Airport Inn Bar & Grill allegedly refused to follow state COVID-19 health orders, is reportedly festooned with nooses, and warns patrons that “your health is your responsibility.” [SF Gate]
• Santa Clara County restaurants and bars are struggling to hire staff. [KRON 4]
• Some folks who spoke with San Francisco State’s student journalists say that they’re worried about alcohol-related risks, should relaxed regulations around to-go cocktails stick around after the pandemic ends. [Golden Gate X-Press]
• Star Bay Area chef David Kinch (of Manresa fame) has a new cookbook called At Home in the Kitchen: Simple Recipes from a Chef’s Night Off. [Bay Area News Group]