Shake Shack Adds to Its Bay Area Empire With 2 New Locations

The People love a Shake Shack, and now the New York-based chain has plans to bring more ShackBurgers to the Bay Area: SFGATE reports Shake Shack is set to open new locations at both Stonestown Galleria and Bay Street Emeryville. Another possible location in Walnut Creek is unconfirmed, but the company is noticeably advertising jobs for a restaurant at that spot on the Shake Shack website.

This is all a turnaround from two years ago, when Shake Shack paused its expansion into the Bay Area during the pandemic, after opening its first San Francisco location in January 2020 (remember those early days?). Now there are seven Shake Shack locations around the Bay Area, including Larkspur, Oakland, San Jose, Palo Alto, and two locations in San Francisco.

San Francisco dive bar Gestalt is on the edge of closure

The late-night Mission crowds aren’t what they used to be, and that’s having a dire effect on local businesses. Mission Local reported on the unsure future of Arinell Pizza last week, and now Gestalt owner Dan Hawkins told the news site he’s fighting to keep the bar open but is “hanging on by a thread.” Currently, Hawkins says he has enough funds to last through May but the bar’s future beyond that remains uncertain.

San Francisco plant-based chicken nugget startup gets $7M in funding

The plant-based food race continues at high speed, and locally-based Nowadays snagged a $7 million seed round, according to the San Francisco Business Times. The company announced it’s now on track to launch new products, such as a new chicken cutlet, and getting into retailers like Whole Foods. The funds will also go toward an approximately 15,000-square-foot production plant, which will be based somewhere in California (the company would not disclose if the plant will land in the Bay Area, the Business Times specifies).

Two notable restaurants close in Sacramento

The Sacramento Bee has the scoop on two restaurant closures in the City of Trees. Both Roxy Restaurant and Bar and Yang’s Noodles have recently shuttered, the newspaper reports. Roxy’s closed after 15 years in business, and surprise-announced its closure Monday via social media in a note stating the owners couldn’t renew its lease. Yang’s Noodles was known for its Taiwanese dishes and ran for eight years before its closure.

Cavallo Point hosting a Top Chef dinner series

Bay Area fans of reality TV mainstay Top Chef can now attend a dinner made by “cheftestants” from the Bravo show. Cavallo Point in Sausalito is hosting three nights of dinners in May, led by a mix of Top Chef alum, including local Monique Feybesse.