These Five Businesses Will Land Inside Downtown San Francisco’s Vegan-Friendly Ikea Dining Hall

The opening of the new mid-Market Ikea has come and gone, but there have still been questions about which restaurants would land inside Saluhall dining hall, the adjacent food market slated to open in early 2024. Now, the San Francisco Business Times reports that five restaurants have filed business registrations for the new space: vegan Puerto Rican restaurant Casa Boriqueña, Oakland vegan taqueria La Venganza, Indian street food restaurant Curry Up Now, Momo Noodle, and the Sarap Shop. The two-level Saluhall is meant to feature 80 percent plant-based offerings and will include three bars.

Following the money for Legacy Business grants in San Francisco

Becoming a Legacy Business is considered an achievement, a testament to businesses that have been around for more than 30 years and “that add to San Francisco’s culture.” The San Francisco Chronicle did a deep dive into the program’s distribution of grant funds and found the program has given a disproportionate amount of money to landlords, versus business owners, and that they aren’t required to give tenants a credit toward rent. This is a shift from how the program once worked; businesses were previously the recipients of the grants, which were to be used for marketing or tenant improvements, at a rate of $500 per employee and capped at 100 employees, the Chronicle reports. The newspaper found that “between 2019 and 2020, grants to businesses totaled $1,093,317 and grants to landlords were $733,588.”

Chinatown is hosting a new night market

Ahead of the upcoming APEC conference being held in downtown San Francisco, nonprofit BeChinatown is launching a two-day night market on a two-block stretch of Grant Avenue between Pine and Sacramento streets, the San Francisco Standard reports. From 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, November 10, and Saturday, November 11, the Chinatown night market event will have local merchants selling egg tarts, pork buns, and “other pre-made Chinese favorites” the news outlet reports, though it’s worth noting there will be no cooking on-site.

Check out this new dinner series celebrating Mexican cooking

Jacob Croom and Emmanuel Galvan, the chefs behind pop-ups My Friend Fernando and Bolita Masa, respectively, are teaming up for Ofrendas, a new dinner series held at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco. The series “invites chefs from across the country to showcase their food and their approach to cooking rooted in Mexican heritage.” The first dinner, “Neither Here Nor There” is set for 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, November 18, and will feature dishes from Croom and Galvan, along with chefs Tony Ortiz of New York, Maricela Vega from Atlanta, and Luna Vela of Austin. Tickets cost $75 and available via Tock, for ages 21 and over only.