This Iconic Restaurant With Sweeping Ocean Views Might Get a New Lease on Life After All

It’s been three years since the lights officially went out at Louis’ Diner, the 83-year-old restaurant perched on the cliff above Ocean Beach. For those who don’t recall: in summer 2020, the family who’d been running the restaurant for decades announced the pandemic made it unfeasible to reopen following the COVID-induced closure that started in March of that year. At the time the National Parks Service, which owns the building as well as the Cliff House space just down the road, said they weren’t sure what they’d do with the location.

Now, the San Francisco Standard reports the National Park Service has changed its tune. A spokesperson tells the outlet a Request for Proposal — the first step in finding someone to operate the restaurant space — is forthcoming. There’s no word now on when the RFP will be released, but whoever ends up with the keys to the landmark space will have their work cut out for them. The Standard reports the building is not up to current code and “would need even more modifications if the next restaurant there wanted to expand the space.”

Korean celebrity chef opens Bay Area restaurant

Baek Jong-won, a South Korean chef known for hosting several popular cooking shows, has expanded his restaurant empire to the Bay Area with the opening of Hanshin Pocha at 4869 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood. The Chronicle reports the restaurant opened earlier this month and serves “food meant to pair with drinks” with the goal of attracting younger diners and those looking for a late-night dining option.

The Starbucks union push rolls into the Central Valley

Per the Sacramento Bee, workers at the Starbucks store at 630 K St. in Downtown Commons voted to join the Starbucks Workers United union last Friday. That makes it the first store in the area to join the Starbucks union push; a midtown Sacramento Starbucks store also participated in a union vote but just barely failed to achieve the 51 percent majority required to move forward with the process.

The Nick’s Crispy Taco-Tacko beef won’t die

SFGATE dug into the long, complicated, and litigious beef between two San Francisco taco spots: Nick’s Crispy Tacos, which closed its location on Polk and announced plans to move into a bar in Cow Hollow, and Tacko, a taco spot all of about 300 feet away. The short(ish) version is that Nick Fasanella used to be a partner in Nick’s Crispy Tacos but later, and after a legal battle, parted ways and went on to found Tacko. Now, with Nick’s opening just down the street, the Tacko team tells SFGATE they feel they’re being provoked. “The fact that [Nick’s Crispy Tacos] didn’t have the professional courtesy to reach out to me or Chris was strange considering the circumstances,” Tacko co-owner Doug Marschke said. “It just makes it awkward. Why there?”

Goodbye, Naija Boy. We barely knew thee

Less than a year after putting down roots with a colorful outdoor space at 628 15th Street in Sacramento, Rasheed Amedu of Naija Boy Tacos took to Instagram to announce he’ll be closing up shop after April 30. The first-generation Nigerian chef encourages fans to keep an eye on his personal Instagram for updates on what’s next.