Bay Area lost an acclaimed pizzeria, decades-old brewery and celebrity chef restaurant last month
Del Popolo in San Francisco closed after a decade so that owner Jon Darsky could focus on expanding his frozen pizza business. (John Storey John Storey/Special to the Chronicle)
The following is a list of notable Bay Area restaurant closures in May. Click here for a list of restaurants that closed in April.
The pasta spinoff from the team at Sonoma County's Acre Pizza - among the Bay Area's top pizzerias - has closed after less than a year. Acre Pasta in Sebastopol, which opened last July, served its last bowls of creamy lumache with wild mushrooms in May, according to an Instagram announcement. The post did not include a reason for the closure, but teased that something new will be opening in its place.
Yemeni-Israeli bakery the Ma'lawah Bar in Palo Alto sold its final sweet jachnun and sabiches on May 29. Its owners posted on Instagram that it was closing, but wrote that a new, undisclosed project is underway.
East Bay Nosh reported that Mixé, an Uptown Oakland mezcal and espresso bar, is now closed. It opened in late 2024 with cocktails, coffee and Oaxacan dishes at the former home of Mexican restaurant Calavera.
Del Popolo, one of San Francisco's foremost Neapolitan pizza specialists, has closed after 10 years to focus instead on retail frozen pies. Owner Jon Darsky, an alum of famed Italian restaurant Flour + Water, launched Del Popolo out of a shipping container on wheels in 2012 before landing its Bush Street location. In a Chronicle blind tasting of frozen pizzas from three San Francisco restaurants, Del Popolo came out as the winner. Del Popolo currently distributes to around 100 stores, but Darsky hopes to grow Del Popolo's retail presence nationwide.
The iconic Trumer Pils, seen here in a glass held by master brewer Lars Larson in 2006, will be produced by Firestone Walker at its facility in Paso Robles following the shutdown Trumer's Berkeley brewery. (Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle)
Berkeley brewery Trumer ended its beer-making and taproom operations in May after Paso Robles-based Firestone Walker Brewing bought it. The East Bay brewery, an offshoot of four-century-old Trumer Brauerei in Austria, began brewing Trumer Pils, its crisp, German-style pilsner, in 2004. The beer will still be available: Firestone plans to move brewing operations for Trumer Pils to its Paso Robles brewery.
Bay Area hot dog chain Caspers closed its nearly 80-year-old Richmond outpost. Company general manager Paul Rustigian told the Chronicle that the restaurant had been underperforming for years, so Caspers decided to sell it. The space didn't sit vacant for long, as Richmond politician Courtland "Corky" Booze, a Caspers regular, bought the business and quickly reopened it as Corky's Famous Hot Dogs, featuring a similar menu of chili dogs and Chicago-style hot dogs.
Ristobar, a stop for handmade pastas and cocktails in San Francisco's Marina District, has closed after 22 years. Owner Gary Rulli announced that he was closing the Italian restaurant on Memorial Day, but did not disclose a reason for the closure. Last year, the San Francisco Standard reported that the city attorney sued Rulli over allegations of unpaid taxes, interest and penalties connected to Ristobar. The Chestnut Street space has already been flipped into an events venue called Eria Marina.
After a year and a half, Golden Palm is closing to be come a private event space. (MacKenzie Chung Fegan / The Chro)
The owners of Gold Palm had lofty goals of revving up activity in Uptown Oakland with craft cocktails and Pakistani bar bites. A year and a half later, it has closed. Owners Daniel Gahr and Shirin Raza, who also operate the nearby Bar Shiru, plan to use the space as a private events venue. Moonglow, their adjoining speakeasy, will remain open and is expanding its hours starting in June. Gold Palm adds to a spate of bars that have shuttered in Oakland over the past year.
Also in Oakland, modern Asian restaurant Oken has called it quits. Chef Albert Ok, known for Oakland's hyper-popular Ok's Deli, closed Oken after a year of serving dishes with Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian influences. "The restaurant industry is tough and we are not big on making excuses or elaborate sad stories," Ok wrote in an Instagram post. He declined to comment further, but had previously told the San Francisco Standard that the restaurant had not seen a profit half a year in.
Miami chef Brad Kilgore's three food businesses at the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco - upscale Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant Ama by Brad Kilgore, all-day spot Café Sebastian and shave ice shop MadLab - shut down in early May, just weeks after the high-profile building got new owners. Kilgore previously told the Chronicle that when "ownership changed, the required rent to continue operating became unaffordable."
Curry Up Now, the last restaurant from the original vendor lineup at downtown San Francisco food hall Saluhall, quietly closed in late May. The Bay Area Indian fusion chain's kiosk offered burritos with butter chicken, samosas and drinks on the second level of the food hall, which has struggled with high turnover and vacancies.
Ayesha Curry and Michael Mina, seen here in 2017, opened International Smoke that year. The barbecue restaurant will be replaced by Mina's Neighborhood Test Kitchen. (Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle)
International Smoke, the first restaurant collaboration between celebrity chef Michael Mina and entrepreneur Ayesha Curry, has closed after nine years at the base of the Millennium Tower in San Francisco. Mina told Eater SF that the restaurant struggled with a post-pandemic downtown in business and declining foot traffic due to construction to address the luxury high rise's sinking problem. The restaurant served barbecue that drew inspiration from varied cuisines, including Argentinean steaks with chimichurri, chicken in a Mexican-style achiote and smoky pork ribs dressed with gochujang or a classic Texas barbecue sauce. Former Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer added International Smoke to his 2018 list of the Bay Area's Top 100 restaurants. The Mina Group is preparing to open a new restaurant, Neighborhood Test Kitchen, in the space.
Juice Shop closed its remaining retail stores on May 31, according to an Instagram announcement. The San Francisco-born business was part of the cold-pressed juice boom and was known for its glass bottles of vegetable and fruit juices, sold at small kiosks. Juice Shop will continue to offer pre-order pickups and deliveries. "While this is a big change, we hope you'll join along with us in this next chapter," the owners wrote on Instagram.
