Susana Guerrero

Hobee’s Restaurants, known for its self-proclaimed “world-famous coffeecake,” will permanently close its original Mountain View store after 49 years. The Mountain View restaurant, located at 2312 Central Expressway, is expected to shutter at the end of Thanksgiving weekend, according to a Facebook post shared by the business on Tuesday. The owners cited “infrastructure” issues as a reason behind the closure. “We have made the very difficult decision to close Hobee’s Mountain View, the original…

George Aviet believed that after four decades of running his Michelin-starred restaurant Chez TJ he’d be able to retire comfortably, but these days retirement seems far out of reach due to the historic ties of his property. Aviet has been in limbo since 2017, as first reported by the Mountain View Voice, when the city of Mountain View halted his plan to develop Chez TJ’s property at 938 Villa St., which is the site of the 129-year-old Weilheimer House. Six years later, Aviet still feels like his…

After a two-year wait, one of San Francisco’s largest rooftop bars has finally opened. Chotto Matte unveiled its massive rooftop bar and Nikkei-style restaurant on Saturday, welcoming guests to its expansive 400-seat dining space — complete with a DJ lounge, robata grill and sweeping views of Union Square. The opening comes years after the international chain first announced its plan to open a West Coast site at the former Macy’s men’s department store. Kurt Zdesar, Chotto Matte founder, flew in…

There’s a buzz at the intersection of El Camino Real and Santa Inez Avenue where a storied San Bruno restaurant has slung New York-style pizzas for more than 50 years. It’s only 6 p.m., but dinner service at Toto’s Pizzeria is in full swing with dozens of pizzas underway. At a workstation, six employees move through customer orders in assembly-line fashion. While one spins and tosses dough into the air, another smooths rich tomato sauce over the blank canvas. Slices of tender mozzarella and flav…

A San Francisco restaurant in the landmark Cathay House space is at risk of eviction after its landlord alleged more than $220,000 in unpaid rent, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Landlord and building owner Betty Louie, a retired businesswoman and local philanthropist, filed a motion to evict tenant Cathay House restaurant at 718 California St. Eric Chung, who is listed as the operator of Cathay House LLC in documents submitted with the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment on the pend…

A social media post has garnered attention after a Half Moon Bay restaurant added a “festival” surcharge during the city’s annual Art & Pumpkin Festival. After visiting Johnny’s restaurant, Bay Area journalist Stanley Roberts shared a post on X that he was surprised by an 18% “festival service charge” added to his bill. As of Wednesday, his post has gained more than 117,000 views and hundreds of comments from readers with mixed reviews. “Interesting story: I was at the Pumpkin Festival and sto…

Bay Area sensation and New York Times-acclaimed Boichik Bagels is expanding to Marin County. The widely popular bagel business has a new outpost expected to open in Larkspur at 238 Magnolia Ave. in early November. Owner Emily Winston made the announcement on Instagram on Monday morning and shared a photo of keys to the new space. “There’s been endless people begging us to expand to Marin. They won’t have to cross the bridge anymore to get our bagels,” Winston told SFGATE. The newest outpost will…

After five short years in Dublin, Lucky Supermarkets will permanently close its East Bay store next month. The Lucky store located at the Fallon Gateway Shopping Center in Dublin is expected to shutter on Nov. 3 due to slow foot traffic, Pleasanton Weekly reported Wednesday. The grocery store, which was built from the ground up, first opened in 2018. It’s unclear how many employees will be affected by the upcoming closure. SFGATE reached out to parent company The Save Mart Companies and the Dubl…

A recent lawsuit filed against Costco alleges that the wholesale giant shared customer health information with Facebook’s parent company, Meta. The lawsuit filed with the Washington Western District Court on Friday alleges that Costco used Meta Pixel, a third-party tracking database, on its website to “surreptitiously disclose millions of Americans’ private and protected communications, including their highly personal health information,” without customer consent. “By purposely embedding and d…

A San Francisco classic and an Anthony Bourdain favorite, Sam’s Burgers, is opening a new restaurant next door. The late-night burger joint in North Beach plans to debut a new fast-casual restaurant called Sam’s East, which will focus on Middle Eastern dishes. Sam’s East will take over the former space of Tacorea located at 620 Broadway St. and is expected to open by the end of November, co-owner Emad ElShawa told SFGATE. “This opportunity came to us about four to five months ago — it was a no-b…