Frjtz might not be serving up new batches of fried potatoes anytime soon. Makras Real Estate Company placed a notice on the door of the Belgian-style fry shop located at 3412 17th St., requiring them to pay their rent for June and July.
Shop owner Santiago Rodriguez needs to pay Makras Real Estate a grand total of $11,300 in three days, according to the notice.
“This is news to me,” Rodriguez said over the phone. “I’m in Portugal so I have no reason [to know] about that.”
Rodriguez said he left for Portugal last Thursday – the notice was already up – and will return on August 11. He said he had already paid the rent for both months but declined further comment.
In April, Frjtz closed its brick and mortar shop and shifted to a delivery-only service. It was the second change in little more than a year. The fry shop originally opened on Valencia Street more than a decade ago and moved in spring 2018 to its current location at 3412 17th St.
At one time, Rodriguez also had a Frjtz Location in Hayes Valley, but that closed in 2012.
Guerrero Espinoza, owner of neighboring El Toro Taqueria, confirmed he was the landlord but said he could not comment on the matter.
Victor Makras, the real estate agent in charge of settling the payment dispute, could not be reached in time for the publication of this story. In May, he pulled the plug on Willy’s Barber Shop at 3227 Mission St., evicting the longtime neighborhood establishment for alleged serial nonpayment of rent.