Adam’s Grub Shack replaces Valencia Subs
Adam’s Grub Truck, a comfort-food truck that has been rolling around San Francisco, from SoMa SOMA StrEat Food Park to Spark Social to the Bayview, since 2011, has landed its own brick-and-mortar store where Valencia Subs closed earlier this month.
Adam Lee called the new location “everything that I’ve been hoping for,” and said his main goal is to make people happy with his culinary creations. His partner, April Boquiren, said she has been asking customers during their first week what else they want to see on the menu.
“In the little time that we’ve been here, it’s like, the culture is so diverse, and the people are so welcoming,” Boquiren said.
For now, they sell an enhanced version of their food truck menu: Louisiana-inspired dishes like shrimp po’boy sandwiches, Asian slaws and rice bowls, and carnival-inspired desserts, like funnel cake fries.
The new restaurant also stays open late — until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays — which Valencia Subs owner Frankie Lee said should help liven up the block. Lee, who coincidentally shares a surname with his successor at 1136 Valencia St., said he is looking forward to eating at the new restaurant.
Lee, who along with his sister also owns popular Irving Subs and Sunset Subs in the Sunset District, said he sold the location at the beginning of August after some time struggling to find reliable help at the Mission sandwich shop location, which he first opened in 2021.
“We’re running thin, we’re a family-owned business, and it was hard to manage from so far away,” Lee said.
Plus, Lee said, he’d hoped more people would be looking for jobs coming out of the pandemic, but that was not the case: When advertising a job opening, he’d receive a tiny fraction of the resumes that he used to get in 2019.
“We loved our experience there. It just sucks that we never could fully put all the time we wanted to there,” Lee said.
Tinto wine bar
On the same block, Tinto has opened at 1152 Valencia St. between 22nd and 23rd streets, serving up wine where B3 once did. City records show that the wine bar is returning to the family that owns the building (after B3 closed, other restaurateurs operated Sugoi Sushi there until 2018).
In addition to wine, Tinto serves plates like prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and chicken wings, and hosts special events.
The Brazilian Spot comeback
After a few years under the moniker Cafe Valencia, the local Brazilian eatery and grocery shop at 1252 Valencia St. rebranded as The Brazilian Spot last month. The shop, which sits between 22nd and 23rd streets, and has sold everything from acai bowls to Brazilian flip flops to money transfer services, has seen many owners over the years.
Its current owner, Miguel Do Rego, who took over with his partner almost a year ago, said he’s made some big changes to change the longtime shop’s reputation.
Most recently, that’s meant reflecting what’s in the store, on the outside.
Do Rego realized passersby would come inside and not realize the store was even Brazilian. Once they learned, they would call their friends and say, “I’m the Brazilian spot.” The name stuck.
“We did a pretty good job in bringing some identity to the place,” Do Rego said. In March, he brought in a Brazilian buffet and salad bar, and just this week he launched a popular Brazilian street food, crepe no palito (a crepe-on-a-stick).
BrewVino closes
The beer, wine, and pizza spot that opened on 24th Street in the peak of the pandemic in 2020 has closed, the SF Standard first reported.
“It is with a heavy heart to let you know we are closing down,” read a statement from owners Carly and Teddy Osmundson on the website. “We have loved every second of owning and operating Brewvino and are beyond grateful for your love and support.”
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