It’s springtime and, despite the wintery weather, new businesses are opening in the Mission.
Walking around 16th and Valencia streets, you can soon visit a new spot for a quick deli-style sandwich, or sit down in a new coffee shop for some Ethiopian coffee.
In the southern Mission, a family-owned restaurant on 24th Street will serve up Guatemalan tamales, and another new Indonesian spot on 20th Street is perfect for an adventurous dinner — the food may not be as spicy and tangy as you find in Southeast Asia, but the flavors are pretty close.
Antigua Guatemala Restaurant
A new family-owned Guatemalan restaurant opened on 24th and Hampshire streets last month, serving Pepian de pollo (a tomato-based chicken stew), Kak’Ik (a Mayan originated turkey stew soup) and other Guatemalan dishes.
José Andrés, 33, co-owner of the restaurant, runs the spot with his mom and best friend. His older sister and younger brother also help out.
Andrés started out in 2017 selling Guatemalan hot salsa named “Don Chepe” in local supermarkets with the friend Luis Ardón, but soon realized how much time it took to make, place and market the salsa. They stopped the salsa business after six months but, when they did salsa tastings, people asked if they were selling Guatemalan food, too.
Soon after in 2018, the owners invited their mom Irma Graciela, who made great tamales, onto the team and ventured into catering. Then the pandemic hit.
They started looking for a brick-and-mortar in 2022, but found landlords preferred established businesses as tenants, Andrés said. Finally, they found the space at 2732 24th St. last May and signed the lease.
“Our goal was always to have our restaurant,” Andrés said. “It took longer because of Covid and the fact that we were rejected from so many places.”
Walking along 24th Street, it’s hard to miss the restaurant’s signage in old English letters. Cherry blossom branches are displayed in the window, with a quetzal ornament resting on the branches. The windows reflected the budding trees on 24th Street. The tables were covered in red tablecloth and decorated with fresh lilies and baby’s breath.
At 3 p.m. on Thursday, a mother-daughter duo, a couple of friends, and a solo diner were eating at the restaurant. The food is a fusion of Mayan culture and what the Spanish culture left after colonization, Andrés said. “It’s like a musical,” with ingredients indigenous to his culture such as corn, chili and tomatoes.
They’ve only been open a month, but people are already coming from as far away as San Rafael, Oakland and Sacramento to have a taste of Guatemalan cuisine. For many, the taste of home.
Location: 2732 24th St.
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sextant Coffee Roasters
Valencia Street is welcoming a new coffee shop. Sextant Coffee Roasters opened its second location in the city on Valencia Street between 16th and 17th streets in late February, after 10 successful years on Folsom Street.
Founded by Kinani Ahmed, a first-generation Ethiopian, Sextant Coffee Roasters sources beans from Ethiopia, Kenya and Columbia and roasts the coffee at its Folsom location.
The owner has his vision for the coffee shop, though the place already has a minimalistic design and pink walls. Ahmed wants to add more color to the cafe, said the barista Hillary Folsom — likely some dark green cushions and plants to contrast with the pink walls. He also wants to make his own pastries and sandwiches in a few months.
“I’ve never met any other cafe owners who cares so much,” said Folsom. “He truly put his heart and soul in the coffee.”
Location: 539 Valencia St.
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Rasa Rasa Kitchen
Rasa Rasa Kitchen, an Indonesian spot on the corner of Bryant and 20th streets, brought the southeast Asian flavor from its Mission Bay food truck to the Mission earlier this month.
The restaurant opened on March 5, on the four-year anniversary of opening their food truck. The name Rasa Rasa comes from the Indonesian word of flavor, which is exactly what the restaurant wants to bring to the customers, the co-owner Joe Sharp said.
It serves dishes from the classic Indonesian dish beef rendang to pork belly in a hot and spicy sauce (“Rica Rica”). Rendang tacos are a staple at Rasa Rasa’s food truck, but seem to be missing in the Mission location — at least for now. Sharp said he will be adding new items to the menu, but keep the classic items like beef rendang every day.
Sharp tries to put a San Francisco twist to the Indonesian cuisines that he grew up with, he said. For example, during dinner time, Gado Gado, the Indonesian-style salad, is served on a crispy tortilla bowl to add a bit of Mexican influence. The beef rendang is usually served with rice, but at Rasa Rasa, it’s served on a bread bowl from Boudin.
“The bread bowl is not good only for clam chowder, and the beef rendang is not just good with rice,” Sharp said. “I just want to play around a little bit.”
During the four years when Sharp worked at the food truck with his co-owner Peggy T., he rarely saw people eat the food they served, as it’s only a grab-and-go place. But now, Sharp said, his favorite part is walking around and asking people how they feel about the food, and seeing the satisfaction on their faces.
“When I opened this restaurant, the one thing that I’m worried about the most was if my food can satisfy people,” Sharp said. “But actually it was a really, really good response so far.”
Location: 2200 Bryant St.
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Wrap & Roll
A new grab-and-go halal lunch spot is about to open on 16th near Albion Street as early as next week. The owner has been preparing for the place to open for two years and the opening day is finally approaching.
Customers will find the classic deli sandwiches as well as specialty ones: tuna sandwiches with tahini and lemon, a three-meat supreme with special sauce, and artichoke and spinach sandwiches for vegetarians, served either in a wrap or on a roll.
But most sandwiches will be the “classic stuff,” the owner Mahdi Herzallah said. “We are not going to have a name and then you look for the ingredients. We’re going to call it a pastrami sandwich, a turkey sandwich. The classic way.”
Herzallah, who started in the business 23 years ago as a busboy, has also managed a Palestinian tapas restaurant Freekeh and the American breakfast spot Pork Store Cafe on 16th Street.
“But running a business is different from running your own business,” Herzallah said. “Manager is a job role, but the owner needs to look into every small detail.”
Indeed, Herzallah said he is doing all the research to find fresh ingredients at a good price, sometimes it’s buying from the market and other times ordering from suppliers. “It should be affordable,” he said. “But don’t forget we are living in San Francisco.”
Location: 3135 16th St.
Hours: Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight, Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Correction, April 1, 2024: An earlier version of this story indicates that Sextant Coffee Roaster’s space used to be home to Arinell Pizza. Arinell Pizza was located at 509 Valencia St., not 539 Valencia St.