Richmond Buzz: New Uzbek, Nepalese restaurants, and extremely famous pizza

On Clement street: The Spanish Table, at 130 Clement St., recently locked its doors and placed a sign in the window saying it has “closed temporarily,” so you may have to buy salt cod elsewhere for your holiday Baccalà mantecato alla veneziana.

The purveyor of Iberian dry goods, wine and wares saw its other two locations, in in Berkeley and Marin, permanently shutter this year. The SF location also offers table seating, hot coffee drinks, and a decent bocadillo, though the future of the Spanish sandwich on Clement remains uncertain.

Two blocks down, at 316 Clement St., Mai’s Vietnamese also locked up and put a temporary closure sign on its door. The sign cited “a medical procedure and recovery period,” and said the restaurant plans to reopen in February.

The former 200 Clement St. location of Cumaica, a local coffee chain, has been shuttered for almost two years now, but construction work at the site, recent business filings, and a website suggest that a new cafe will soon open under the name Evermore. The website promises the usual tea and coffee (and soft-serve ice cream), but more ephemeral offerings are also on the proverbial menu: “The contemplative life” and poetry. Maybe we’ll see the birth of the next Coffee Gallery.

An apartment fire at 728 Clement St. above Chili House brought the restaurant to a close in 2023, after more than a decade serving Peking duck and other Beijing delights at its Clement and Ninth Avenue location.

Though the initial closure was billed as temporary, recent renovation has torn down the remaining signage and, in November, a business registration was made for the space under the DBA Honeymood.

Public Land, the plant-centric home-goods store at 201 Clement St., has been going strong since we covered its Clement Street opening back in August. It has planned pop-ups with local makers like DIY clothier and screenprinter Isabella Manfredi for every Saturday of December.

Food Folk Market opened its doors last week at 210 Clement St., a former home for the art gallery the Drawing Room, which closed in March. 

The new food market offers a curated selection of dry goods, kitchenware and vintage curios.

The “small batch market” sells goods from across the country, but mostly from California and the Bay Area. Here, you can find hot sauce from Savannah, Georgia, fresh bread from the Sunset home bakery Driftwood Bread Co. on Fridays, or kimchi from the now-shuttered Sunset Korean market Queens.  

“My goal is to be the first shelf that a lot of small-food makers can sit on,” said Kevin Elmore, co-owner of Food Folk Market. 

The store is in a soft-opening period while the owners add the finishing touches. Open hours are still being ironed out, but you can be sure to find its doors open all day on farmer’s market Sundays.

Ah Ma’s Kitchen at 1115 Clement St. is now officially open seven days a week after a soft launch earlier this fall.

The casual sit-down joint serves a mix of modern Hong Kong street food and authentic Cantonese fare (the latter of which might feel familiar on Clement Street).

Offerings include a (very Instagrammable) milk tea with giant grass jelly boba, as well as chicken pineapple buns and “kiln chicken,” a crispy-skinned, bone-in chicken wrapped in foil. 

Berkeley institution Rose Pizzeria, lauded as serving one of the best pizzas in America, is opening a San Francisco outpost at the corner of Clement and Arguello, at the site of the former Village Pizzeria at 1 Clement St.

It’ll be right across the street from Arsicault Bakery, another nationally recognized food destination. It’s expected to open up shop before March, according to the owner Gerad Gobel.

Gobel, who co-owns Rose Pizzeria with his wife, signed a 20-year lease with the landlord this summer — a rare occurrence for commercial leases in the city.  

“We wanna be here for a long time,” Gobel said. “And it’s easier to do in a neighborhood like the Richmond than in the Financial District.” 

On Geary Boulevard, Khob Khun Thai Cuisine and Breakfast, which serves both Thai and American-style breakfast, made a short move across the street from 3741 Geary Blvd. to the other side of Second Avenue, one block east. It will be open in its new 3809 Geary Blvd. location throughout the holidays.

After around 12 years in business, Camp BBQ, the Japanese Yakiniku-style grill-your-own meat spot at 4014 Geary Blvd. permanently closed at the end of October.

“Thank you for all your support throughout these years,” reads a sign posted in the window.

Sagarmatha Kitchen, so named after the Nepalese name for Mount Everest, opened its doors at 4828 Geary Blvd. earlier this fall.

Located in the former space of Mexican restaurant Caliente Bistro Kitchen, it serves Nepali dishes like thukpa, a soup with hand-pulled noodles, and Bhutan, a spicy dish made with goat intestines, as well as more classic Indian dishes, like lamb vindaloo and saag paneer.

For the uninitiated in the culinary delights of Uzbekistan, Uzbegim opened its doors at 5120 Geary Blvd. just over a month ago.

The restaurant has already received high praise for its noodles and red meat-heavy offerings, and showcases the unique intersection of culinary influences in the small central Asian country. The menu includes eastern European-style borscht, babaganoush, and classic Uzbek dishes like plov and samsa.

In August, local institution Khan Toke Thai House at 5937 Geary Blvd. permanently closed its doors. But its owners haven’t gone anywhere: they opened Rice and Shine down the street at 5830 Geary Blvd. in September.

The modern Thai brunch spot serves “Asian brunch” options like “Sizzling skillet with two fried eggs, Chinese sausage, Vietnamese pork loaf, buttered thick sourdough toast, and garlic minced pork” along with classic American breakfast fare.

NailDar, a nail salon that offers Russian Manicure services, opened its doors at 5320 Geary Blvd. last month. The salon also offers instructional courses, and a handbook for those interested in “Mastering the Russian Manicure.”

Cannabis store Mr. Green is beginning to take shape at 4225 Geary Blvd., down the block from the Richmond Police Station. It’s planning to open next year before 4/20.

Dove Donuts has been “coming soon” to 5001 Geary for more than a year now. The local chain offers vegan donuts and banh mi at its other locations in Oakland and San Jose, but shows no signs of opening soon here.

In October, plans to build housing out of the long-derelict Alexandria Theater at 5400 Geary Boulevard were submitted to the city, though no timeline came along with it.

A storefront at 3512 Balboa St. at 36th Avenue (next to Rampant wine bar) has recently been boarded up for renovation, and signage reading “Constance” has been affixed to its facade. Filings with the city suggest it will be a tea shop under the name Constance Tea.