“Sunset Buzz” is a recurring column on changes, tidbits and other news from the Sunset. Got news? Send us tips at junyao@missionlocal.com.
When DeeDee Hunt’s landlord told her that the rent for Hunt & Gather, the store and gallery that she has run at 1108 Irving St. for three years, was going to double, she felt hurt, and mad.
“I worked my butt off to get people to walk down from 9th and Irving,” she said. Among her strategies: Starting the Inner Sunset Art Walk to bring more foot traffic to her little gallery.
She wanted to counter that feeling with an optimistic message. Before handing over the keys, she wrote, “the Sunset is proof that endings can be beautiful too” on the wall of the space, where passersby could see it.
Four months later, something beautiful did happen.
“I’ve been manifesting a bigger space,” Hunt said. The manifesting came through and she signed a lease at the Market, the food hall below the former X headquarters at 1355 Market St.
She had hosted popups at the Market Street space, and once, more than 800 people RSVP’d. “People were calling and asking if we could open up more spaces,” she recalled. “That’s why I decided to pull the trigger and sign the lease.”
Hunt will take over a bar in the back, serving tea-based non-alcoholic drinks — what she calls “botanical elixirs” — and will continue hosting seasonal art exhibits.
“I will continue to do exactly what I was doing at Hunt & Gather,” said Hunt. “The goal is to continue where I left off in the Inner Sunset but at a bigger scale.”
Hunt & Gather is planning a grand opening celebration on April 17.
Construction is underway at 3821 Noriega St., where the Oakland taproom Two Pitchers Brewing Company is planning to open its first location in San Francisco, three blocks from Ocean Beach. The owners hope that it will open in the next month or two.
The taproom, which opened its Oakland location in 2021, will serve its signature radlers — a blend of beer and fruit juice.
It will also feature smash burgers from Maillards, a popup that started at the Outer Sunset Farmers Market in July 2023 every Sunday, and later expanded to Tuesdays at Heritage Restaurant & Bar in the Richmond.
Maillards’ owner, Max Ponzurick, said he hasn’t decided if the popups will continue now that they will have a brick-and-mortar location at the brewery. “If we’re capable, if things line up right,” keeping the popups is still an option, he said.
Operating a brick-and-mortar five or six days a week is new territory, Ponzurick said. He worries about stretching himself too thin and not being able to make the Sunday markets himself — something he hardly misses since he started the popup two years ago. “We take it day by day. It’s something to learn from.”
He is feeling “anxious, excited, sad and happy” all at the same time. “We are closing an old chapter and starting a new thing,” he said. “It’s just change.”
Three-year-old seafood restaurant Bearing West Bar & Galley will shutter on Taraval Street, the owners announced last week. Its last day is March 1.
“While the restaurant industry has presented significant challenges,” the owners wrote on Instagram, “what we will remember most is the incredible community that supported us along the way.”
Bearing West will be missed for its “$2 Tuesdays” ($2 oysters and sangria), and “wings and whiskey Wednesdays” with $1 chicken wings. For the last time, pop by for its dungeness crab, clam chowder and oyster tower.
A new flower shop, French Florist, opened at 1127 Irving St. at 12th Avenue, replacing the previous flower shop The Flower Girl, which had been at the space since 1978.
The Flower Girl’s owner, who also owns the building, “had a vested interest in keeping a flower shop in the space,” said Sam, owner of the French Florist. She still pops into the shop every now and then to check up on him, he added.
He took over the space in September and renovated it so that it has more natural light and a more minimalistic design.
Among the advantages of taking over an existing flower shop: a built-in clientele. “There are people who are born and raised in this neighborhood and have only known that there’s a flower shop there their entire life,” Sam said.
This Valentine’s Day — which Sam called his own Super Bowl — was the most tiring day he has had in a long time. But he feels good, and is planning for a grand opening day in March.
A few places we wrote about in previous Sunset Buzz are now up and running. Tokyo Cream, a soft-serve ice cream cafe, opened at 1838 Irving St. Tadaima, the Japanese sando and matcha spot, opened last Sunday in the Inner Sunset, to a very long line.
And don’t forget: the Sunset Night Market is this Friday. The temperature will be in the 70s — a perfect evening for dumplings, music and some Mahjong.