“Sunset Buzz” is a recurring column on changes, tidbits and other news from the Sunset. Got news? Send tips at junyao@missionlocal.com.
Inle Burmese Cuisine, the only Burmese restaurant in the Inner Sunset, closed its doors on Sunday. Co-owner Morgan Sue said that Inle is on break while the owners deal with health issues.
The restaurant business has always been rough, Sue added, and “we’ve been riding the rough way,” ever since Inle first opened its doors at 1298 Church St. in 2019, right before the pandemic. They closed the Noe Valley location and reopened in the Inner Sunset in 2023, at 822 Irving St. near Ninth Avenue.
Sue and his family immigrated from Burma to the United States in 1998. He got his start in the restaurant industry, working at one of the oldest Burmese restaurants in the Bay Area; Nan Yang in Oakland’s Chinatown. It closed in 2013.
Inle may come back in the future in a different form, Sue added, but it’s still up in the air.
“I tried to avoid the restaurant business, but the blood is here,” he said. “It’s so hard to stop.”
The newest occupant of the Inle space at 822 Irving St., is Vincenzo Capuano, a world-renowned Neapolitan pizza chef, who is opening an eponymous pizzeria — his first in the United States.
Capuano, who won the world championship of contemporary pizza at the Caputo Trophy in 2022, has 24 restaurants across the world from Europe to Asia.
The Inner Sunset location, Vincenzo Capuano SF, is a partnership between Capuano and another Italian chef, Osilio Florese, who owns Mona Lisa Ristorante and Steps of Rome in North Beach.
The opening of Vincenzo Capuano SF follows the news of Oakland-based Mama’s Boy bringing its New York style slices to the Inner Sunset. Both restaurants have won awards from 50 Top Pizza, the online publication specialized in … ranking pizza.
The Inner Sunset already has plenty of pizza options to choose from, including Arizmendi, Pasquale’s Pizzeria and Cybelle’s Front Room. Even the storefront at 822 Irving St. was once home to another pizza restaurant, Patxi’s.
Soon enough, the intersection of Ninth and Irving may have the highest density of pizzerias outside of North Beach.
After four years of vacancy, the storefront that was once home to decades-old cafe Tart to Tart seems to be getting ready for a new deli.
Tiles were put in place in front of the space at 641 Irving St. this week, with blue letters reading Mayer’s Delicatessen.
Loving Hut, a vegan Chinese restaurant at 524 Irving St. near Seventh Avenue, was shut down on Tuesday by the Department of Public Health due to “vermin infestation,” according to a notice posted on the door.
“Major violations were found at the time of inspection that constitute an immediate danger to public safety,” the notice read.
The Sixth Annual Great Hauntway is returning to Sunset Dunes park this Sunday. The 10-block-long party, hosted by the park advocate Friends of Sunset Dunes, will take place between Judah and Taraval streets from 1 to 4 p.m.
Anyone can sign up to host a trick-or-treat table, but the organizer warns: “Ocean Beach can be windy. Beware of decorations that look like sails.”
In addition to trick-or-treating, there will also be live performers, bounce houses and lots of costumes. It isn’t quite Halloween yet, but honestly … it’s never too early for candy.
Previously on Sunset Buzz:
Seven months since we last wrote about it, Black Jet Luncheonette, the offshoot from Black Jet Baking Co. in Bernal Heights, has finally opened its Outer Sunset location.
Its official opening day is Friday, Oct. 23, but last Sunday, the owners threw a little neighborhood party to celebrate.
“Having a fancy clubhouse with perfect green floors and wood paneling to taste test different delicious sandwiches, plan for the future, re-plan for the future and eat more sandwiches has been a dream come true,” the owners wrote.
Nothing like having a local beat reporter!
Our fave pizzaria is Cybelle’s, because its former owners, an Asian family, had a vegan daughter who constructed a vegan menu, most helpful when we had vegan visitors and for when we sheltered a vegan trans homeless woman. Plus, we like their pizza variety.
Plus, after we saw all the items about Loving Hut being infested by vegan vermin, we’d not go there even though it looked clean from the front. What took the Health Dept so long? Elizabeth, a Cybelle’s owner elsewhere, bought this restaurant when the family left the industry and has maintained the quality and menus.
With Inle gone, does this mean two new pizzarias more or less across the street? (Not too unhappy Inle quit. We decided to try it and each dish we ordered, they said they were sold out despite it being only mid-afternoon. We left unfulfilled and never returned.
Junyao, what are the chances you can send a print copy of ML to this pair of shut-ins?
Thanks for all the tips! I LOVE MISSION LOCAL!!
As a native san franciscan I laughed at transplants saying how outdated San Francisco is! And to say that the great hiway should of always been a park! I said well I wonder why it was named great hiway and had 4 lanes before the change!? And the embarcadero made getting to Chinatown much easier from the soeast part of san francisco and the peninsula! But now it’s alot harder and makes other places more attractive! But the people who opened business never knew how the traffic routes would decline! Dont you think those people should have a say ? NO ANSWER!
Fred, give it a rest. The motorway never actually had the official name ‘Great Highway’—that’s the name of the road parallel to it. Nor did it have a number. And it no longer serves a meaningful purpose because the extension between it and Skyline is falling into the sea.
And now it’s a well used park that’s drawing all kinds of new businesses who add to the neighborhood’s revival. Huzzah for Black Jet and I hope it’s a huge success.