Latest news with #BasukuCheesecakes


San Francisco Chronicle
01-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Pizzeria calls it quits after 17 years, plus more Bay Area restaurant closings
The following is a list of notable Bay Area restaurants that closed in June. Click here for a list of May closings. Rotten City Pizza has closed following a 17-year run in Emeryville, E'Ville Eye reports. Owner Jonas Bernstein confirmed the closing to the outlet, blaming the current economics of running a restaurant. Workers have launched a crowdfunding campaign to keep the pizzeria alive. Oakland's hip French restaurant the Rendez-Vous is unexpectedly closing. In an Instagram post, its owners wrote that "unforeseen circumstances' forced the sudden decision but did not elaborate. The chic restaurant, which the Chronicle named one of the Bay Area's most beautiful new restaurants in 2022, served French dishes like a Nicoise salad with tuna loin, a classic coq au vin and beet-cured halibut. Bay Area barbecue chain Armadillo Willy's unexpectedly shut down three of its final four locations in mid-June, SFGATE reported. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but operate independently). The brand announced via Instagram that its San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale locations were officially closed. The post thanked patrons and staff for their support for more than 40 years. The sole remaining location in San Mateo will continue to carry the company's legacy onward. Khana Peena has served its final northern Indian plates, East Bay Nosh reported. The neighborhood restaurant was a popular fixture on Berkeley's stretch of Solano Avenue. You can still find the sought-after tandoori chicken legs and chapati at the restaurant's sibling location in North Oakland. It's a wrap, at least locally, for the wildly popular Basuku Cheesecakes. Owner and baker Charles Chen and his unimaginably creamy cheesecakes made their final appearance at Palo Alto's Vina Enoteca after he announced the end of his baking project earlier this year. Chen told the Chronicle that he was moving to Asia to focus on his restaurant consulting work. The Ferry Building's Grande Crêperie, a popular Parisian-style café, shut down when its lease expired on June 30. Owners Patrick and Joanna Ascaso told the Chronicle the closure was unexpected and had hoped to renew their lease; in a statement to the Chronicle, Ferry Building management said they were letting the lease expire. Grand Crêperie specialized in sourdough crepes, pastries and coffee, all of which lured long lines of customers. Walnut Creek's Nusantaran restaurant has closed for good after months of inactivity. SanDai owner Nora Haron officially put an end to her Singaporean-Indonesian project in June. The restaurant was regularly packed during weekend dinner service, but midweek business was ultimately insufficient. Dishes included beef rendang topped with pineapple, fish fried rice and a raviolo stuffed with tiger prawn in a red broth. Its joint coffee shop, Kopi Bar, has also shut down, though Haron is looking at opening more cafés in the future. One Market, the 32-year-old restaurant at the end of Market Street on the Embarcadero, closed June 11. Co-founder Michael Dellar told the Chronicle the decision was due in part to his retirement, but also to a slow pandemic recovery downtown. There were plans to sell the restaurant to current management, but the deal didn't materialize and a different buyer wasn't found. The restaurant held a Michelin star from 2008 through 2012.


San Francisco Chronicle
13-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
A cheesecake phenomenon bids farewell to the Bay Area
The Bay Area has four more weeks to enjoy one of the region's most sought-after cakes. Basuku Cheesecakes, whose Japanese-style Basque burnt cheesecakes exploded in popularity during the pandemic, is shutting down after five years. Owner Charles Chen is moving to Asia after several years of traveling back and forth for restaurant consulting work. 'The whole thing is a little bittersweet,' said Chen. 'I'm still selling out every week. It just came time to make a personal decision.' Chen, an industry consultant, started selling cheesecakes on Instagram during the pandemic shutdown. The lush, rich cakes quickly became the dessert of the moment and sold out rapidly at popups and restaurants. Chen expanded his repertoire to include flavors like black sesame, roasted banana, yuzu and passionfruit. Basuku became so popular it spawned fake imitations. Former Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho wrote of the cake's 'intense caramel aroma' and 'phenomenal' texture, 'reminiscent of when you leave a triple-creme soft cheese out on the kitchen counter and its fat wilts and softens, leaving you with something you can effortlessly scoop up and smear on a cracker with a spoon. Despite the cake's popularity, it was a challenging business to sustain. Chen has made every laborious cheesecake himself over the last five years, driving them to pickup locations all over the Bay Area. He has been wary of expanding into a permanent space in the costly Bay Area. 'I see people who have moved on from the popup stage to brick-and-mortar stage and aren't maybe as successful as they thought they were going to be,' he said. 'There's a massive financial strain at that point, which becomes a personal strain.' Chen also tried unsuccessfully to find a local bakery to license the cakes and sell them in his absence. (He does now sell them in Japan and soon will expand to Taipei.) Basuku will offer several more sales in the coming weeks at its regular pickup locations at Vina Enoteca in Palo Alto, Dolores Deluxe in San Francisco and Commis in Oakland. Check Instagram for dates and ordering information. This isn't to say that local fans will never get to taste Basuku cheesecakes again. If Chen is back in the Bay Area, he may host sporadic popups.