Fresh and Easy Comes on Strong, Oakland Bar Boom

By Jonathan Kauffman Thu., Feb. 24 2011 at 7:33 AM

Categories: Buzz Machine

The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.

Grub Street reports that San Francisco is about to see the arrival of four branches of Fresh and Easy, a grocery store chain owned by British giant Tesco that models itself along the lines of Trader Joe's, but for a less-affluent demographic. The four locations: Third and Carroll in the Bayview, 32nd Ave. and Clement in Richmond, Silver and Goettigen in Portola, and 23rd St. and S. Van Ness in the Mission. Many more are coming to the larger Bay Area; Eater SF posts a tentative schedule of March openings, none of which are in S.F.

Grub Street also brings word that Flora is adding a 2,000-square-foot bar to the downtown Oakland restaurant, as well as a taqueria named Xolo. (Flora owners Dona Savitsky and Thomas Schnetz also own Doña Tomás and Tacubaya.)

Nearby, reports Grub Street, former House of Shields co-owner Aleixis Filipiello is finally about to open Dogwood at 1644 Telegraph in downtown Oakland, a project she announced back in August. The pitch: unpretentious neighborhood bar.

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