After a little more than two decades as a staple in the North Beach dining scene, Rose Pistola has closed.
Owner Laurie Thomas said the last dinner service happened before the Super Bowl.
“We felt like it was just the right time,” she said.
The Italian cuisine trailblazer would have been open for 21 years come March. Upon its opening, Rose Pistola won the James Beard Award for the nation’s Best New Restaurant in 1997; at the time, then-chef Reed Hearon made it into one of the city’s hottest spot, as a follow-up to his acclaimed LuLu. (LuLu closed last month.) Like a number of other Bay Area restaurants, cited factors for the closure include increased operating costs, labor shortages and real estate prices.
“The fact that we’re an older, sit-down restaurant without those smaller plates, our prices are a little higher, it all factors in,” she said. “Plus this space is big.”
Thomas said in terms of operating costs, a space like Rose Pistola when compared to a small fast-casual spot is like comparing a yacht to a sailboat. There are still a few years left on her lease, she said, but they exercised an option to close early.
Right now, there are plans to find new tenants to take over the space.
“Who knows what the future holds. It could end up being used as two spaces,” she said.
Thomas said the writing was on the wall when she checked the books at the end of 2016. The summer months when the restaurant gets a boon from tourists didn’t turn the profit they normally do. Thomas said the outfit depended on that window of business, but without it, “it was no longer feasible” to keep the place open.
Looking down the road, Thomas said she imagines the industry is going to be difficult for places unless they’re either high-end or fast casual. The space somewhere in the middle is perilous these days, she said.
“It’s getting harder, especially for the older places,” she said. “But now was the right time for us.”
Rose Pistola: 532 Columbus Ave, San Francisco
[h/t Tablehopper]
