Organizer of culinary event says “our corridor is seeing the benefit” of businesses working together.
Bayview ’s annual celebration of the neighborhood’s emerging culinary scene is set to conclude Saturday with a free, all-ages event at the restaurant that started it all. Gumbo Social ’s third annual National Gumbo Week has included pop-up eateries taking over the restaurant’s kitchen, a cooking demonstration, and a stampable “passport” offering special deals and tastings at 14 Bayview establishments through the end of the month.
Owner Dontaye Ball, who also serves as president of the Bayview Merchants Association, started National Gumbo Week in 2023. It grew from four days in 2024 to nine this year, beginning Monday with the takeovers of his restaurant’s kitchen and ending Saturday with free gumbo tastings, live music and a prize raffle for passport holders. From 6-9 p.m. Friday, Gumbo Social and Wise Health will hold a happy hour featuring Creole-inspired cocktails. Saturday’s event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., marking the end of a celebration that participants say honors Bayview’s culinary history and the creative spirits of the minds who are shaping the area into a new foodie destination. “This community is pure grit and passion,” said Frank Grizzly’s owner Kim Truong, whose restaurant is featured in the passport program. Frank Grizzly’s dishes are made of ingredients sourced from Central Valley farms and local vendors. The restaurant has become known for its tacos, with additional menu items including quesadillas, nachos, tostadas topped with caviar, and burrito bowls. “As an often overlooked corridor in The City, the residents here do an incredible job of supporting their local mom-and-pops,” Truong said. For $5, you can get discounts and deals at Frank Grizzly’s and 13 other restaurants through the Bayview food and beverage passport program. The digital cards are valid through Halloween in order to give San Franciscans ample time to patronize each business, according to organizers. “These kinds of collaborations are a fun way to showcase all of the food that’s being offered,” Truong said, adding that her restaurant is “always so grateful to be able to partner with any of the small and local businesses” in the neighborhood. Ex // Top Stories Have a sip and a snip at this Bernal Heights barbershop Resident Sheena Lister is set to open The Barb Shop’s first brick-and-mortar location, bringing an e-commerce hair brand into the neighborhood “near and dear to her” SF federal surge scare shows Trump untethered from reality The president says he will make The City great again, portraying a dystopian present that doesn’t exist and romanticizing a utopian past that never was Lurie says Trump has called off ‘federal deployment’ to SF Trump posted on social media that “friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge” Barbara Gratta, whose Bayview winery Gratta Wines, is another possible passport stop, said she has learned over 10 years in the neighborhood that “collaboration is in our bones out here and part of the fabric that enables us all to thrive.” “We all realize that working together to promote our neighborhood is always a win-win,” she said of those involved in National Gumbo Week. Smoke Soul Kitchen’s Vanessa Lee, Sapphire Bistro Catering’s Sasasha Fleming and Gabriel LaMothe of Pops’ Creole took over Gumbo Social’s dining room and kitchen on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Fleming, whose catering business was hosted at Gumbo Social, said “it was an absolute honor being able to participate in an event of this magnitude.” “It was my first time doing a kitchen takeover so I learned a lot,” she said. Her company specializes in Bay Area trists on comfort food dishes, such as garlic noodles with crabcake lumpia, stewed okra and tomatoes served with rice and sweet potato cornbread, and baked banana pudding. “I walked away with great lessons that will certainly push me forward in my craft and in running a kitchen.” “For us, this is bigger than food — it’s about community,” said Lee, whose tickets to her Gumbo Social takeover event sold out in 90 minutes, according to Bell. Being part of National Gumbo Week was an easy decision, Lee said, as the event brings people together, highlights local talents and reminds “everyone that Bayview has a rich culinary story to tell.” Guests at LaMothe’s takeover chowed down on gumbo, shrimp and grits, pot pies and burnt brown sugar sweet potato pie. LaMothe, a chef and baker whose Pop’s Creole pop-up blends Creole dishes with California-inspired ingredients, said “there are so many ties between the Bay Area and Louisiana.”Ball said the three chefs’ participation — and the “monumental achievement” of having 14 other businesses participate in the passport program — represents a newfound collective energy among Bayview businesses. “Historically, it’s been difficult to get business owners to collaborate with each other,” he said. “but our corridor is seeing the benefit of food and beverage businesses working together to build the culinary scene in Bayview.”
Gumbo Social National Gumbo Week Bayview Merchants Association Smoke Soul Kitchen Frank Grizzly's Gratta Wines Pop's Creole Sapphire Bistro Catering
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