Cassava, a 12-year-old restaurant as well-known for its affordable prix-fixe menu as for its owners’ progressive politics, is closing.
Yuka Ioroi, who co-owns the San Francisco establishment with her husband and chef Kristoffer Toliao, told The Standard the last day of service will be Nov. 17.
The owners told the restaurant’s staff about the upcoming closure days prior to the public announcement, and Ioroi says they’ve already helped everyone find new jobs.
“We went through the grieving already,” Ioroi says. “It’s like someone is dying.”
Cassava, which opened on Balboa Street in the Richmond District in 2012 and relocated to its current home in North Beach in 2022, made headlines during the pandemic for its progressive stance on public health, closing when customers refused to wear masks and being among the first restaurants in the country to mandate customers show proof of receiving a vaccine booster. It offers employees a starting wage of $20 an hour in addition to tips (which are shared equally between front and back of house), full medical, dental, and vision coverage, and a 401k with 5% employer match — among other benefits rarely seen in the industry.
The owners are adamant that the restaurant’s commitment to an equitable work environment is possible to pull off. To that end, they have announced that they will open a new business at a yet-to-be-announced location in Jackson Square in the coming months.
Unlike Cassava, which serves a $52 three-course dinner, the new concept will be a quick-service model offering takeout only. Ioroi says the menu will include shaken salads like those made popular by TikToker Logan Moffitt and open-faced sandwiches served on focaccia. The owners will also lean into their Japanese heritage by offering onigirazu, a Japanese snack sometimes called a “sushi sandwich.”
Ioroi describes the pivot from full-service to quick-service as going “back to the basics” at a time when restaurants continue to struggle and San Franciscans brace for another Trump presidency.
“It’s a smarter and safer move,” she says. “Unfortunately, we’re sad we’re giving up this beautiful restaurant, but we’re keeping the company going. We just have to take it as an investment in our future.”
Unlike other owners of shuttering San Francisco restaurants, Ioroi isn’t willing to place blame for Cassava’s closure on the neighborhood. “It’s the entire city,” she says. “And it’s only going to get harder.”
Toliao, who worked with chef Dominique Crenn when the world-famous chef opened Luce restaurant, will now be cooking at her three-Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn. About 75% of Cassava’s staff will move over to North Beach Restaurant, which closed at the end of last year but will reopen under new ownership soon with Ioroi and Toliao as consultants. The rest of the Cassava crew will move to the caé, where they’ll continue to enjoy the benefits they do now.
“We eventually want to open our own [full-service restaurant] again,” Iorio says, “when the economy is better.”