Caleb Pershan
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Articles by Caleb Pershan
Photos: How Dolores Huerta embodied seven decades of the labor movement
Dolores Huerta, the United Farm Workers co-founder who died Wednesday at 96, was a defining presence in the labor movement. For six decades, she carried her rallying cry, “¡Sí, se puede!” into fields and onto stages across the country, raising her fist as she organized for workers’ rights. In the final months of her life, Huerta remained a forceful advocate for low-wage workers, campaigning across California and beyond.
That's not Chonkers: Where did SF.'s viral sea lion go - and who is this imposter?
Caleb Pershan Missing: One 2,000-pound sea lion. Last seen at Pier 39. A jumbo-size San Francisco pinniped that rose to stardom with the nickname Chonkers hasn't been spotted in days, officials said, disappointing tourists, locals and Chronicle staff photographers who have been on the lookout for him. Last week he even stood up the mayor . But maybe on the plus side, Chonkers' departure has left a wide berth at the famed pier for another very large sea lion to fill.
‘That's not Chonkers': Where did S.F.'s viral sea lion go - and who is the imposter?
Missing: One 2,000-pound sea lion. Last seen at Pier 39. A jumbo-size San Francisco pinniped that rose to stardom with the nickname Chonkers hasn't been spotted in days, officials said, disappointing tourists, locals and Chronicle staff photographers who have been on the lookout for him. Last week he even stood up the mayor. But maybe on the plus side, Chonkers' departure has left a wide berth at the famed pier for another very large sea lion to fill.
‘That’s not Chonkers’: Where did S.F.’s viral sea lion go — and who is the imposter?
Missing: One 2,000-pound sea lion. Last seen at Pier 39. A jumbo-size San Francisco pinniped that rose to stardom with the nickname Chonkers hasn’t been spotted in days, officials said, disappointing tourists, locals and Chronicle staff photographers who have been on the lookout for him. Last week he even stood up the mayor. But maybe on the plus side, Chonkers’ departure has left a wide berth at the famed pier for another very large sea lion to fill.
Future of S.F.’s legendary Tosca Cafe in doubt as judge orders owner to pay more than $1 million
Embattled Tosca Cafe owner Anna Weinberg must pay her former business partner more than $1.1 million for breach of contract, a San Francisco Superior Court Judge ordered last week. The judgment leaves uncertain the future of the historic North Beach bar and restaurant the partners bought in 2019. It allows Weinberg’s former partner, David Stanton, to freeze her ownership interest in the LLC that owns Tosca, the first step in potentially seizing it from her.
Fatal Bay Area apartment fire linked to growing problem Original
Flames were billowing out of the apartment on Norwalk Avenue in San Jose when firefighters arrived Friday morning, and one of the occupants had collapsed, overcome by toxic smoke. The San Jose Fire Department later determined the cause of the fire was an e-bike battery that began sparking. One person inside fled quickly, but the other had tried to fight the blaze. Moments later, that person exited the apartment and collapsed.
The Chronicle’s best reads of 2025 Original
After using fentanyl, 35-year-old Austin Draper sleeps on his bed in San Francisco in September. Gabrielle Lurie/S.F. Chronicle In the past year, San Francisco Chronicle reporters have written about the following, in no particular order: A California highway falling into the sea, members of a cultlike Bay Area group on an alleged killing spree, and a group of Indigenous teenagers paddling down 250 miles of newly undammed California river.
The real reason thin, crispy burgers have taken over the Bay Area
Seemingly every new burger restaurant in the Bay Area has adopted the thin, crispy burgers pioneered by Burgers Never Say Die. Chronicle associate restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez tried more than 30 options in the Bay Area before crowning his favorites - with some, like his number one pick Smish Smash, explicitly citing Nee as an inspiration.
Bay Area restaurants make strong early showing in ‘Oscars’ of food world
The James Beard Foundation, whose awards for restaurants are sometimes likened to the Oscars of the food world, has released its long list of semifinalists for 2025. On the list are a strong number of prominent Bay Area names in nearly every category. The preliminary result amounts to a powerful showing from the region, after years during which the Bay Area was largely shut out of the nominations and final awards, which will be handed out this year in June.
Want to support L.A. fire relief efforts? These Bay Area restaurants are fundraising
A growing number of Bay Area bars and restaurants are hoping to help those affected by devastating Los Angeles wildfires: At least 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders, and the two largest fires, the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire, are now the most destructive in Los Angeles County history.
Reader poll: What’s the best order at house of Prime Rib?
Getting a table at San Francisco’s storied House of Prime Rib can be a bit of a challenge. (To learn how, play our game.) But once you’re finally seated at the restaurant affectionately nicknamed HOPR, your back in a cushy booth, the menu is its own adventure. Fans will forever fight over the “correct” order. Is the thin English cut the most flavorful, or is the thickest King Henry VIII the way to go? What about sides? Tell us your favorites. Credits Powered by the Hearst Newspapers DevHub.
Can we guess your personality based on your House of Prime Rib order?
There is arguably no question more hotly debated in Bay Area culinary circles than the proper order at San Francisco’s House of Prime Rib. Many a lengthy Reddit thread has been devoted to the debate. And while there are no right or wrong answers, we like to think it’s a deeply personal choice — one that reflects the character of the diner.
First he got sober. Then he built S.F.’s most famous cocktail bar
It’s almost time for happy hour on a foggy spring afternoon. Outside his popular San Francisco bar, Trick Dog, owner Josh Harris is meeting a group of about 20 people — not for drinks, but as they do every week, for a five-mile run. They high-five in greeting and stretch in front of the bar’s parklet, many sporting black caps with their group’s name, the Bon Vivants Run Club.
How are S.F. restaurants really doing? Here’s what sales revenue says
Continue reading More for You Continue reading More for You
How are S.F. restaurants really doing? Here’s what sales revenue says
Little Star Pizza on Divisadero Street is caught in a limbo familiar to many San Francisco restaurants. Revenue at the Chicago-style pizzeria was down about 18% last year compared with 2019, owner Brian Sadigursky said. So after nearly 20 years in business, he lined up a new tenant to take over the space and announced his intention to close. But that replacement fell through, and so did another.
Michelin Guide will add one S.F. restaurant — and 9 from L.A.
At least one new Bay Area restaurant will be added to the 2024 Michelin Guide for California. In a preview Tuesday morning of its final selections, to be released in a later month, the famed guidebook revealed that 7 Adams in San Francisco would be included in its next edition. It was one of 10 California restaurants mentioned in the preview, and the only one from the Bay Area; the rest were in Los Angeles, including pasta hot spot Funke and pizza parlor Quarter Sheets.
The best karaoke bars in the Bay Area
Everyone has a song in their heart; it just takes the right karaoke bar to coax it out. Fortunately, the Bay Area has a range of persuasive options for the art of singing your favorite songs in front of appreciative friends and strangers. There are public stages for impressing the crowd with your Adele impression. There are private rooms for screaming the Cranberries with your loved ones.
What to eat in San Francisco's quirkiest neighborhood
Bernal Heights, a crown of Victorian houses surrounding the grassy head of Bernal Hill, is a little like its own mountain village. Perched above the big city, its charming main street, Cortland Avenue, is lined with quaint local shops selling everything from antiques to electric bikes (demanded on roads this steep). Narrow side streets feature quirky staircases, a set of whimsical slides and cottages referred to as earthquake shacks built after the 1906 quake.
The 25 best restaurants for gluten-free food in S.F.
For people avoiding gluten, eating at restaurants can take some detective work. There’s the online snooping, the magnifying glass-level of menu reading, and even the occasional interrogation: What else goes in that fryer?! That’s because for people with gluten-intolerance or celiac disease, it’s a big deal. Gluten, a protein found in wheat, can cause a major negative reaction with short-term discomfort and long-term health consequences.
15 Bay Area restaurants Chronicle food writers kept going back to in 2023
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Judging by this list, San Francisco Chronicle food writers eat a lot of sandwiches when we’re off the clock. Tortas. Banh mi. Bagel sandwiches. Smashburgers. These are our go-tos. These are also our go-to spots for drinks after work, snacks near the Ferry Building and delivery when we don’t want to leave our couches.
By Cesar Hernandez, César Hernández Verified, Mario A. Cortez Verified, Elena Kadvany Verified, Caleb Pershan Verified
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San Francisco Chronicle
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The 14 best new bars in the Bay Area
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In the Bay Area beverage world, 2023 was undeniably the year of the wine bar. While once stuffy and staid, with bulky glasses and boring cheese plates, a flood of new bars from the Marina to San Jose has remade the genre. Now, they’re likely to boast raucous music and tiny INAO-style glasses brimming with natural wine. But the 14 best new bars of 2023 offered plenty of variety, too: See Napa’s new tequila hotspot and Berkeley’s new hub for one of the region’s best breweries.
By Caleb Pershan Verified, Cesar Hernandez, César Hernández Verified, Janelle Bitker Verified, Jess Lander Verified
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San Francisco Chronicle
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The most beautiful new Bay Area restaurants of 2023
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We go to restaurants for food, of course. But we also go for the design. Some restaurants are so beautiful, we feel an energetic lift as soon as we walk into them. We do a double take when we see a particularly dazzling chandelier. Or we smile at whimsical wallpaper that we’d never put in our house but so appreciate over the course of a two-hour meal. Immersive dining rooms can captivate us. They can transport us. At the end of a long day, they can be the escape we crave.
By Elena Kadvany Verified, Cesar Hernandez, César Hernández Verified, Janelle Bitker Verified, Caleb Pershan Verified
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San Francisco Chronicle
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Miss Anchor’s Christmas beer? Try one of these
Humbug. It’s the first year since 1975 without Anchor Brewing Co.’s annual Christmas ale, leaving a place missing on many holiday tables. Anchor announced in June that Sapporo, its corporate owner, was cutting its national distribution and halting its annual holiday beer, a dark winter warmer with a different blend of spices and hand-drawn tree emblem each year. Not long after, Sapporo announced it was shutting Anchor down altogether; the brewery is now up for sale.
S.F. funding for historic businesses goes to landlords. Here’s how that could change
A San Francisco program to support historic businesses could change the way it distributes about $1 million in grants each year, modifying a system that currently favors landlords. At a meeting of the city’s Small Business Commission Monday, the Legacy Business Program’s manager, Richard Kurylo, proposed changes that would require landlords to share the grants with their legacy tenants.
Bay Area duck farm to Michelin star restaurants hit with avian flu
A fast spreading outbreak of avian flu that’s affected more than 68 million birds nationwide since 2022 has reached one of the crown jewels of Bay Area poultry: Liberty Ducks, a Sonoma County farm namechecked on the menus of its roughly 200 wholesale clients including Chez Panisse and the French Laundry.
Readers' favorite chocolate chip cookies in the Bay Area
Here’s assistant food and wine editor Caleb Pershan. As inevitably as a cookie invites a glass of milk, when the Chronicle Food & Wine team published the results of our blind taste test of 23 chocolate chip cookies last week, our ranking invited more ideas from readers — and a little criticism. “Methodology: flawed” one reader wrote with the subject line “chocolate cookiegate,” drawing attention to our limited geographic range.
The six most delicious new restaurants in the Bay Area
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Barbecue spiked with Indonesian flavors, a stellar breakfast sandwich and blistered pizza are all on the menus of the Bay Area’s newest restaurants. Several newcomers are new spinoffs from well-established Bay Area favorites that still manage to offer distinct experiences. A pop-up that marries Indonesian cuisine with Texas barbecue, meanwhile, snagged a permanent space in the East Bay, and a longtime Tokyo yakitori favorite made its stateside debut in San Francisco.
By Elena Kadvany Verified, Mario A. Cortez Verified, Janelle Bitker Verified, Caleb Pershan Verified
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San Francisco Chronicle
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We ranked the best chocolate chip cookies in the Bay Area. This is No. 1
Chocolate chip cookie No. 2 was “bland, dry, ick!” wrote one reviewer. It was also “saccharine,” “too soft” and “weirdly fruity,” others recorded. The San Francisco Chronicle’s panel of judges could not be fooled. In a blind taste test of 23 chocolate chip cookies from bakeries in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, the panel put cookie No. 2 in last place. That’s right where it belonged. Unlike the rest of the pack, gathered fresh that day from top bakeries like Tartine and B.
S.F. doughnut favorite Bob's is expanding again
Nov. 30—Bob's Donuts, the late-night Polk Street landmark, will expand to a new location nearby where another popular sweets shop, Lotta's Bakery, is closing. Lotta's owner Earl Darny and Bob's co-owner Donald Ahn confirmed the news. kAm$:?46 `he_[ E96 DE2=H2CE 5@F89?FE D9@A 92D @A6C2E65 2E `ea` !@=< $E][ H9:49 :E C6?ED] %96 p9? 72>:=J 92D CF? q@3VD D:?46 `hff[ H96? E96J 3@F89E :E 7C@> E96 ?2>6D2<6 q@3]k^Am kAmp5G6CE:D6>6?Ek^Am kAmpCE:4=6 4@?E:?F6D 36=@H E9:D 25k^Am kAmqFE :?
SF's Bob's Donuts to expand on Polk Street as Lotta's Bakery closing
Bob’s Donuts, the late-night Polk Street landmark, will expand to a new location nearby where another popular sweets shop, Lotta’s Bakery, is closing. Lotta’s owner Earl Darny and Bob’s co-owner Donald Ahn confirmed the news. Since 1960, the stalwart doughnut shop has operated at 1621 Polk St., which it rents. The Ahn family has run Bob’s since 1977, when they bought it from the namesake Bob.
Scoma's eggnog, aged for more than 300 days, is an SF holiday hit
Ration as they might, the bar at Scoma’s on Fisherman’s Wharf is likely to run out of its popular “vintage” eggnog well before the end of December. It’s sold after Thanksgiving for $20 per glass at the bar or $60 per half-liter bottle to go — limit one per party, per day. Still, “We’ve never made it to Christmas,” said Candace Villanueva, who manages the classic seafood restaurant’s bar. Last year’s nog, aged for more than 300 days, was gone in three weeks.
This eggnog is aged for 300 days and sells out every year in S.F.
Nov. 30—Ration as they might, the bar at Scoma's on Fisherman's Wharf is likely to run out of its popular "vintage" eggnog well before the end of December. It's sold after Thanksgiving for $20 per glass at the bar or $60 per half-liter bottle to go — limit one per party, per day. Still, "We've never made it to Christmas," said Candace Villanueva, who manages the classic seafood restaurant's bar. kAm{2DE J62CVD ?@8[ 2865 7@C >@C6 E92? b__ 52JD[ H2D 8@?6 :?
15 affordable Bay Area food and drink gift ideas
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Inflation will force many families to scale down spending for the holidays this year. Luckily, there are many wonderful food- and drink-related gifts that are also affordable. Yes, even in the Bay Area. Here, the Chronicle Food + Wine team recommends 15 local gifts priced at $30 or less. This price point still gets you to special-occasion territory for home cooks, such as with an intensely fruity vinegar made by noted chefs or a fancy new salt created via an ancient process.
By Elena Kadvany Verified, Mario A. Cortez Verified, Cesar Hernandez, César Hernández Verified, Caleb Pershan Verified
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San Francisco Chronicle
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Bidding is underway for SF's Anchor Brewing and trademark steam beer
The bidding has begun for Anchor Brewing Company, a 127-year-old piece of San Francisco history considered the nation’s first craft brewery. Four months after its owner, Japanese brewing giant Sapporo Holdings Ltd., chose to shut it down and liquidate its assets, prospective new buyers are lining up to buy Anchor in three parts.
The best martinis in San Francisco
If historical plaques are to be trusted, the martini was invented in the Bay Area — twice. First, according to a framed article at what’s now the Occidental Cigar Club in San Francisco, the story starts there. Legendary bartender Jerry Thomas, working at what was then the Occidental Hotel in the 1860s, spun up a variation of the popular Manhattan cocktail with sweet vermouth but gin instead of whiskey.
The 9 best new restaurants in the Bay Area
Butter and Crumble The long line has yet to subside at San Francisco’s new Butter and Crumble. The charming North Beach spot housed in a former cooking school has been selling out of its full-flavored treats daily. It’s hard to go wrong with anything on the menu, but do get the “morty p,” a genius pastry combination of mortadella, pistachio pesto and Gruyère ($7.50), and the chai sugar knot ($5), a fragrant, Scandinavian-inspired baked good. — E.K. 271 Francisco St., San Francisco.
What to eat in San Francisco's most obsessed-over neighborhood: Downtown
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Downtown San Francisco might be the nation’s most obsessed-over business district. The headlines are constant and often withering — and on top of concrete problems like a gaping office vacancy rate, that negative narrative has become its own source of angst. But downtown is what we make of it, and the dense blocks of the Financial District, SoMa and Union Square are intrinsic to the city’s urban identity. They’re also home to some of its most rewarding places to eat and drink.
By Caleb Pershan Verified, Janelle Bitker Verified, Cesar Hernandez, César Hernández Verified, Mario A. Cortez Verified
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San Francisco Chronicle
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How is S.F. keeping historic bars and restaurants alive? Paying landlords
There aren’t many places left like Sam’s Grill, where tuxedo-clad waiters serve dishes like the oyster-studded omelet called the Hangtown Fry that dates to the restaurant’s Gold Rush-era founding. So to help sustain this member of San Francisco’s celebrated Legacy Business Program, created to protect historic establishments from potential displacement, last year the city issued a grant of $24,609.
How Berkeley pizzeria Lucia's makes great gluten-free pizza
Here’s assistant food and wine editor Caleb Pershan Gluten-free pizza is all too often a joyless cousin of cardboard. It can be a starchy disaster; a dense, gummy mess. For those who fear carbs, and also flavor, there’s even something called “cauliflower crust.” Need I go on? Fortunately, this pizza is nothing like that. The crust is puffy like a neck pillow, freckled brown by a roaring hot oven. It smells yeasty and malty.
3,000 steaks, 40 cases of wine and no bill. How historic S.F. restaurant hosts free lunch
No such thing as free lunch? John Konstin Sr., co-owner of classic downtown San Francisco restaurant John’s Grill, would beg to differ. The business is celebrating its 115th birthday with a block party Wednesday, Oct. 4, at which John’s will serve complimentary lunch to all comers. Konstin anticipates around 2,000 takers from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 63 Ellis St. And he doesn’t expect to run out of food, either. “We’ve got plenty of backup,” he said.
The eight tastiest new restaurants in the Bay Area
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Read on for the Bay Area’s eight most exciting new restaurants, vetted by the Chronicle Food + Wine team and listed in alphabetical order. Barberio Osteria The house is already packed at Barberio Osteria, a new Mission District restaurant from AltoVino chef Nick Kelly.
By Elena Kadvany Verified, Mario A. Cortez Verified, Cesar Hernandez, César Hernández Verified, Caleb Pershan Verified
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San Francisco Chronicle
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A jazz organ. A secret patio. A century-old wooden bar. Inside SF’s most interesting place to drink
From the moment you step into the dim and divey Royal Cuckoo Organ Lounge on Mission Street, or as soon as your eyes adjust to the dark, you’ll notice the various vintage tchotchkes. Old telephones on old tables. Collages, drawings and framed oil paintings along the walls. Ornate lamps and other knickknacks behind the bar. It’s as if you’ve stepped into someone’s garage and they’re serving you hot apple brandy cider in mugs to keep you warm.
SF tiki bar Trad'r Sam temporarily closed amid family legal dispute
One of San Francisco’s oldest and most recognizable bars, Trad’r Sam, temporarily closed this weekend as a stormy legal dispute among the family members who own it splashed into public view. But fears gathering on social media that the Richmond District tiki bar has closed permanently are unfounded, said John Munguia, who owns the business in a 50-50 partnership with his sister Dorothy Riedel. Trad’r Sam will reopen in “a few weeks” at 6150 Geary Blvd., where it has operated for 86 years.
ContractsProf Blog
If you pay for a temporary tattoo, aren't you getting a great deal if it turns out they last longer than their estimated 9-15 months? So you might think, but as Callie Holtermann reports in The New York Times, some purchasers are dissatisfied and are seeking compensation. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, there was a shop called "Ephemeral" where you could get a tattoo guaranteed to fade after fifteen months.
This chili dog is 'as Midwest as possible' for the Bay Area
Aug. 21—Here's assistant food and wine editor Caleb Pershan. When my wife and I fly to Detroit, Michigan to see her family, we drive our American-made rental car straight from the airport to Duly's Place, a 24-hour diner that specializes in a perfect food: chili dogs. kAm%96JVC6 A:?< 2?5 D?2AAJ[ EF4<65 :?E@ D@7E DE62>65 3F?D 2?5 3=2?<6E65 H:E9 =@@D6 49:=:[ 4CF?49J C2H @?:@? 2?5 3FCDED @7 3C:89E J6==@H >FDE2C5] %96JVC6 Sa]fd A=FD E2I] %96JVC6 E6CC:7:4]k^Am kAmw6C6 :?
Automat, acclaimed SF restaurant from Lazy Bear owner, is closing
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate San Francisco is losing a critically acclaimed restaurant and cafe whose sourdough bread and sandwiches ranked among the city’s best. Automat, run by chef Matthew Kirk and partner David Barzelay, chef and owner of two Michelin-starred Lazy Bear, will close after service next Sunday, Aug. 27, less than two years after opening at 1801 McAllister St. in the Western Addition.
S.F. market known for Vietnamese sandwiches closing after 35 years
One of San Francisco’s best-known specialty grocers is leaving the neighborhood where it has operated for more than 35 years — but owners plan to reopen a second location elsewhere in the city. Duc Loi, popular for its affordable produce, Asian pantry items and Vietnamese sandwiches, will close next week at 2200 Mission St., at the corner of 18th Street.
Surprise: Steph Curry takes stage at Chase Center, performs with Paramore
Aug. 7, 2023Updated: Aug. 7, 2023 11:24 p.m. Paramore fans who filled Chase Center on Monday night saw a surprise performance by an unlikely singer: Steph Curry. The four-time NBA champion took a mic and joined lead singer Hayley Williams to perform the Paramore hit "Misery Business," a single off their 2007 album "Riot!" "So look, you know us and Steph, we go back a few years," Williams told the cheering crowd after Curry joined her on stage at around 10:15 p.m. "And tonight is our reunion.
He’s the owner of a celebrated deli — and one of S.F.’s most controversial critics
Then Mesnick did what’s become another part of his routine. He tweeted photos of the scene, including Boyle’s lifeless body, from his controversial account @bettersoma, which has nearly 18,000 followers. “At that point, my camera becomes a shield for me,” Mesnick said. It’s a way to vent his anger and shame city leaders, sounding the alarm on a crisis of accidental overdose deaths that’s claimed more than 346 lives in San Francisco this year so far, mostly from fentanyl.
Long-loved Vietnamese restaurant closing after 36 years in S.F.
Over a total of 48 years in business at two San Francisco locations, Aux Delices has been known for its varied dishes from across Vietnam with some French colonial influences, like crispy golden crepes filled with shrimp and pork, grilled lemongrass beef and whole Dungeness crab fried in a pan with onion and garlic.
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