A great San Francisco restaurant, a casual, intimate, off-the-beaten-path, with great affordable, food, drink, and a rotating menu.
Like all San Franciscans, I am loathe to recommend any restaurant, where I actually eat, and god help you getting in once the SF Bay Guardian writes about it, but in this instance, I’m willing to make a rare exception, since I really want Chan Chan to survive, even if it means the indignity of my having to make a reservation.
Personally, I’m old school San Francisco – no reservations, show up at a SF Bay Guardian sanctified restaurant two minutes before they tell you to, grab a window/street table, and order plenty of food and drinks while a crowd forms behind you, including a very pregnant woman out for that one last meal before the little parasite drops. Desert, after-dinner drinks, and a classic San Francisco view, a standing prego watching you eat for twenty minutes – life doesn’t get much better than that.
So recommending Chan Chan Cafe Cubano is something I would do only under the most dire circumstances. If I want to eat there once or twice a month, maybe more, that means someone other than me and my girlfriend has to know about the place.
Food, the owners understand, running a restaurant, is something they are working on. The name of the place is confusing enough, why are Chinese brothers/father/son/who the hell knows/ opening a Cuban restaurant? From there it goes downhill, (this place incidentally, is perched half-way up Twin Peaks) since the previous owners ran a coffee cafe and by calling it a cafe with no espresso, tends to piss people off. And when, if ever, are they open?
I became extremely frustrated with their non-existent hours of operation and came to assume, like many San Francisco store-fronts, whatever was on the front door, wasn’t what they were selling. You really had to want to eat here and chances are you couldn’t and not because you had to fight your way to the front door past the waddlers.
Even though it is within walking distance, I would drive, given that it probably wouldn’t be open. On foot for me, a closed Chan Chan means a walk down to the Castro, then the climb back up Twin Peaks past the Corbett turn around.
As it turns out, the lack of regular hours has less to do with Cuban work ethic and culture than it did bringing the building up to code thanks to the neglect of the previous occupants. Think Hans Solo pounding on the Millennium Falcon, “It’s not my fault,” and you kinda get the idea. I thought they’d gone out of business twice already, but these delays had nothing to do with the enthusiasm of the chefs or the quality of the food and everything to do with the structure they found themselves in.
Those problems behind them, the owners are committed to consistent hours and staying open 6 days a week. Closed on Sundays, which is something to think about when looking for a real restaurant on a Monday.
They still need to work on the basics, an “open” sign, for instance, and the newly placed window curtain, while nice on the inside, makes it look shut-down again, on the outside. There’s new photography by the owner on the wall, a redesigned table-layout, which I think helps improve the friendly atmosphere of the place.
Hopefully, now that the “bugs” have been worked out – they have a 100 on the SF cleanness restaurant score, they will have a grand re-opening to let people in the neighborhood know they are here all over again.
As far as the service is concerned, they have always been friendly, and attentive. I’ve been served at the Ritz Carlton, the Carnelian Room, the River Cafe, McDonald’s, and so on. If you like a neighborhood-type restaurant where you get to know the owners and care about quality food and what goes into it, you will come to love Chan Chan.
On the speed of the delivery, when I want fast-food, I’ll eat at a favorite taqueria. Chan Chan serves meals elevated to the level of art and should be savored. They are still finding their customer base, so who and when someone will show up is something that is a work in progress. As to what you should actually order, my recommendation is to eat your way through the entire menu, never turn down a special, one evening at a time.
