ABC Cafe and Restaurant closes; to be replaced by another Spicy King venture? [San Francisco]

[Souperman (Gary Soup)]

It somehow escaped my notice, but the Hong Kong style ABC Cafe and Restaurant on Jackson Street closed on MaY 31. This came as a shock because ABC was the best of its type, IMHO.

According to Hoodlines, it will be replaced by Pot & Noodle, described as “a hot pot restaurant with a juice bar inside,” a concept whose time has come and gone, if you ask me. However, a little snooping reveals that Pot & Noodle is owned by Noodle King House (CA), a corporation headed by Wu Jiayi, a partner in Spicy King. The Spicy King mini-empire recently brought us Chongqing Xiao Mian, so perhaps all is not lost.

[mzhu (Minhua)]

Place always looked busy! The one time I ate there, was for their advertised special - bone marrow fried rice - which was a dud. The bone marrow had been cooked into the texture and color of mediocre lengua - probably from over boiling and then pan frying, instead of being in that rich and unctuous state where the marrow is has started melting but not dissolved yet.

[sck]

Closed? I wonder why, if its full all the time. Priced out of Chinatown?

[Souperman (Gary Soup)]

Quite possibly. According to its last Yelp review, the closure was known in advance to its customers. A recent review of the Noriega branch mentioned it didn’t have a bakery section anymore.

Maybe they are concentrating on the San Mateo branch.

[sck]

If that’s the case, the future doesn’t bode that great for the budget eateries in Chinatown. Chinatown won’t be what it is if its gentrified.