After sitting idle for two and a half years, the Liholiho Yacht Club’s original location at 871 Sutter St. is set to reopen Nov. 22, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of each other.)
Some classic dishes will return, like tuna poke on nori crackers. But the overall mood and flow of dinner will be different from pre-pandemic Liholiho, according to chef-owner Ravi Kapur.
“We looked at the larger plates and decided to reduce the physical volume of food on the plates,” Kapur told SFGATE by phone. “It allows a lot of our customers to be able to try more dishes and not have such a commitment to a single item.”
Tuna poke on nori crackers are set to return to the menu on opening day, Nov. 22, at Liholiho Yacht Club.
Peter D./Yelp
The restaurant, which debuted in the Lower Nob Hill area in 2015 after finding success as a pop-up in the city, focuses on “heritage-driven” food. While some dishes reflect Kapur’s Hawaiian roots, others offer a collaborative approach to cooking that Kapur has implemented in her kitchen over the years. It’s a way for the diverse cultures of all its cooks to shine on the Liholiho menu.
In 2020, when the shelter-in-place order was put into effect, the business technically never closed. Sure, the front doors were closed, but the team continued the food with take-out orders, and later, as a pop-up at 3560 18th St. in the Mission.
“It’s a pretty intense feeling to shut down a business in a single day,” said Jeff Hanak, co-owner of Liholiho. “Everything stopped and everyone got out. It was a scary feeling.
In January, the 18th Street location, which once housed Dear Inga, was permanently transformed into Good Good Culture Club, a second venture for the team. And it’s garnered as much attention for its fair wage split, QR code ordering and fun vibes as it has for its food.
Many of the changes to employee welfare that Kapur enacted at Good Good Culture Club will carry over to the new iteration of Liholiho Yacht Club, he said. On the other hand, some more traditional aspects of catering will also make a return, such as a portable menu.
One of the lessons Kapur learned while operating a restaurant in a completely new industrial environment, he said, was that people somehow felt cheated into using QR codes, which Kapur said. said he didn’t quite understand.
The BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger at the Liholiho Yacht Club in San Francisco on October 20, 2020.
kelsey_mcclellan“Don’t get me wrong, the majority of people who come and have fun, they get it,” Kapur said. “But there’s, there’s always this kind of vocal minority that’s like, ‘I want to pay for a menu’. We’re not taking advantage of that model at all. It’s just a response to how we can do this in a more sustainable way. The biggest issue that restaurants face is labor, we need to do something about that.
The difficult climate in the restaurant industry has changed the priorities of many restaurateurs over the past two years. As a result, the Liholiho Yacht Club and Good Good Culture Club teams also had to adapt to the changing landscape. And they are not alone.
If there’s one thing Kapur and Hanak ask of their customers as they prepare to reopen Liholiho Yacht Club, it’s patience.
“[Liholiho is] a labor of love. There are a lot of people working so hard and we would like everyone to give us some space so that we can rediscover what it is and enjoy the process,” Kapur said. “But it’s hard for business to be so relentless in so many ways. Really, at the end of the day, it’s about creating the best experience for everyone involved, the guest as well as the team that makes it happen every day.
Coming soon: Liholiho Yacht Club, 871 Sutter St., San Francisco. Open Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Opening day is scheduled for November 22.
