Restaurant’s ‘igloo’ domes cater to diners’ safety fears
For struggling San Francisco restaurants, adding outdoor dining means facing a variety of elements on the city’s streets — including a homelessness crisis that’s worsened during the pandemic. In the case of one finedining restaurant, it means enclosing diners in transparent geodesic domes on the plaza outside its doors.
On Wednesday, Hashiri, a Michelinstarred Japanese restaurant, began seating diners inside these domes — or “garden igloos,” structures covered in clear plastic that are sometimes employed by rooftop bars during winter in New York or Chicago — for a $200per
person kaiseki and omakase sushi dinner.
Hashiri tried seating diners outside once before during the pandemic, but Manager Kenichiro Matsuura said the setting didn’t make it feasible. Hashiri is in Mint Plaza, an area near Fifth and Mission streets where homeless people often congregate.
Encampments have long been a common sight in MidMarket, but some nearby residents and restaurants sued the city last month, alleging that officials have been negligent during the pandemic. In the suit, Montesacro Pinseria noted that business plummeted because tents blocked its front door. In Hayes Valley, Nightbird resisted adding outdoor tables at all because of the presence of human feces and syringes.
While the city’s homelessness crisis is part of a longstanding local humanitarian emergency, it has grown worse during the pandemic, the city’s unhoused population possibly rising by 25%. Advocates for the homeless fear that many more people will end up without housing due to job losses and the financial downturn.
During shelter in place, Hashiri has offered takeout bento boxes but found demand for them uneven — something other finedining restaurants also are experiencing. The lack of consistent interest is understandable: People know Hashiri for its threehour tasting menus, not for boxedup sushi.
Searching for a different way to offer a seated dinner, Hashiri found inspiration from restaurants that have seated diners in individual greenhouses. The restaurant also erected a series of heavy wine barrels connected by rope to separate the igloos
“Mint Plaza is a phenomenal space, it’s just sometimes the crowd is not too favorable.”
Kenichiro Matsuura, manager, Hashiri restaurant
from the rest of the plaza.
“We wanted to continue offering the finedining experience — and safety and peace,” Matsuura said. “Mint Plaza is a phenomenal space, it’s just sometimes the crowd is not too favorable.”
Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, said she understands Hashiri’s desire to provide a safe outdoor dining experience at a time when restaurants are barely hanging on financially.
“Clearly there are concerns about having a safe environment for your guests and your workers, and there are some areas in the city where there could be concerns about negative street behavior and cleanliness,” she said.
Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the advocacy group Coalition on Homelessness, said of Hashiri’s action, “It’s often hard to tease out whether the restaurant is responding to legitimate issues or the restaurant is responding to affluent diners who feel guilty about eating expensive meals in the presence of destitute people.” She added: “No matter where people come from on the issue, lifting people up who are in the worst place in their lives is something that benefits all of us.”
The three igloos — which each cost more than $1,000 — also provide insulation from chilly evening weather, brisk winds and occasional flying debris. They are disinfected between each of the two seatings per night, with removable sections to provide air flow.
It’s not clear, however, whether the igloos strictly comply with San Francisco’s outdoor dining rules for structures.
To be seated in one of the domes, groups of up to four must order a twohour, fivecourse kaiseki and omakase sushi dinner. Most of the courses feature multiple small dishes, such as the starter of sea urchintopped chawanmushi, a ball of smoked salmon and cornsweet potato soup. Highlights include eight pieces of nigiri and A5 wagyu beef.
The new outdoor dining option inches Hashiri back toward its usual mode of operations, which ultimately, Matsuura said, is “our only option to survive.”