‘Another casualty’: Dosa closes S.F. spot
The Fillmore District location of South Indian restaurant Dosa has closed permanently after 12 years. Now, with both the Fillmore and original Valencia locations permanently closed, its only brickandmortar location is in Oakland. However, the restaurant, known for its upscale Californian Indian cuisine, will continue to offer its menu throughout the Bay Area via a virtual kitchen and thirdparty delivery services, says coowner Anjan Mitra.
The closing is “yet another casualty in an already fragile world,” Mitra wrote in a text message. “I’m sure the bloodbath will continue.”
In a phone interview, Mitra said he’d been coming to terms with the fact that the Fillmore location would have to close since shelter in place began in March. Its lease was coming up for renewal, and the landlord was looking for a definitive answer from the business. But with so much uncertainty, they couldn’t project that far into the future. He handed over the keys at the end of August, and the space recently went up for lease.
“Given the nature of the business and the high risk of restaurants compounded by COVID, (the landlord) lost confidence in us,” Mitra said. “We were already struggling at Fillmore; once COVID hit, we didn’t have a chance. Packing up was the better choice for us — real
ly, the only choice for us.”
The Fillmore location of Dosa, built into an old bank, was a flashy, glamorous spot with high ceilings that was often compared visually to Nopa. Its ambitious cocktail program integrated Indian spices like curry leaf and black cardamom, and tables were filled with enormous, telescopesize dosas and colorful salads of mung beans and housemade paneer. It was the kind of restaurant that needed lots of people to come in and out every day in order to thrive.
Mitra has been vocal about difficulties local restaurant owners face since before the pandemic. In 2019, when the Valencia Street Dosa closed after 14 years in business, Mitra spoke out about the plight of independent restaurants in San Francisco, citing the unsustainability of doing business in a city associated with high costs for rent, health care and other expenses. Those concerns worsened with a pandemic that decimated the industry along familiar fault lines.
“The whole industry was so fragile to begin with,” he said.
Mitra said that he even if he tried to sell the restaurant, there aren’t any buyers right now who are willing to make that kind of investment.
For now, Dosa is keeping Oakland open for takeout, selling products through Whole Foods and making do with virtual kitchens, which Mitra sees as the future of the industry, at least for now. The restaurant has a central commissary kitchen in South San Francisco and delivers via hubs set up around the Bay Area, in San Francisco, Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Daly City and Belmont, offering pickup and delivery through apps. The initiative is actually making the business a little bit of money, Mitra said. It works well for this moment.
As for the future of brickandmortar spots, Mitra is less optimistic.
“I think it’s gonna be a while unless you have landlords willing to work with restaurants. It’s gonna be tough.”