San Francisco’s Belden Place restaurant scene bounces again

If you blink when walking down Bush Street in the Financial District, you might just miss Belden Place. An alley in the middle of a block dominated by high-rises, the lunch and dinner destination is understated.

Restaurants line old brick buildings The dining spots vary in formality; some are tended to by waiters in black ties while other servers are in T-shirts.

The establishments set up tables and chairs that reflect their character — some wooden, covered in white linens, and others metal and colorful.

While outdoor dining became a signature of the pandemic, alfresco has been a Belden signature for decades. Some tables sit empty, even during mealtime rushes, as — like many segments of the restaurant scene — Belden Place has not yet fully bounced back from COVID-19.

“This reminds me of the UK, of the pub environment,” local Noah Lakritz said. “Each restaurant has their own alfresco dining options. This city has a lot of offshoots, alleys like this; the vibe is good.”

“I was here yesterday at 12:30 pm, and it was packed,” said the restaurant supplier.

A bump in foot traffic and subsequent sales indicate Belden Place, the home of the original parklet, is returning to its iconic status.

Restaurateurs argue it’ll take more than an in-person workplace comeback to help them flourish, however. They attest it’ll take city and business leaders thinking outside the box.

Businesses in the small square went from being shut down to offering a limited to-go service able to open outside — an era that brought face covering and vaccine card requirements. Today, even with San Francisco’s COVID-19 infection rates facing a slow rise, restaurants are finally making money off of their full menus inside and outside their establishments.

Getting to this point was step one.

“We went back and forth with the law, with the regulations. It was tough,” said Cafe Tiramisu proprietor Guiseppe Scoppetto said.

Toy Soldier owner Johnny Metheny agreed, calling the winter wave of 2020 a “financial disaster” that forced him to lay off workers he had just brought back right before Christmas. He said one would need a psychologist and a CPA to unpack the stress that business owners endured throughout the last two years.

“It was emotionally draining. Every day I was waking up wondering what was going to happen,” Metheny said. “I’m having more fun now, I feel like, than I have since my 20s and 30s because, after surviving, I have the biggest smile when I walk in. When I see all the employees working, I get so happy.”

To offset challenges, businesses came up with new practices such as installing parklets or posting menus and flyers with QR codes. Scoppetto, Metheny and their peers learned how to make money off of making people comfortable.

Moving beyond relying on the mass arrival of tech workers and the money they are willing to spend is step two.

“You can tell people are tired of staying home. But we need to bring people downtown, more tourists. The city is supposed to take care of that. Without tourists, there is no business,” said Scopeptetto.

Managing the message

Peter Quartaroli, managing partner of Sam’s Grill, has kept alive a legacy business that had just hit its stride right before the pandemic began. Additionally, he joined the board of the Downtown Community Benefit District, where he has met with others invested in the vitality of The City’s core in brainstorming about its reinvention. (Examiner owner Clint Reilly is an investor in Sam’s.)

“What is our message? How will we be viewed? How do we grow and keep going downtown? I do believe that the sense of community is a big part of that,” Quartaroli said. “The restaurants who rely on that are wonderful and have longevity but when something like this comes up, it can be hard to keep going.”

What it comes down to, Quartaroli explained, is reminding people of the value of the elements of a world-class city. This means presenting entertainment and dining in a safe and welcoming environment via a multi-pronged agency project to refresh Belden Place through improved lighting and fire safety equipment.

“We are hoping to have a whole bunch of string lights going down Belden and to raise the gate out in front to block off traffic, a little loading zone perhaps on either side or a drop-off area, maybe some cobblestone streets or some nice art (such as) stained concrete to make it visually appealing,” he said.

Mostly, the project will act as a prototype that makes alleys a warm place for pop-up or regular businesses rather than a dark and intimidating shortcut.

This will personally benefit Quartaroli and his staff, who dealt with an incident of Arson on their section of the alley on an early Sunday morning in late April. Two men with a blow torch, hoodies and a mask watched as the flames they set nearly took the building entirely.

“We’ve dealt with the damage of it plus a couple of break-ins, a little vandalism but in downtown you have to be resilient,” he said. “We’re old and stubborn and want to be here. We are here for the long haul.”

Attracting more patrons to the area with the planned changes could help to offset the high prices proprietors now face. Metheny said inflation and trucking shortages posed issues that never existed before the pandemic, ones that required maneuvering and creative thinking to get doors open and keep them that way.

“One of the things I wanted to keep going was the simple concept of good, fresh food. We stick to the program and provide people what they want and don’t overprice,” Quartaroli said. “Crab is crazy this year but you can’t skimp on that quality, so I took it off the menu for a while. I don’t want to charge that, I just can’t.”

Metheny said his friends who owned restaurants came together to support one another.

“We had gone through a battle together. We almost became family,” sad Metheny, who also runs The Blue Light on Union Street.

Something similar must happen with the Belden Square proprietors, contended by Quartaroli, as their interests are shared.

“(It’s about) talking through it with the department heads from different city agencies and saying, ‘This is what we would like to see. How can we work together and make this happen?’” Quartaroli said. “We can come up with solutions instead of pointing fingers.”

mhartman@sfexaminer.com, @_melissahartman

Giuseppe Scoppetta, co-owner of Cafe Tiramisu at Belden Place, said working with The City on how to operate the restaurant during the early stages of the pandemic was tough. (Craig Lee/The Examiner)