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This Smash Burger Pioneer Is Leaving Mission Street for Good
A Mission District mainstay for exquisite burgers and even more exquisite vibes is closing. WesBurger 'N' More will shutter on Tuesday, July 15 after 12 years in business. Owner Wes Rowe, who started the business as a pop up in 2012, took to Instagram to share the news, providing the listing agent selling the business's information for any interested takers. 'Unfortunately, some things, even the ones with queso, need to come to an end,' he wrote.
Though smash burgers have taken over TikTok algorithms in 2025, Rowe worked that approach into his menus back in 2019. (He told the San Francisco Standard the Marina's Causwells deserves the local credit, though.) The laidback atmosphere paired nicely with Rowe's butter-braised turkey sandwiches and 70s-style faux rock wall. Many late nights ended at Wes Burger, schlepping from Beauty Bar across the street to refuel for the journey home.
San Francisco-born Blue Bottle Coffee now bears four local locations with workers seeking to unionize. The San Francisco Chronicle reports staff at the Berkeley shop, the Old Oakland shop, the Piedmont Avenue location, and the location inside the old W.C Morse building on Broadway, have asked the company to voluntarily recognize the Blue Bottle Independent Union by Friday at noon. The move to unionize began in Boston shops.
The Middle Eastern cuisine-forward Stereo 41 is set to open in the East Bay this summer. It's a new hi-fi lounge from the restaurateurs behind World Famous Hotboys and LITA. The Mercury News reports Andres Giraldo Flores of Oakland's Snail Bar is consulting on the menu. Oakland-born-and-raised Jonathan De La Torre will serve as executive chef, cutting his teeth at Mourad and Nopa.
Kenzie Benesh and Isabella Bertorelli's Yo Tambien Cantina is turning seven. On Saturday, June 28, the wife-and-wife team will celebrate at the Hugo Street business from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The party details are still to come, but there'll be grilled fish sandwiches, ceviche, music from local musicians, birthday cake, and 'endless micheladas.'
