From: "Rick Moen" rick@linuxmafia.com Subject: [BALUG-Talk] In-person BALUG at (some) Henry's Hunan restaurant Date: Sun, 9 May 2021 17:02:40 -0700
Today during the BerkeleyLUG discussion, we were pondering the possibility of resumed BALUG dinners at (some) Henry's Hunan restaurant. Answer: maybe. It's complicated. And the situation is fluid.
_Probably_ yes, at the Excelsior District Henry's.
Yesterday, CABAL had what might well be the first in-person LUG meeting since Before Times (at least, outside of New Zealand):
http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2021-April/011579.html http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2021-May/011587.html http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2021-May/011595.html
(By the way, I just identified the fault in my external speakers that impaired the meeting's "hybrid" nature: I just need to buy a replacement 3.5mm stereo mini M/M patch cable. The existing one has an intermittent wire.)
Getting back to Henry's (a set of independently owned + operated Hunan-style restaurants), the main problem is figuring out which of the four locations, if any, has reopened for indoor dinner dining.
1 of 4: Henry's Hunan Restaurant 110 Natoma nr. 2nd St (inner SoMa district near SF MOMA -- trad. BALUG venue) San Francisco https://www.google.com/maps/place/110+Natoma+St,+San+Francisco,+CA+94105/@37... https://www.yelp.com/biz/henry-s-hunan-restaurant-san-francisco https://www.hhunan.com/ https://www.facebook.com/HenrysHunanNatoma/ (415) 546-4999 Google Maps claims no-contact delivery + delivery + takeout
2 of 4: Henry's Hunan Restaurant 1016 Bryant St nr. 8th St (outer SoMa district west of Mission Bay) San Francisco https://www.google.com/maps/place/Henry%27s+Hunan/@37.7722532,-122.4075852,1... https://www.yelp.com/biz/henrys-hunan-san-francisco-4 (415) 527-6999 Google Maps claims takeout + delivery
3 of 4: Henry's Hunan Restaurant 4753 Mission nr. Ocean Ave. (Excelsior district) San Francisco https://www.yelp.com/biz/henrys-hunan-restaurant-san-francisco-6 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Henry%27s+Hunan+Restaurant/@37.722137,-122... (415) 585-8838 Google Maps claims _DINE-IN_ + takeout + delivery
4 of 4: Henry's Hunan Restaurant 1708 Church nr. 29th St (upper Noe Valley district) San Francisco https://www.yelp.com/biz/henrys-hunan-restaurant-san-francisco-9 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Henry%27s+Hunan/@37.7428546,-122.4266541,1... (415) 826-9189 Google Maps claims takeout + delivery
(The former Henry's Hunan at 1398 Grant Ave., Chinatown district is gone, ditto the original Henry's Hunan at 924 Sansome nr. Vallejo, Chinatown/North Beach districts.)
Problem: Our consensus is that Internet information about the operating status of this and other restaurants is mostly outdated and unreliable, but Google Maps's data seems overall best. BALUG planning should logically include telephoning any candidate venue during business hours and confirming in-person dining. That caveat having been noted, it _looks_ as if BALUG could resume in-person dining at the 4753 Mission (Excelsior district) Henry's Hunan.
That location is about a 3/4 mile walk from BART's Balboa Park station, and served by Muni's 14 Mission and 49 Van Ness / Mission bus lines.
I have never been to that Henry's, so cannot vouch for anything about it.
(I hope this research-ifying proves useful.)
Well, for San Francisco, there are a few Henry's Hunan Restaurant locations - existing - which may or may not be open - or open for dinner, or open for dine-in, yet, etc. - or may not even still exist ...
"Of course" many of us are familiar with the 110 Natoma St. location. So, before pandemic - about 80% of their business is the mostly business (+ conventions, etc.) lunch crowd. Also makes them a quite good location for evening dinner - especially larger crowd or size not highly predictable. Really no reservations needed - plenty of available space - whereas for lunch they'd be totally packed ... though for quite large groups, would want to give them suitable heads-up so they can be appropriately staffed and prepared. But last I'm aware of, with pandemic, that location is "temporarily closed" (probably lower losses closed than open with far too little business). Anyway, not sure their current status regarding evening dine-in dinners - may also be limits as to how many folks are allowed to dine how close together.
Anyway, some others I'm at least partially familiar with ...
647 Sacramento St. Smaller location, pretty sure I've never eaten there.
924 Sansome St. I think I only ate there once, large location - much dine-in space ... not sure about (nominal) evening crowds/capacity - I'd guestiate from the location it may be more busy/packed (nominally) for dinner service. But looks like that location is probably beyond temporarily closed (gone?).
1016 Bryant St. - have eaten there fair number of times, but not in quite a while. Considerably smaller location.
Anyway, as for in-person, shall see how it goes, notably what's allowed, available, and what folks are likely generally going to be and feel safe/comfortable about.
I did some updates this past weekend on calendar: SF Bay Area Open Source/Linux Events https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=caj9iea2ol69b7n2uqdek4ocso%40group... I'm guestimating up 'till about 2021-06-15 +- will be a relatively gray area, as things continue to partially open up, but we've not yet fully made it to where at least San Francisco and the Bay Area thereof can essentially declare COVID-19 fully behind us and get rid of all related restrictions ... and safely so (unlike some locations where for political/economic reasons things open up faster and harder than is medically and public health prudent to do so).
Also, the venue landscape will be forever changed. When locations open, what hours, etc. will be quite different, as much of the work remote / from home will persist - at least in substantial part - so that will change the business models and customer flows/models for many surviving businesses. And, also, many business locations - and even businesses, will not have survived. I'm sure over time new businesses will generally replace the vacancies of those that shrunk or failed - but that will also take a while to become (meta-)stable once again.
So ... will probably continue to reevaluate the in-person question on at least a (semi-)frequent basis. I anticipate BALUG returning to (at least also including) in-person ... but the particular timeline and particulars of the when and where, are I think still at least somewhat open questions at the time.
And yes, Henry's Hunan Restaurant - certainly including 110 Natoma location - food there has always been quite good if not excellent, and the prices quite reasonable for the value. But, although BALUG has met there for a fair number of years now, I don't know that we're necessarily wed to that restaurant's location - or another location of that restaurant ... though BALUG has (almost) always met at a Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco, and on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. So I'd think we'd be likely to keep at least most of that tradition - as feasible - and certainly the schedule ... but as to venue ... we shall see ... and work to figure that out.
Anyone rather to quite local to San Francisco want to do some more detailed reporting and recommendations for venue ... and even approximate timing, as things open up? We've had a longstanding call on our volunteering for someone(s) to assist with venue planning and arrangements.