CASTRO NEIGHBORHOOD MEXICAN RESTAURANT COPAS IS CLOSING

After about two and a half years of serving Spanish and Mexican food on Market Street, colorful neighborhood restaurant Copas will close. The Chronicle reports that a spokesperson for the restaurant confirmed the news on Thursday afternoon; the restaurant’s last day of service will be Saturday, April 20. A note on the Copas’s website further shares word of the imminent closure, noting that there may be a future for the Copas brand down the line. “This is certainly not a goodbye, it’s a see you later somewhere soon,” the note reads in part.

in 2021, Copas founder Jessica Kapoor, who is also chief of staff for Saison Hospitality, said she wanted the restaurant to be a neighborhood spot — a place where diners could get a cappuccino in the morning and a full-service dinner at night. But Saison Hospitality's director of marketing Victoria Levi Wooley now tells the Chronicle that the numbers simply weren’t working out, citing rising labor and food costs as part of the problem.

When the restaurant debuted, chef Julio Aguilera rolled out a menu of California-influenced Spanish cuisine, including dishes such as grilled Spanish octopus with passion fruit and chile pasilla, and arroz con pollo. But in spring 2023, the restaurant closed temporarily and reopened as a Mexican restaurant, shifting the menu to offer Tijuana-style tacos, esquites, and a chipotle smash burger.

The new menu earned a rave review from the Chronicle’s associate food critic, but Wooley tells the paper even the positive press wasn’t enough to keep the business afloat.

2024-04-18T21:50:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd