Elena Kadvany, San Francisco Chronicle Journalist Profile

Articles

San Francisco is losing another Starbucks. Here’s where

6 days ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

Starbucks will close its cafe at 1255 Battery St. in San Francisco on Friday. Google Street ViewAnother San Francisco Starbucks is closing. The cafe at 1255 Battery St. in Levi’s Plaza will shutter on Friday. The closure, announced in a sign posted on the store’s front door, was first reported by KRON4. Starbucks attributed the closure to the end of the store’s lease in a statement provided to KRON4.
Lawrence Lai of Craftsman & Wolves bakery in SF has died.

2 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

A woman browses the pastry case at Craftsman and Wolves in San Francisco in 2014. The bakery's co-owner, Lawrence Lai, has died unexpectedly. John Storey/Special to the ChronicleLawrence Lai, who started one of San Francisco’s most popular bakeries, Craftsman & Wolves, died on April 29 from esophageal cancer, according to an announcement. He was 53 years old.
Kukje Supermarket in Daly City is opening a Korean bakery

2 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

A shopper browses the candy and snack aisle at Kukje Supermarket in Daly City on April 29, 2025. The Korean market is opening a new bakery. Laura Morton/Special to The ChronicleOne of the Bay Area’s most cherished Korean supermarkets, Kukje in Daly City, is opening a bakery spinoff. The bakery is set to arrive this summer at 2368 Junipero Serra Blvd., across from the grocery store, with a range of Korean and French baked goods.
‘No longer viable’: Popular Bay Area Middle Eastern restaurant to close

2 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

Mica Talmor, owner of Pomella, poses at the popular Israeli restaurant on Friday, November 26, 2021. Talmor has decided to close Pomella, citing slow sales and rising costs. Yalonda M. James/The ChronicleA celebrated Bay Area Middle Eastern restaurant will close due to sharply rising costs and slowing business. Pomella, which opened at 3770 Piedmont Ave. in Oakland in 2020, will shutter on May 26.
Downtown bar owners will breathe new life into 100-year-old S.F. building

3 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Laura Waxmann |Elena Kadvany

The building at 20 Cosmo Place in San Francisco, pictured in 2019, has been sold to new owners. Liz Hafalia/The ChronicleA century-old San Francisco space two blocks from Union Square that last housed controversial French-Vietnamese restaurant Le Colonial has been sold to new owners.
Barack Obama dines at S.F. Michelin-star restaurant

3 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

Barack Obama dined at Quince in San Francisco, one of the Bay Area’s only three-Michelin-star restaurants, on Wednesday evening. The former president walked into the Jackson Square fine dining restaurant around 7 p.m., shortly after Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce; it’s unclear if the two dined together. Both were quickly escorted from large SUVs into Quince. Secret Service members were awaiting Obama’s arrival.
This is the most romantic restaurant on our Top 100 list

3 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

Inside Café Jacqueline in North Beach, couples enjoy a leisurely meal over souffles. Critics MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez agree it’s the most romantic restaurant on their Top 100 list this year. Gabrielle Lurie/The ChronicleIt’s impossible not to feel the romance at Café Jacqueline, whether you’re breaking into one of the longtime North Beach restaurant’s airy souffles with a partner or group of friends.
S.F. restaurant that held Michelin star for 11 years has closed

3 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

The dining room at Luce at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco, pictured in 2008. KATY RADDATZ“Ocean and Land” tartare served at Luce, which has closed. KATY RADDATZLuce, a San Francisco restaurant that held a Michelin star for over a decade and nurtured renowned chefs, has closed permanently. The upscale Mediterranean restaurant inside the InterContinental Hotel at 88 Howard St. has served its final dishes, a hotel employee confirmed. Ownership was not available to comment.
This is the most fun restaurant on our Top 100 list

3 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

The team behind Four Kings knows how to have fun. Four Kings/The ChronicleFour Kings is loud, bold and packed. The Chinatown restaurant remains arguably San Francisco’s hottest restaurant, even a year after opening. Reservations open at midnight and book three weeks out. Diners are still quoted a two-hour wait on Saturday nights. And they wait, peering in at diners perched at the narrow wooden counter in front of the bustling open kitchen, cheersing Taiwanese beers while Cantonese pop music plays.
This S.F. bakery can’t survive without eggs. So it’s raising prices

4 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

Pasteis de nata from Holy Nata in San Francisco. The bakery raised its prices due to the increased cost of eggs. Cesar Hernandez/The ChronicleHoly Nata cannot exist without an ingredient that has become staggeringly expensive: eggs. The San Francisco bakery goes through about 120 pounds of egg yolks every week to make its popular Portuguese pastéis de nata, or egg tarts. In the midst of a national shortage, yolks have become increasingly hard to source and costly, co-owner Julia Pfeiffer said.