By Joe Bonadio

If you’ve spent any time at all talking to small business owners in San Francisco, then you’ve undoubtedly heard the horror stories. Permitting delays that drag on for months on end. Endless taxes and tricky fees that only keep rising, and myriad regulations that seem designed to dispirit independent operators.

Unfortunately these problems–and the measures that regularly emerge to remedy them–have long been a well-recognized part of the San Francisco business landscape. That being said, every once in a while an issue of this kind lands right on your doorstep. And in this case, it involves what is probably my favorite restaurant in San Francisco: Sotto Mare.

Last week I had the chance to speak with longtime owner Rich Azzolino, and he was nice enough to break the story down for me. Lightly edited for brevity and clarity, our conversation is below.

Joe Bonadio: Richie, you’re going to have to explain this to me. From what I understand, somebody has got a problem with you having the swordfish in front of your restaurant. Can you tell me how this all started?

Rich Azzolino: Well, first of all the city’s the one that has a problem with the fish. Now we don’t actually have a violation for the fish; we have a violation for the awning, which happily has been taken care of by the city. Nowhere does it say we are in violation because of the fish–but they keep telling us that we are.

They claim that we aren’t supposed to have it out there, and that it’s too much signage for the business.

JB: The fish??

RA: Yes, the fish. It’s too much signage for the business.

Now if I look around, our sign is smaller than most signs on this block. It’s a much smaller sign than most of the signs out here. Downtown around Union Square they’ve got banners of basketball players sky-high.

JB: But wait a minute, back up. It’s a fish, not a sign.

RA: Well, they say because I’m a fish restaurant, the fish is also a part of the sign. Meanwhile, nowhere on the fish does it say Sotto Mare, or even ‘Seafood’. It has no text on it whatsoever.

JB: It’s a stuffed fish! It’s decoration for the front of your restaurant. 

RA: It is, but it’s also an icon. More people take pictures of that fish than anything else on these few blocks. Even more than Coit Tower!

You know, companies that have scavenger hunts are always including it as one of their clues: look for the fish. And it’s just part of North Beach: people know to look for the fish on Green Street.

JB: And that points straight to this neighborhood’s history, and the Italian fishermen who were such a big part of building North Beach.

RA: That’s right.

JB: So what’s the latest on this–are they still giving you a hard time?

RA: Well, we’re going to find out shortly. And when we do Joe, you’re going to be the first to know. We’ll do a petition, and do whatever we can to go to the city and make sure they can’t take it away.

It’s secure, and it’s weathered every storm we’ve had, including the really bad ones. It’s still up there. It hasn’t swam away!

JB: Well, I hope they let you keep your fish, Richie. Is there anything else coming down the line for the restaurant?

RA: I don’t have details quite yet, but we have some changes coming to the menu. Nothing will be coming off, but we’re going to be adding a couple of things.

I’ve learned that my job as an operator is to make all the chefs’ jobs easier, not harder. Likewise with the servers and the bussers. Because when you make it harder, frustration sets in. That moves to the customer, and a happy experience gets lessened.

I want to keep it a great, happy and fun experience. I want people to come back because they had fun here–and because the food is even better!

Now that people are starting to travel, we’re starting to get old customers that we haven’t seen for years coming back in. People from out of state and abroad, happy to come back and find us still doing our thing.

JB: Well, you guys have always pulled them in from far and wide. 

RA: Yes, we have. But now we’re starting to see their faces again, and more often.

JB: Well, people are starting to get back on airplanes. Which is the main thing we really need here in San Francisco.

RA: Well, you know, we’ve got to clean up Union Square. And we’ve got to clean up around Moscone Center, and pay attention to the roads that people who come to the conventions use to go back and forth to hotels and restaurants.

I’m not so much concerned with cleaning up the entire Tenderloin, because when I grew up it was the same way. When I used to go to Sacred Heart, we would just go around it!

JB: They’re never going to clean that up.

RA: No, but we’ve got to contain it. And we’ve got to make sure the news people show all the good parts of San Francisco, where there are no problems, instead of only the bad.

JB: That’s just irresponsible media coverage, you know I agree. But then that’s another conversation. 

Rich, thanks again for taking the time to talk with me.

 

Sotto Mare
552 Green Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 398-3181
sottomaresf.com/menu