Vandals Strike Again!

James Syhabout is an Oakland native who has continuously invested in his hometown. He brought the city its first Michelin-starred restaurant in Commis, and two years ago, he opened Hawker Fare in his mother’s former Thai restaurant in Uptown Oakland. Later this summer, he plans to open Box & Bells, a casual gastropub in Rockridge.

A trash can fire set by vandals has forced Hawker Fare to stay dark since Saturday morning, and the restaurant will be closed indefinitely.

According to Syhabout, cameras caught masked vandals setting fire to the trash cans next to the restaurant and then running away. The trash cans were located next to the electrical meters and the electrical meters were basically melted, meaning the restaurant will closed for some time. It is not a small repair job.

Syhabout says he has no idea if the fires were related to the ongoing protests that have, for some reason, damaged local businesses. (Last week, nearby Oakland businesses Flora and Dogwood were damaged in the protests following the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman verdict.)

“Who knows. Three people had their faces covered up and ran away,” Syhabout says, musing that the recent protests are the only thing that really comes to mind, but it’s impossible to know why the arsonists did what they did. “We don’t have any beef with anyone, so who knows what the motive is. But it certainly wasn’t an accident.”

Now, Syhabout has to go through the red tape procedure to get his popular Oakland restaurant back up and running. It’s a process that will require new city inspections, building permits, electrical permits and all kinds of approvals and the like. They have to replace the meters, and the work will have to be done on others’ timetables; in other words, they’re subject to the schedules of PG&E and the city of Oakland.

For a restaurant to miss a night of business — let alone many days of business — is a big deal. Restaurants already operate on slim profit margins, and an indefinite leave of absence is not good. Plus, Hawker Fare has 25 employees.

Syhabout is hopeful that the city of Oakland can expedite the process.

“Who knows when we’ll reopen,” says Syhabout. “The whole neighborhood has been super supportive, and hopefully the city will understand and cooperate.”

Originally Posted on 07/22/2013 at 7:04 am by Paolo Lucchesi in Controversy , Inside Scoop SF