RANT - Who'd want to be a Restauranter?

I've seen several "Landmark restaurant closes"-type articles on Yelp, Zagat, SFGate and other sites. They've been appearing each month during the past few years' recession.

But today's attempts to get a Chinese takeout (to compensate for yesterday's Shen Yun disappointment), revealed that several of our usual sources have dried up in the past few weeks.

The following local restaurants have recently expired, all allegedly due to the same greedy landlord:

Lingba - corner of 18th St and Connecticut, on Potrero Hill

Eliza's - a couple doors up from Lingba, on 18th St

Baraka - opposite Lingba

Jay's Deli - one block up the hill from Lingba

While the following restaurants are not particularly local to us, they have something other than their closure in common. I hated all three.

Cortez- Geary St

Zinnia - Jackson Square

Shanghai 1930 - Steuart Street

These final three, despite frequently enjoying my custom, have nevertheless collapsed:

TWO - Hawthorne St

South - Townsend St

Jack Falstaff - Second St

Many of these places are being "re-imagined", "re-born", "re-invented", or "re-concepted" (thanks Mrs. Mayor Newsom, shareholder at Plumpjack Group, owner of Jack Falstaff and many others for that last gem) presumably in a manner more likely to attract customers.