Our first thought this weekend when we spotted this very new, very blue awning at 531 Haight Street:
“Huh — never seen ‘Falafel’ spelled ‘Fala Fel’ before. Is that intentional?”
Our second thought:
“Wait, what happened to Ali Baba’s Cave???”
Yes friends, seemingly in the blink of an eye, Ali Baba’s Cave has magically transformed itself into a new restaurant called “Al-Fanoose.”
Now, the sign in the window says “Under New Management” — so, fundamentally we’re talking about the same Mediterranean restaurant here. But with a pretty drastic external makeover and a new name (which we’re told means “magic lantern” in Arabic), we wouldn’t be surprised to find some internal changes as well.
Not a whole lot more we can tell you about this one, but check out Al-Fanoose’s very spare Facebook page for more info. And do report back if you give Al-Fanoose a try — especially if you sample the fala fel!