Fire Damage

Kearny Fire Takes Down Matcha Sushi, Grassland Bar

The fire that gutted the brand-new Matcha sushi at 915 Kearny St. this morning also damaged the Grassland cocktail lounge, “where good friends and girls meet.” San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge told Grub Street that the two-alarm blaze apparently started in a storage space in the back of Matcha at about 8:30 a.m., then traveled through walls of the aging building to damage a liquor store at 911 Kearny and our beloved Grassland. “It’s an old building and that’s a big, void space above those businesses,” she said. The apartments above were evacuated and some had their walls pulled down as firefighters searched for lingering embers, but Matcha suffered the brunt of the damage. “In the front it was more smoke damage but in the back it was quite a bit of fire damage. Firefighters pulled tables and chairs out of there and they were just squeegeeing tons of water and plaster from the walls,” Talmadge said. It wasn’t clear whether Grassland was closed, Talmadge said, but “it sure looked like it.”

Kearny Fire Takes Down Matcha Sushi, Grassland Bar