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Should Restaurants With Wood-Burning Ovens Be Complying With Spare the Air Days?

We’re having another Spare the Air Day with this tropical heatwave here around the Bay, and this brings up an important point: Do restaurants that operate daily with wood-burning ovens actually stop making food in those ovens to comply with Air District regulations? The answer, we’re pretty sure, is no, but we know that some of these restaurants have invested in expensive chimney-smoke filtering systems to address pollution concerns. A neighbor of Kokkari restaurant has been vigilant over the years in catching and videotaping Kokkari’s roof and chimney when they produce smoke on Spare the Air Days, and this is in part because he lives right above the popular restaurant, in the Gateway Apartments.

Granted, the video isn’t the most compelling evidence, but we believe the guy about the smell. We’ve been having Spare the Air Days since Saturday, and this was shot on Sunday by YouTube pollution patroller chasedbyshark.

Are other restaurants complying? Is there one in your neighborhood that gets a little smoky even in these hot hot days? Let us know.


Earlier: Fire Breaks Out at Power-Lunch Spot Kokkari [Updated]

Should Restaurants With Wood-Burning Ovens Be Complying With Spare the Air Days?