Two restaurant industry veterans are taking over a familiar Clement Street space. Jeff Hanak, an owner of Liholiho Yacht Club (opens in new tab) and Good Good Culture Club (opens in new tab), and Connor Bruce, a former chef at Nopalito (opens in new tab), will open Kitchen Commons (opens in new tab), a “neighborhood shop for the home chef,” in the former Spanish Table location in the Inner Richmond. The store will stock cookware, prepared food, and beverages, and plans to host cooking classes and other food-focused events. 

The duo, both longtime residents of the Inner Richmond, plan to open in the fall. “Given the mix of businesses on Clement Street, I thought this was a good opportunity to explore a business based on hospitality and craft,” Hanak says.

Kitchen Commons will be a warm space to relax, thanks to a smattering of indoor seating. There’ll be a cafe too; the menu is still in the works. Though it will primarily be a “daytime place,” Hanak says, they won’t try to compete on the pastry front, with croissant legend Arsicault just around the corner. At the most, they’ll sell savory pastries and prepared goods. 

The retail side will cover cookbooks, specialty dry pantry items, coffee pots, cast-iron and carbon steel pans, knives, and kitchen gear of all sorts. Purveyors will include specialty coffee gear company Slow Pour Supply (opens in new tab), Japanese tableware brand Kinto (opens in new tab), and cast iron and carbon steel pan maker Smithey (opens in new tab). Down the road, they hope to host community events, lessons, and demonstrations during the Clement Street Sunday farmers market, as well as pop-ups. 

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The Spanish Table, a specialty grocer known for its selection of Spanish and Portuguese goods, closed last winter. Per December 2025 court filings (opens in new tab), the owners owed at least $25,000 in back rent. Steve Winston and Sharon Baden launched The Spanish Table in 1995 in Seattle and expanded in 2001 to Berkeley and in 2006 to Mill Valley. All Bay Area stores are now closed.

Hanak, who moved to the Inner Richmond in 2001, says he couldn’t be more excited to bring his decades in the industry to his own neighborhood — and join the booming food scene there. Rose Pizzeria (opens in new tab) opened one block away from the Kitchen Commons space in April and is drawing hours-long lines. It joins popular restaurants such as Pasta Supply Co., which opened in 2023, and staples like Chapeau, Le Soleil, and Lily. 

Bruce, Bay Area-raised and a San Francisco resident of 20 years, has a small family in the Richmond, too. “We’re just adding to the magic of the street,” Hanak says.