That seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it—bacon overload? After all, as my friend Mollie Hemingway long ago said, “Everything’s better with bacon” (a slogan that can also be found on Top Chef contestant Josh Valentine’s t-shirt). Is it really possible to have too much bacon? For the residents of San Francisco’s Upper Haight, the answer is yes. Complaints about the overwhelming smell of bacon and issues of grease disposal have led to the closing of the Bacon Bacon café. As the Washington Free Beacon put it, “Bacon Restaurant Forced to Close after San Fran Residents Complain of Aroma of Bacon.”
Explains the San Francisco Examiner:
Residents were able to express their concerns following the location’s change in ownership. Neighbors took the occasion to raise concerns with the lack of a filtration system to alleviate the aroma of bacon, illegal parking of a related food truck on a residential street and claims that bacon grease was dumped directly into the sewer system, according to their attorney Ryan Patterson.
Something similar happened here in D.C. to Rogue States, which shut down after neighboring law firm Steptoe & Johnson complained about a poor ventilation system and the overbearing smell of burgers. (I imagine dealing with an angry law firm is worse than dealing with the angry residents of Upper Haight.) But restaurateur Raynold Mendizabal managed to reopen a better-ventilated burger joint, Black & Orange (the Now & Zen Burger is my favorite). Good luck to Bacon Bacon’s Jim Angelus who has staunch support from his fellow baconistas.