Chicken and rice: It’s pure comfort food. Chef Kevin Lieu’s restaurant specializes in khao man gai, as it’s called in Thailand, a Hainanese-derived dish of slow-poached chicken over rice. And Lieu has quickly pivoted his business to feed more people over the past few months, providing free meals for hard-working local medical staff through programs like Feed the Line and National Nurses Week, while encouraging customers to donate to the cause. “I would personally drive the meals to the hospital and deliver them,” Lieu said about National Nurses Week, when he and his team gave out about 500 meals at no cost.

This SoMa soul food restaurant has long been a local favorite, serving some of the city’s best chicken and waffles. But since COVID-19 struck, owners Jay Foster and Deanna Sison Foster have put an even greater emphasis on their community. Through a series of fundraisers, they’ve raised more than $1,000 for organizations that advocate for racial justice, supporting local youth and communities of color. And Little Skillet was a key participant in #FilipinosFeedtheFrontlines, which has served more than 10,000 meals to health workers and others in need. 

The wildly popular California-Italian restaurant was among the first in the city to provide free meals for local families in need. Chef David Nayfeld created Che Fico Family Meal with the restaurant’s investors and other area residents, and fed thousands of San Franciscans over four-plus months. More recently, they’ve kept their staff on-board by dramatically expanding their takeout and delivery, with everything from pantry staples to large-format cocktails to prepared meal kits to finish at home.  

Few chefs are as dedicated to true nose-to-tail cuisine as Chris Cosentino, and his commitment to ethical butchery hasn’t changed since shifting his operation to Cockscomb To Go. Whole-animal dishes like Iberico Pork Jowl and Guajillo Chile Chicken are available for delivery and takeout, and Cosentino frequently highlights independent farms via social media. Cosentino has also participated in programs like Dine for Democracy, funding get-out-the-vote efforts in vulnerable communities, and advocates strongly for restaurant relief. The restaurant also donated 150 meals to three hospitals in San Francisco in early March. “Everyone is doing the best they can for the community at large, and cooking food is what I know how to do,” Cosentino says, adding, “it’s our little part of helping the big picture.”

From its beginning as a community-driven enterprise, Reem’s has been the work of Reem Assil, who launched her Arab bakery through incubator La Cocina before opening brick-and-mortar locations in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood and in the Mission. Soon after COVID-19 shut down the region, Assil remade her Oakland space into a commissary kitchen, entirely dedicated to cooking meals for vulnerable community members. (The San Francisco location continues to serve takeout, delivery, and meal kits, and online orders include the option to “Man’oushet Forward,” or pay a meal forward to someone in need.) Reem’s continues to respond to ongoing crises, with a recent lamb roast “family meal” benefitting World Central Kitchen relief efforts in Beirut.

A true neighborhood fixture, Mission Bowling Club has been able to reopen on a limited basis, and they’ve also opened their patio up to the community. Recently, they’ve hosted numerous pop-ups, including the Hawaiian-meets-Southern pop-up Island Soul, Filipino snacks from The Sarap Shop, Ghanaian flavors from Sankofa, the Indonesian-inspired ChiliCali, and even a yoga class — keeping the neighborhood engaged and connected, even during the most stressful times.  

Ling Chatterjee’s Southern Thai restaurant, part of the Farmhouse Thai Kitchen group, has kept steady business with patio dining, takeout, and delivery, and even a newly constructed outdoor bar. To help patrons and their families through tough economic times, they’ve offered the “Little Lao Table Set,” a family-style dinner that includes a free kid’s meal. And they’ve been working to feed the broader community as well, serving meals every week to frontline workers through programs including East Bay FeedEr and World Central Kitchen.

Chef-owner Oumar Diouf recently relocated his internationally-influenced Senegalese street food operation to a new Oakland storefront, with plans for a food truck and a San Francisco ghost kitchen in the works: ambitious moves during a difficult time. One particular lifeline for his business has been the Chefs for America program, through World Central Kitchen, which partners with local restaurants to serve meals to hundreds of thousands of residents. Alongside cooking for takeout and delivery customers, feeding the community has allowed him to keep his staff employed, cooking up the Argentinian empanadas and Senegalese grilled meats they do best.