Tiny 36-year-old SF Mexican restaurant has closed

With everything else going on, the Miers also fell behind on rent at La Canasta. They were forced to close the business after their landlord threatened them with eviction, their son Alberto Mier told SFGATE. They had already temporarily closed due to the power being turned off after not being able to pay their electrical bill. 

“It was an immeasurable case of hopelessness, and finally I just decided to evict them,” said landlord Rudy Colombini. “There’s a particular point where you’ve got to call it what it is. They’re really not able to run the business.” 

Colombini said that he has already found a new business, a Middle Eastern restaurant, to take over the lease May 1.

Losing La Canasta was the final straw for Alberto, who decided to launch a GoFundMe to help his parents cover their rent and living expenses.

“Considering we have had this business for almost 36 years, specifically 32 years at this location with the same landlord, the fact he would threaten to evict my parents is very unfair and outrageous,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page.

La Canasta’s origins date back to the 1980s. Luis, who studied chemistry at San Francisco State University, met LiLi while on vacation in Veracruz, Mexico, where she was helping to run her mother’s restaurant. The two moved back to San Francisco in 1981, where they launched a catering business with LiLi’s family recipes. They opened the first La Canasta brick-and-mortar on Filbert Street in 1987, and five years later, they opened a second location — the one still standing today on Buchanan. 

Since Tablehopper and other media outlets shared La Canasta’s story, GoFundMe donations have soared past their $35,000 goal to more than $60,000 at time of publication. 

“I did not expect this at all,” said Alberto. “It definitely made me cry a little bit.”

He shared that the apartment eviction situation is now beginning to get under control. His parents were recently able to secure funds to help pay back rent from the Eviction Defense Collaborative, a San Francisco organization that provides legal assistance to low-income tenants facing eviction. 

If La Canasta makes a comeback, though, it will probably look different. Alberto said LiLi is interested in starting a ghost kitchen to sell her famous carnitas and cochinita pibil, a Yucatan-style slow-roasted pork, via delivery apps.

“Even if she decides to continue in the name of La Canasta, it seems like she wants to either just get a new location and restart our operations using a way more simplified menu, or just run it out of her own kitchen,” he said. “You know, La Canasta, it’s very taxing on my mom. She’s almost 70 years old right now.”

Alberto said that his parents are very touched by all the support they’ve gotten since he posted the GoFundMe, and that it’s helped them regain some confidence. Donations surpassing the goal will help with legal fees for the apartment eviction case and to launch his mother’s ghost kitchen. While Alberto said his mother was “shocked” by all the donations and kind words, it also makes sense based on the community they’ve built at La Canasta over the years.

“These are lifelong customers and clients that we’ve always served, given them free food, we’ve invited them for Christmas dinners, and helped them out whenever they needed,” said Alberto. “… Anyone that went to La Canasta would say that it felt like they were part of the family. That was the one thing that my parents always did, was make people feel at home.”