For the past six years Bawer Tekin, owner of SF Kebab Mediterranean Grill, has been serving up some of San Francisco’s best Mediterranean cuisine, including gyros, wraps, kebabs, hummus, tabbouleh, couscous, homemade bread, and more.
Owner Bawer Tekin with the Trio Dip Platter.
The friendly service, great food, and relaxed atmosphere has created a large following of UCSF customers along with a steady stream of customers who live at Mission Bay. “We’ve grown with the community,” Tekin said. “When we opened in 2017, the neighborhood was still being developed. Now it’s one of San Francisco’s fastest growing communities.”
Tekin’s first restaurant was Hayes & Kebab, which opened in 2006 at the corner of Hayes and Gough. In 2009, the restaurant moved to a new location at Hayes and Laguna. From the second location, Tekin moved to Mission Bay. “It was love at first sight,” he said. “It had this amazing outdoor patio, and it was a beautiful building. We pulled the money together to make it work.”
Now, six years later, SF Kebab is a staple of the Mission Bay community. “It’s been fantastic to work with UCSF and we couldn’t have a better community,” he said. “I have the highest level of love and respect for the people.”
That was on display earlier this year when a 7.8 earthquake hit Turkey, including his hometown of Van. Tekin worked with the UCSF community to collect donations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to help provide food, water, shelter, and medicine. He also donated 50 percent of the restaurant’s Valentine’s Day sales to the victims.
“The UCSF community is a giving community,” he said. “They stepped up to help people they didn’t know who live half a world away.”
Tekin said he enjoys seeing the faces of new students every year and is now drawing crowds from the neighboring Chase Center. “We’re very busy on nights when the Chase Center has events.”
Back of the house at SF Kebab. Chef slicing chicken shawarma.
Some of the menu favorites include traditional gyros made with chicken, lamb, or minced beef and the Alexander’s Favorite, a large plate that includes thin-sliced marinated lamb and beef gyro with bread cubes in fresh tomato sauce and yogurt. “We have customers that come in once or twice a week and order the same thing every time,” he said.
While COVID-19 kept customers away for a while, Tekin said people are slowly returning. “I think we’ve learned to live with it,” he said. “People know what to do. If you are sick, stay home. People are ready to get out and interact with other people. Restaurants are a great place for that.”
