La Med gets 10 more years

By THOMAS REYNOLDS

La Mediterranee — the beloved restaurant at 2210 Fillmore that has been feeding the neighborhood healthy and affordable food for almost half a century — has signed an additional 10-year extension on its lease.

“Let’s keep it going,” said Vanick Der Bedrossian, who now runs the eatery his father Levon opened in 1979.

La Med, as the locals know it, suddenly faced an uncertain future two years ago when investor Neil Mehta’s project bought its building and several others on the 2200 block of Fillmore Street, including the Clay Theater. 

After months of silence from the building’s new owners, with his lease coming to an end — and feeling a lack of support from local merchant leaders and the neighborhood’s own supervisor — Der Bedrossian asked for help from then-Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who had championed small legacy businesses in his North Beach neighborhood and other parts of the city. Peskin staged a protest and a press conference in front of La Med and successfully pushed for a city moratorium on the eviction of legacy business.

Soon La Med was offered a three-year extension of its lease, with the understanding that major work would be done on the building when the lease expired. La Med was saved, at least for three years, and neighbors were relieved. Der Bedrossian began looking for a new location to ensure his future and that of his staff.

“I looked into a couple of places in the neighborhood,” he said, despite the expense and uncertainty a move would bring. He also considered closing the restaurant and continuing only the catering business, which accounts for about half of the restaurant’s revenue.

And he acknowledges there was a significant personal element.

“I had to do a lot of soul-searching on my side,” said Der Bedrossian, now 42 and the father of a young son. “I had to question whether I wanted to keep this going.”

In the end, he decided he did — in no small measure because of the 20 people the restaurant employs.

“We have such good people,” he said. “They’re like a second family.” When he considered the possibility of letting people go, “It just didn’t feel right,” he said.

Then Cody Allen, Neil Mehta’s right-hand man, called and offered a new 10-year lease, on top of the three-year extension they’d already signed. That would ensure the restaurant could occupy the space until 2038. Allen offered “a manageable set of terms,” Der Bedrossian said, and an opportunity to work together to improve the neighborhood.

The first public mention of the new lease came at a merchants meeting in August, when Fillmore Merchants Association president Tim Omi and new District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill raised and praised the possibility. Allen and Der Bedrossian were both present and seemed a bit surprised by the announcement, since no extension had yet been signed. But both had good things to say about each other, and Allen acknowledged he and his group had not communicated well with the owners of La Med after buying its building.

“It didn’t really occur to me to reach out to them,” Der Bedrossian said of Allen and Mehta. “But over time, we got to work together and came to know each other. Our understanding of each other grew. There was a mutual softening.”

He added: “After the lease extension, I got to see they are making some positive changes. They have a plan to invest in the neighborhood, bring back the Clay Theater, maybe bring in some new concepts.”

Allen, who speaks on the record to the media only through written statements, wrote in an email: “La Mediterranee has helped make this neighborhood special for nearly 50 years. Their independent spirit, dedication and commitment to continual improvement embody our vision for Upper Fillmore’s future. We’re thrilled to support them as they approach their sixth decade and look forward to many more.”

Another person who’s thrilled is Der Bedrossian’s father Levon, who created La Med and whose kind spirit has guided the restaurant since it opened — and who is theoretically now retired.

“He’ll never retire,” says his son Vanick. “He and I work closely together. He’s still around.”

With the certainty La Med will be sticking around, the Der Bedrossians have begun making some improvements to the restaurant.

“We’re sprucing up the dining room chunk by chunk,” Vanick Der Bedrossian said, “doing little things and trying to avoid prolonged closure.” La Med may have to close for a few days to tackle plumbing problems, but otherwise “just a fresh coat of paint, maybe refinishing the bar, getting rid of the last vestiges of the covid era.”

He promises: “Nothing major is changing.” That will be music to the ears of its fans and neighbors.