Reem's California, the acclaimed Arab street-food restaurant on Mission Street, will close for roughly two months after learning that a June hit-and-run may have caused structural damage — with repairs estimated near $200,000 and no word yet on whether insurance will pay.

The closure pulls one of the Mission's anchor eateries offline through the late-summer stretch, an especially costly interruption for a small business already navigating an uncertain insurance claim and a possible six-week permit delay. It is a business-and-food story about how a single traffic crash can sideline a neighborhood institution — not a City Hall matter.

Reem's California, the acclaimed Arab street-food restaurant at 2901 Mission St., announced this week that it will close its flagship Mission District location for roughly two months while it repairs damage from a June hit-and-run — damage that may run deeper than the boarded-up facade first suggested.

The restaurant served its last meals of the season on Saturday, Aug. 1, keeping 11 a.m.-to-7 p.m. hours through the final day, according to an Instagram announcement the restaurant posted this week and reported by Mission Local. The crash, on June 10, tore into the north side of Reem's storefront at Mission and 25th streets. Management initially boarded up the damaged section and kept the kitchen running, then announced on July 12 that it was ending dine-in service and cutting hours to make way for repairs. The two-month shutdown is the next escalation.

The reason is cost and uncertainty. "Initial estimates put the cost of repairs at almost $200,000," the restaurant wrote. Worse, the collision may have compromised the building itself. "Because foundational damage may have been done to the building, the work may require pulling permits from the city, which could add up to six weeks to the timeline," the post said — a bureaucratic delay stacked on top of the construction.

Whether the restaurant will be made whole is an open question. "We hope insurance will cover costs, but we have yet to hear a definitive response regarding what they will cover," the announcement said. The timing compounds the strain: the crash landed as Reem's was preparing to open a second storefront in Oakland's Jack London Square, a location that went on to debut in late June even as the Mission flagship faltered.

Reem's is not a typical tenant. Chef Reem Assil, who is Palestinian-Syrian, built the business from a pop-up at the Mission farmers' market into a La Cocina incubator project and, in March 2020 — days before the pandemic lockdown — a full restaurant. She landed the Mission Street space after the building's owners approached her, saying they wanted a community-minded business to fill the storefront once occupied by Mission Pie. The restaurant survived the pandemic and became a neighborhood fixture; Assil published a cookbook, "Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora," in 2022.

The restaurant framed the setback as bad luck rather than anything targeted. Assil wrote that the facts did not lead her to believe the June crash was aimed at the restaurant. "It was just unfortunate that our restaurant happened to be on the wrong intersection that night," she said.

For a small operation, a two-month dark period during the slow summer months is a serious hit — payroll paused, a lease still owed, and a repair bill that may or may not be reimbursed. Assil, who hopes her staff can return once the Mission location reopens, struck a note of resolve. "Our message to our loyal clientele is the same as it always has been … gratitude for keeping us an anchor space all these years," she wrote, adding: "Our desire is to continue serving our community despite the circumstances." A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover the repair costs.

A reopening date will depend on what inspectors find behind the facade — and how quickly the city's permit process moves if the foundation is involved.