Mohammed “Moe” Abibi seems to fist bump or shake hands with everyone who comes within a 50-foot radius.
On Monday afternoon at his new restaurant Gada (opens in new tab), that included city workers in yellow vests, two Bernal Heights parents, and a young man sporting an Outside Lands tee. “I love his sandwich,” one yellow-vested woman yelled before heading back to work.
Abibi’s small sandwich shop, located in the former Chadwick’s (opens in new tab) on Market Street, is just one month into business. But customers are already returning for his raclette malawi sandwiches. The crepe-like creations combine European cheeses — particularly gooey, pungent Swiss raclette — with the Tunisian olive-oil-soaked flat bread called malawi.
He’s pretty sure Gada is not just one of a kind in San Francisco, but one of a kind in the United States.
In Tunisia, tuna and egg are more common ingredients; Abibi says that while those ingredients will appear on future sandwiches, he wanted first to appeal to local tastes. The eight sandwiches on Gada’s handwritten menu include a riff on a BLT, the Bacon Bliss “The Melty Madness,” which arrives with raclette, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and truffle mayo, and the Gada Classics “Cheese Please!,” made with raclette, roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, and cornichons.
Sandwiches on half-baguettes and torpedo rolls, as well as sweet options laden with Nutella, will rotate and range from $10 to $20.
The malawi bread is a labor of love. Although similar to a French crepe, the dough is not spread directly onto the grill but is first spread thinly on a counter. Although it’s made with olive oil, Abibi adds a few more splurts. Then, he transfers the delicate sheet of dough to a griddle to cook, producing big air bubbles throughout the bread. Finally, he moves it back to the counter, where he melts the raclette and scrapes it onto the other toppings.
Cut in half, the chubby sandwiches resemble a sliced watermelon oozing cheese. In addition to raclette, he works with Italian fontina. Onion and green peppers get thrown into all varieties, and big spreads of harissa are commonplace. “My sandwiches are fat,” he says. “My sandwiches take time.”
Gada owner Mohammed “Moe” Abibi.
Before striking out on his own, Abibi cut his teeth at the Lombard Street institution Golden Gate Market (opens in new tab) from 2021 to 2024. (Above the cash register at Gada is a $50 bill the market’s owner signed, “Good luck, Moe!”) Before that, he lived in Tunisia, first in his family’s home in Tunis and then in the state of Nabeul on the northwestern coast. He’s studying retail finance at the University of San Francisco.
This spartan operation is not likely to be his last. Abidi says he is securing a lease in North Beach for a wine bar where he’ll serve Tunisian bites.
Opening hours11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday through Wednesday