For those concerned about a football hangover, San Francisco is offering the perfect pick-me-up next weekend. The NBA All-Star game comes to the Chase Center for the first time, and just like the fans, some businesses are looking forward to the rare chance to bask in the spotlight.

When they built the Chase Center, it was meant to be a destination location, and not just on nights when Steph Curry is in the house. Right across the Thrive City plaza is the Dumpling Time restaurant, which has been eagerly anticipating All-Star weekend.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for months now, but actively preparing for it of over a month,” server Phillip Le said.  “We’ve been almost running drills and fine-tuning everything. Yeah, we’ve been practicing.”

Practice makes perfect, and the four-day hoop festival comes at a perfect time. During normal weeks, business picks up for just a few hours before and after a game.

“We expect it to just be continuous throughout,” said Le.  “People will want to come here just to hang out, or sit outside on the risers and watch on the big screen. So, we expect people to be here at all times.”

On Sunday, Valeska Espinoza had no trouble finding a table, but she said she expects that to change come Thursday.

“I feel like this is like the calm before the storm,” Espinoza said. “I feel like right now it’s a little quiet. But it’ll get up once it starts getting to the weekend, next weekend, I feel like.”

Across the plaza is Kayah, a Burmese food restaurant that opened a few months ago with a location that’s hard to beat. It’s two outdoor patios look directly onto Thrive City and its huge outdoor television screen.

“So, we’re just going to get a couple more tables, actually, to get more people sitting outside, watching the game, having drinks or something like that…having a good time,” said Kayah shift lead Daniella Dongora. “I think we’re in a really good location, so we’re expecting to do really, really, really well, actually.”

But if anyone gets the award for good timing, it’s “Splash at Thrive City.” The huge two-story sports bar just opened on Thursday and General Manager Tom Bolcom admits to being a bit spoiled.

“We just opened, this is day number three, the Super Bowl,” he said with a smile. “So, we’re averaging about 1,000 people a night so far.  Easy. Yeah, we’re going to try to go three days in a row, maybe we’ll beat that. I mean, why do it small when you can make a big splash?”

The idea behind Splash is to make televised sporting events more fun than watching from home, and Bolcom says that was proven during the Warrior’s come-from-behind victory over the Bulls on Saturday.

“And you couldn’t hear yourself think after they made their comeback and won the game,” Bolcom said. “When they won the game last night it was unbelievable. If you asked those 1,000 people last night, it was a lot more fun watching it here, that’s for sure.”

Patrick Perez lives just down the block but said he’ll be at Thrive City when the NBA stars come to town.

“Usually I would just chill out at home, but I think since it’s here I want to be in the atmosphere and check it all out, even if I don’t have tickets,” Perez said. “This is only a once, maybe twice-in-a-lifetime thing, and so, I’m not taking it for granted, you know?  I’m coming here and I’m going to be fully involved in all the festivities.”

The restaurants will welcome the increase in business, but beyond that, they hope it serves as a reminder to residents that they are open every day–not just on game days.

John Ramos

John Ramos accidentally launched a lifelong career in journalism when he began drawing editorial cartoons and writing smart-alecky satire pieces for the Bakersfield High School newspaper.