Tilde Herrera

Alongside gifts of Ikea furniture and outgrown toddler clothes, some groups are becoming de facto food distribution networks

Tilde Herrera - Civil Eats

Jonnatan Leiva planned to open a restaurant in 2014, after returning to the Bay Area from New York, where he had spent more than four years as executive chef at three restaurants. But the former Chronicle Rising Star couldn’t find the right location at the right price, and his project — Bay Cuisine and Cocktails — never materialized. “We gave it a solid push, but the chips weren’t falling into place,” Leiva said. “With overhead, rent and payroll, it just didn’t make sense, and I didn’t want to f…