“We’ve been trying to sell the business for a little while,” says Christian Ciscle, owner of the seven-year-old Wing Wings in the Lower Haight, a few days after tweeting a photo of the change-of-ownership sign he just newly posted on the front door. “But we didn’t think that someone would want to continue as Wing Wings.”

That was until Eric and Tony Shou, a uncle-nephew combo, agreed to buy Wing Wings and keep it going. Even better, Ciscle says: The Shou family has been involved in Crescent City Cafe and Spaghetti Western, two Haight Street stalwarts from the 1990s, the former in the Upper Haight, the latter not far from Wing Wings. “It was way better than someone who just thinks it’s a cool and hip idea and has no connection to the neighborhood,” Ciscle adds. The new owners are spending the next month or so training with Ciscle before taking over completely.

Ciscle lives and works in the Lower Haight, and has seen so many of the neighborhood’s independent businesses turn over in the past two decades. “Hayes Valley has exploded, Divisadero is at capacity, and we’re this last little island that hasn’t changed very much, for better or for worse,” he says.

Since he opened Wing Wings in 2011, the restaurant has settled into the neighborhood in a way few high-end bistros do. He’s watched toddlers grow into kids running around the Haight on their own. He can tweet out “Does anyone have a pair of shoes, size 11?” for someone who needs them and two pairs appear at his counter within the hour.

While he figures out what to do post Wing Wings, Ciscle is consulting with John Quintos, owner of Cento and Vega, on the forthcoming Cafe Lambretta at 101 Townsend St. Wing Wings has become safe space for off-duty cooks, too, and has hosted a parade of pop-ups over the years. They include IDK Concepts, which began as an excuse for Ciscle and former Hapa Ramen chef Richie Nakano to troll restaurant trends (ubiquitous fried chicken sandwiches, elevated French bread pizzas) and, in a way, figure out what they might want to do next.

Their work found its way past parody this fall, when the North Bay fires gave the pair a new sense of mission, raising thousands of dollars and ferrying supplies up to the disaster scene. “Everyone was so depressed. There was so much negativity after the first of the year,” Cislce says. “I guess it took natural disasters and other tragedies to wake people up again. That’s what it took for me.”

That sense of mission hasn’t gone away. “We want to create more ongoing fundraising events so we’re not just reacting to individual instances and tragedies,” he says. “Everyone seems to whant to help. There’s so much money and resources out there. Sometimes you just need to tap into it.”

Wing Wings, 422 Haight St., S.F., http://www.wingwingssf.com/ .