Diablo Dish notes that Koreana Kitchen, located at 1546 Bonanza St in downtown Walnut Creek has closed. A new Korean restaurant called Mixed Grain will be opening in its place. Were there any fans of Koreana Kitchen?
As someone who used to work in Koreatown in Manhattan, I would really enjoy a good Korean BBQ. Yum!
Last week I noted that the new baby and children’s boutique Tulip was opening at La Fiesta Square in downtown Lafayette, and now that it’s open I decided to drop by and check out the inside. The owner Jen is friendly and very knowledgeable about babies and children in general, not to mention her great taste in the products and clothing she offers at the store. Not surprising considering she founded an educational resource for new parents called The Tulip Grove. The new store will also offer items for children up to 8 years old.
Check out this sweet crib setup in the back of the store:
The view when you enter from the front entrance:
Clothing and products for older kids are visible at the left when you enter from the front. If you have a baby or young kids or are looking for a present, I would definitely check this place out.
From an email:
On Saturday September 8th, I am coordinating a drive/registry to help 3 year old Hugo who has leukemia find a bone marrow match. Hugo is the son of a friend from Fresno. A match has not yet been found for Hugo and he is a very very sick little boy. He needs a match ASAP. What I am asking is if you, your friends and most important your children over 18 have 10-15 minutes on Saturday the 8th to come to Lafayette United Methodist Church in Lafayette to do a quick cheek swab. One of you may be the very fortunate individual to save Hugo’s or another child’s or adults life that is suffering from Leukemia.
A flyer is attached that gives you information about Be The Match foundation that is supporting this drive. Trina Brajkovich, the coordinator for the Bay Area will be at the registry. The registry will be from 11- 3 at Lafayette UnitedMethodist Church in the fellowship hall, 955 Moraga Road inLafayette. Please come or share with others about this very important drive. I encourage you to forward the attached flyer to others that might want to participate in the registry.
Thank you so much for your support. I am also doing a bake sale for Be The Match Foundation during the drive if you have an interest in helping by providing baked goods that will be sold during the registry. Please feel free to call me or email me with any questions.
The hotly anticipated move from Martinez to Walnut Creek for the bakery Le Gateau Elegant is nearing, with an expected opening date this October according to an employee I spoke with recently. They will be located at 1479 Newell Ave. in the strip mall where George’s Giant Hamburgers and Pacific Bay Coffee are. There is even another bakery in the back of the mall which I previously covered, called Plumeria Flours.
You can check out their cake offerings here. Look at those fancy cakes, sweet! I wonder if they’ll have cupcakes and other bakery items as well. From their website:
As one of the Bay Area’s most sought after cake designer’s, Karen Del Bontá, owner and artiste of Le Gâteau Élégant, has over 22 years of experience as a expert Pastry Chef and Cake Decorator. Her impressive career includes serving Marin, San Francisco, Fairfield, and Martinez. Karen has personally produced well over 10,000 designer wedding cakes.
Karen has mastered the art of working with marzipan, white chocolate, and rolled fondont to reproduce “edible” flowers, ribbons and bows in any shape or color, and is known for her exquisite work with molding smooth rolled icings over cakes. Her ability with freehand drawing, three-dimensional artwork and fresh flower design produces unique custom cakes to make your own ideas come alive.
Looks like Le Gateau Elegant is opening just in time considering the unfortunate closing of the Walnut Creek Baking Company.
Spotted in downtown Walnut Creek, these Raggedy Anns are just chillin’ out, people watching as shoppers walk by.
The Treat Towers, located near the Pleasant Hill BART station in Walnut Creek has just been sold to MetLife for close to $120M according to the Business Times.
From the article:
In one of the East Bay’s biggest office sales this year, MetLife picked up up Treat Towers, a 378,000-square-foot, two-building, ten-story Class-A office in Walnut Creek from Equity Office Properties and TIAA-CREF.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the seller or buyer, but market sources said the price was close to $118.5 million, or about $313 per square foot.
They even have a fitness center with full shower facilities inside. Looks like Walnut Creek may have the strongest real estate market in the East Bay.
From the Orinda Arts Council:
Orinda Idol is a singing competition open to young people who either attend school or reside in Orinda, Moraga and Lafayette. The seventh annual Orinda Idol will be held in 2012.
The objective of Orinda Idol is to provide an avenue for young people to pursue their love for singing, to bring joy to the community and to have fun!
Orinda Idol 2012 is open to those in kindergarten through 12th grade as of Spring 2012. Entries may be made by individual soloists or by groups.
Auditions will be held May 17 – 19, 2012 and Finalists and Runners-up will be selected by a panel of judges. Registration for auditions will be from April 1 – 30, 2012. The Finalists will perform at the Finals, to be held at the Orinda Theatre on Sunday, September 9, 2012. Soloists will compete in four categories by grade and groups will compete in two categories by grade. Finalists will receive immediate feedback from a panel of three judges. Winners in each category will be based on a combination of the judges scoring and the audience vote. Winners will receive cash prizes and all Finalists will receive gift certificates.
Following the auditions, Finalists and Runners-up will have the opportunity to attend or participate in a number of other events, including group seminars on what makes an outstanding performance, a summer pool and karaoke party, a performance in the Orinda Community Park, and a performance at Orinda Theatre Square. Winners will also be invited to perform at the Orinda Car Show and the Orinda EFO/Chamber of Commerce Dine Around Town event.
A detailed schedule can be viewed here.
Back in May I made the first “Groceries Around the World” post in Walnut Creek about the Russian grocery Babushka, and today I’m posting about the Indian grocery, “India Bazar“, located at 1250 Newel Ave. in the San Miguel Center.
There are plenty of decorations on the walls throughout the store which is fun to look at, and the aisles contain Indian delicacies and ingredients for sale so if you love Indian food I would check them out.
…they start selling black “water infused with fulvic acid” at the supermarket. Here I am at Whole Foods in Lafayette browsing around when I encounter this. Now, although I remember when the only kind of water that was sold was with bubbles, I’m aware of “ionized” water , coconut water (which I love) and what not, but I did a double take when I saw this on sale.
Appropriately named, “blk.”, Whole Foods describes this black water (it really is black) as, “water infused with fulvic acid” while the label on the bottle notes that it’s, “alkaline fulvic trace mineral infused water”. I’m not judging, but does this appeal to anybody?
Is this the kind of thing my kids are going to think is completely normal in a few years? “Hey dad, you still drink clear water without fulvic acid!? That is so passé!”
Anthropologie is opening Sept. 14th according to a comment left on my previous post about the progress at the Mt. Diablo Blvd. & Locust St. location. The sign is now finished, and spot lighting has been added so it’ll be visible at night. And the fencing is now gone! You can stroll by to check out the progress inside since they haven’t blocked the windows (for now).
Check out the massive glass walls:
Looks like the side section will have some primo parking spots:
Those door handles at the front entrance are pretty cool:
