Orinda Theatre Square
Wild Magnolia, which replaced Table 24 a couple of years ago in Orinda Theatre Square, will be closing at the end of February. A new restaurant called Saffron Indian Restaurant & Bar will be opening in its place. Stay tuned.
Orinda Theatre Square
Wild Magnolia, which replaced Table 24 a couple of years ago in Orinda Theatre Square, will be closing at the end of February. A new restaurant called Saffron Indian Restaurant & Bar will be opening in its place. Stay tuned.
1352 Locust St, Walnut Creek
The restaurant Tender Greens in downtown Walnut Creek is going cashless starting January 29th. I rarely use cash these days so am not really surprised by this. Are there other restaurants that don’t accept cash around here? Check out their Walnut Creek menu here.
La Fiesta Square, Lafayette
The French-style bakery La Chataigne is hoping to reopen on January 30th in La Fiesta Square in Lafayette. As you can see in the accompanying photo, there’s a bit of remodeling going on.
Village Square Shopping Center, Orinda
Thanks to a reader for pointing out that the Village Inn Cafe is closing this Sunday, January 28th in the Village Square shopping center in Orinda according to this News 24/80 article. The current owners have been in business for over 30 years since 1986. Check out their interesting story here.
From their website:
The Village Inn Cafe, located then in a narrow space in the Village Square Shopping Center was purchased by Kurt & Kathy Bellows in December of 1985. They cleaned it thoroughly, installed some new equipment, changed the menu and opened on January 6th 1986.
The restaurant was immediately successful, and business grew steadily. After eight years, Kurt & Kathy had an opportunity to relocate St. Helena. They sold the restaurant in August of 1994. St. Helena was not a good fit for them, and fortunately the Village Inn Café was not a good fit for the new owner. Kurt and Kathy were able to buy back the restaurant and returned in February of 1995. This hiatus turned out to be a very costly six month vacation.
1005 Brown Ave, Lafayette
Locando Positano, an Italian restaurant originally based in San Carlos (with an additional location in Danville), is planning on opening later this week in Lafayette. As you can see in the photo the expansive patio in back has a foosball table! Check out their menu here and find out more about the owner here.
1632 N. Main St, Walnut Creek
Ikoi Sushi opened back in September in downtown Walnut Creek and their signage is up. There used to be a little “IKOI SUSHI” sign on the Rinehart Clock in front but that has been removed, leaving the GELATO text left over from a previous cafe, Honey Berry.
Photo from Pokeatery
1345 Newell Ave, Walnut Creek
The poke craze continues… Last December we learned that the frozen yogurt shop Blush was closing in Walnut Creek (near Whole Foods), to be replaced by Pokeatery, and they have now opened. There are two other Bay Area locations (San Mateo and Castro Valley) with Walnut Creek being their first franchise location. Check out their Walnut Creek menu here and find out more on their website here. I look forward to trying out a Dole whip float (see photo below)!
From a press release:
Inspired by the love of the Hawaiian Islands, Pokeatery founders, Joann and Derek Chung, wanted to bring some of their favorite flavors to the mainland and offer a place where anyone could come and enjoy great poké bowls as a meal whenever they crave it. Pokeatery has taken the Hawaiian flavors of poké and updated them with a modern California twist, offering several delicious varieties made with sashimi-grade Ahi, Albacore, Salmon and more. Their sustainably-sourced, quality seafood menu is complemented with quality produce and ingredients. Pokeatery offers a wide variety of bases, sauces and toppings, allowing customers to create customizable poké bowls in a fast casual atmosphere.
Photo from Pokeatery
Photo from Pokeatery
Lafayette Forge
A new coffee and “spirits” spot called Papa’s Coffee & Spirits is coming to the Lafayette Forge shopping plaza where the Lafayette Art Gallery used to be. According to the California ABC pending permit the owner is the same as Bonehead’s Texas BBQ located next door. Stay tuned…
The Veranda, Concord
San Diego-based Puesto, the “Mexican artisan kitchen & bar” is coming to the Veranda shopping center this summer, right next to the IMAX movie theater. Check out their menu at one of their other locations here.
From their website:
Before Puesto, we had all left San Diego to chase ambitions in other ventures. Though we found individual success in other places, it was tacos that brought us back together and back to California —Chef Luisteen’s tacos, to be exact. His passion for completely re –defining the taco brought us back to our hometown of San Diego to start a family business, the taco stand we’d never even dreamed of. Now we’re tacoteurs and have never looked back.
Danville Livery
Hawaiian Wow Wow Lemonade, which we learned would be coming to Danville Livery in October, is getting closer to oepning with their signage now up. According to a New Year’s post on their Instagram page they “promise to be open soon!”. Learn more about their handcrafted lemonade here.