WHEN WILL THE NEW PIER RESTAURANT OPEN?
Oceanside couple to operate eatery in former Ruby’s Diner building
Work has begun on a new restaurant in the vacant building long occupied by Ruby’s Diner at the end of the Oceanside Pier.
The Oceanside City Council recently signed off on a $125,000 reimbursement for work being done by the new tenant, who plans to open a “family-friendly seafood restaurant” with a separate kiosk selling take-out orders.
The kiosk will be operated by Oceanside husband-and-wife restaurateurs Jessica and Davin Waite, the business has announced. The Waites are known for their work at Wrench & Rodent, The Plot, and Shootz Fish & Beer, all in Oceanside.
Each of the Waites’ projects is unique. They are known for their Earth-first, creative and sustainable practices. Their idea for the 109-square-foot kiosk on the pier is to serve lighter versions of classic seaside snacks to go, reminiscent of nostalgic English fish-and-chip shops.
“This project isn’t just for visitors,” Davin Waite said in a news release. “It’s for our Oceanside locals. We want to build community around this unique and special landmark in a way that feels authentic to our hometown.”
The Waites are working with designer and general contractor Chris Slowey of CLTVT, who helped them with Shootz Fish & Beer and The Plot, also with designer and architect Andy McCabe of Tecscape. So far, no plans have been announced for the larger building formerly operated by Ruby’s Diner.
The 1950s-style, burgers-andshakes restaurant went to takeout orders only early in 2020 because of the pandemic and then closed permanently after 25 years on the pier. On Feb. 26, 2021, the city awarded the restaurant and kiosk lease to RAV, LLC, a San Francisco company owned by attorney Alex Leff.
RAV also has the lease for a former Ruby’s restaurant on the Huntington Beach pier. Leff took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony there in July for a new casual seafood restaurant called Bud & Gene’s, the names of the city’s first full-time paid lifeguards hired in 1927.
Oceanside’s 1,942-foot-long tim
ber pier was built in 1987 to replace a previous one destroyed by storms. In most places the pier is 22 feet wide, with platforms on the sides that support a bait shop, lifeguard tower, restrooms and other fixtures. A 10,000square-foot “hammerhead” at the end accommodates the restaurant and kiosk.
Most of the potable water, wastewater, electrical and communications lines on the pier were installed when it was built and need to be replaced after years of exposure to the marine environment. The city approved a $5.6 million contract for the project in September, but the work is just beginning and could last almost a year.
The city’s reimbursement to RAV will be provided in the form of a rental credit for work done on utilities such as gas and sewer lines that would have been covered by the city contract. The tenant agreed to take on some of the utilities work in order to open the restaurant and kiosk sooner.
Leff, reached by telephone, said he preferred to stay behind the scenes and referred questions about the project to his consultant, John Cunin, who’s helped open restaurants in San Francisco, Las Vegas and elsewhere.
No name has been chosen yet for the Oceanside project, Cunin said Tuesday.
“There has been a lot of discussion,” he said. “We are zeroing in on that. We love Oceanside and ... want a name that respects the history, the community, and the environment of fishing and surfing. We are genuinely excited about it.”
So far the tenant has gutted the old restaurant building “down to the studs, cleaned up the plumbing, installed a new roof and gutters,” and is proceeding with the renovation of the kiosk building, the city report states. Plans for the restaurant’s new interior are being finalized.
A restaurant at the end of a long ocean pier can be a special place, Cunin said.
“There’s a certain unpredictability,” he said. “The weather at the end of the pier can be another animal. You don’t want to be hermetically sealed inside, you want the sights and sounds and smells of the ocean. Being able to balance that with the weather represents some challenges.”
When fully open, the restaurant will employ more than 50 people, he said.
The kiosk will open by March of next year and then the full restaurant should open by late summer, he said. The work being done by the tenant includes installing a natural gas line for the kiosk, which Ruby’s used only for storage.
The current term of the lease expires on June 30 with an optional extension through June 30, 2028, which the tenant has asked the city to approve, according to the staff report.
The city awarded a $5.6 million contract in September to Jilk Heavy Construction, Inc. of La Brea to replace all the pier’s utilities. About $4 million is available for the project from the city’s share of American Rescue Plan Act funds, with additional money to come from reserves the city set aside for the work.
A separate contract for construction support and inspection services went to Richard Brady and Associates of San Diego for $553,700. The project also includes a 10 percent contingency fund of $556,000 for potential additional costs.