5 new restaurants coming to Concord
Despite the pandemic, the Bay Area is expecting many new restaurants to open in 2021. In central Contra Costa County, Concord will be home to five new spots of its own, including a brewery and beer garden opening near Todos Santos Plaza. The other four, including a sleek Brazilian steakhouse, are coming to The Veranda. Here’s the list of five.
NICK THE GREEK >> This family-owned South Bay chain is opening its first Contra Costa County spot, bringing its traditional gyros and souvlaki to a casual, takeout-friendly space. Fun fact: The restaurant was born after one of three close-knit cousins — all named Nick — traveled home from a trip to Greece and realized there was nowhere to get quality gyros near home.
Nick the Greek will be opening at The Veranda later this year. 2001-2003 Diamond Blvd., Concord; www.nickthegreeksj.com
SIDE GATE BREWERY & BEER GARDEN >>
This spring, owners Kevin Wilson and Paul Culbertson will unveil this brewery and beer garden near Concord’s Todos Santos Plaza. Look for craft beer brewed on-site in a family-friendly taproom and expansive
outdoor beer garden. The brewery will not offer food other than prepackaged snacks, but it will partner with local restaurants and welcome outside food. 1822 Grant St., Concord; sidegatebrewing.com
TEXAS DE BRAZIL >> Bust out the stretchy pants for this Brazilian steakhouse, which will serve skewers of traditional sizzling beef, lamb, pork, chicken and Brazilian sausage to patrons, who signal readiness by turning their cards to green. Turn your card red and servers will know to skeddadle so you can tuck into chef-crafted salads, roasted vegetables, cheese bread, garlic mashed potatoes and fried bananas. You’ll need a signature caipirinha to wash it all down. Coming to The Veranda, 20012003 Diamond Blvd., Concord; texasdebrazil.com
CRUMBL COOKIES >> This high-concept cookie and ice cream chain is opening its second Bay Area location (the first is in Brentwood) this year in The Veranda. Each week, the menu will rotate to offer four different specialty flavors, like pink velvet, a warm cakebatter cookie topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting and pink velvet cookie crumbs. Not to worry, though, milk chocolate chip and chilled sugar cookie will always be available. They’ll do delivery, too. Coming soon to 20012003 Diamond Blvd., Concord; crumblcookies.com
CREPE LA FONTAINE >> Talent from downtown Walnut Creek’s authentic French bakery, Brioche de Paris, is behind this crêperie, which will specialize in a variety of French crêpes as well as waffles, classic sandwiches, Gateaux Francais, espresso drinks and more.
Coming soon to The Veranda, 2045 Diamond Blvd #14, Concord; www.briochedeparis.com
Guy Fieri’s Flavortown pops up in Campbell, Palo Alto
Guy Fieri, the off-the-hook mayor of Flavortown, has finally launched a national restaurant concept with that name — including two locations in the Bay Area.
But don’t spend time looking for the Flavortown Kitchen signs.
An online search for Fieri’s Bay Area locations shows he’s got one restaurant at 1875 S. Bascom Ave. in Campbell and one at 943 Emerson St. in Palo Alto. But wait, that Bascom address belongs to the Pruneyard, and Emerson Street is a popular restaurant row, and there’s been no word of the Food Network celebrity chef opening new places in these parts.
If Guy isn’t in the Flavortown Kitchen, who is?
Turns out the “Diners, Driveins and Dives” host has partnered with his paesani at the Buca di Beppo restaurants, those makers of hearty Italian familystyle meals, to create his line of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and entrees.
His Flavortowns are restaurants without facades, the socalled ghost kitchens, cloud kitchens or virtual kitchens that have become so popular during this pandemic era of meal delivery and takeout.
The deal with Buca di Beppo extends to 17 other locations in California; the only other Norcal one is at the Roseville Galleria.
Is Flavortown here to stay or just a pop-up concept? That remains to be seen.
Fieri is a longtime owner of brick-and-mortar restaurants, with 14 other brands to his name, including American Kitchen & Bar locations around the world; Pig & Anchor and Burger Joints on cruise ships; and Chicken Guy, which has a game-day-only location at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. He also operated the nowclosed Johnny’s Garlic’s and Tex Wasabi’s restaurants.
New ‘cloud kitchens’ come to East Bay, South Bay
The term “cloud kitchen” makes it sound like a virtual kitchen floating in the sky and dropping food wherever it goes. But the pandemic-era concept is really rather simple: Several restaurants share a large commercial kitchen to crank out their most popular menu items for takeout and delivery.
The advantage is also simple:
Those businesses expand their reach across the Bay Area, and anyone ordering food in Walnut Creek, say, will get it faster and fresher when it’s prepared in Lafayette, as opposed to its brickand-mortar spot in Oakland or San Francisco.
Three new cloud kitchens have opened in the East Bay and South Bay, bringing a combined nine concepts to their respective locations.
Local Kitchens in Lafayette and San Jose is host to five buzzworthy restaurants: Senor Sisig, Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen, Proposition Kitchen, Mixt and Saucy Asian. In the next week or two, the Lafayette kitchen will open with hours from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. for takeout and delivery at 3455 Mt. Diablo Blvd. The San Jose cloud kitchen at 949 Ruff Drive in San Jose will be open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
In an email to the East Bay Times, CEO John Goldsmith of Local Kitchens said that in addition to the Lafayette location, Local Kitchens has more than five other Bay Area locations in development, with plans to expand throughout California in 2021.
Vine Kitchen, an Oakland cloud kitchen unaffiliated with Local Kitchens, opened its doors last week, too, showcasing menus from San Jose restaurants Left Bank Brasserie, LB Steak, Mac’n Cheese Shop and Skewery by Meso.
The Vine Kitchen pickup location, open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., is at 2353 E. 12th St., kitchen #2, in Oakland, with delivery via Ubereats, Postmates, GrubHub and soon Doordash. To order, you can go to any of the restaurants’ websites, such as skewerybymeso.com, and click on the pickup and delivery button, then select your location.