The Redwood City dining scene was a “little spotty” when Donato Scotti opened his Donato Enoteca on Middlefield Road in 2009.
It was hard to draw new customers. People didn’t stay out late to eat or drink. There wasn’t sufficient infrastructure — the mix of retail, residential, office space, community events and the like that restaurants rely on for business — to support a more vibrant dining scene, Scotti said. An uninviting nickname took hold: “Deadwood City.”
In the last decade, that has changed dramatically.
New apartment buildings, high-profile companies and a flurry of startups have flooded Redwood City, fueling a growing restaurant scene. More employees stay after work to eat and drink — Scotti said he often sees young people out when he gets off at midnight, a scene that hadn’t existed before — and others are choosing to move there. Restaurants, including Donato Enoteca, have extended their hours, according to Amy Buckmaster, CEO of the Redwood City Chamber of Commerce. The city launched a restaurant week in 2015, during which participating restaurants offer special prix-fixe menus.
“The days of ‘Deadwood City’ are over!” exclaimed a Facebook post announcing the restaurant week.
Buckmaster said there’s been a “progressive flow” of new restaurants opening in the last five years, which she also attributed to the arrival of major companies, including cloud-computing company Box, consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and others. Stanford University is building a satellite campus there. (In a sign of the times, electric car company Tesla recently submitted plans to the city to build a showroom and service center on Veterans Boulevard.)
At least six restaurants opened in the downtown area in the first five months of 2018, with more set to open in the coming months. The new eateries represent a wide range of cuisines, from Mediterranean to fast-casual Korean to plant-based dining. Redwood City’s dining scene is anything but homogenous. In a single block on Broadway Street, diners can choose from Mexican, Korean, Russian, American or Vietnamese restaurants.
Read on for more about the restaurants that have opened this year.
The Bap: Almost every cuisine has been adapted to Chipotle’s fast-casual, build-your-own model. In Redwood City, customers can now create their own Korean bibimbap bowl at The Bap, which opened this month at 2090 Broadway. At the modest, fast-casual eatery, choose your base (brown or white rice or a salad mix) then add vegetables (from pickled cucumber and sprouts to roasted seaweed, kimchi and burdock root), proteins (bulgogi beef, pork, chicken or tofu) and sauces (gochujang or a house soy sauce). Or, opt for a wrap version with your choice of protein, brown rice, kimchi, pickled radish, cabbage, diced onion and cilantro. The Bap also serves fried chicken, plates of Korean short ribs and bulgogi and daily specials including salmon dup bap — grilled salmon over rice with fish roe — and japchae glass noodles, stir-fried with vegetables.
The Courthouse 2021: The Courthouse 2021, described on its website as an “American farm-fresh restaurant” opened at 2021 Broadway in April. Co-owners Fadi Hanani and Mark Khoury took over the space after Mediterranean restaurant Mandaloun recently closed. The menu is wide-ranging, with an entire section devoted to dishes made in a wood-burning oven. Entrees are split into “hoof,” “sky” and “sea” sections with mesquite-grilled steaks, wood-roasted whole fish and roasted Cornish game hen, among other dishes. At the highest end of the menu is a 32-ounce, bone-in prime ribeye that has been wet aged for 35 days. It’s served with a bourbon-bone marrow reduction and truffle oil for $65. Cocktails play up the restaurant’s proximity to the Redwood City courthouse with names such as “Hung Jury Manhattan” and “Moot Point Margarita.”
Dhaba Xpress: Nazreen Mohd Ayub, who’s from Singapore, and Dolly Khatri, a native of India, are running the kitchen at the newly opened Dhaba Xpress. Mohd Ayub is in charge of biryanis and meat dishes, while Khatri oversees vegetarian dishes and dessert. They opened the casual Indian restaurant at 312 Arguello St. in mid-April. Dhaba Xpress primarily does takeout and is currently open for lunch only, though customers can pick up dinner orders. Diners can build their own combination meals from vegetarian or non-vegetarian entrees such as goat curry, shrimp masala or shaahi paneer, with sides of rice, roti, raita and salad. The menu changes daily.
Pasha Mediterranean: Pasha brought Mediterranean food and a lively hookah scene to downtown Redwood City when it opened at 837 Jefferson Ave. in early 2018. Owner Serkan Bikim also owns Hummus Mediterranean in San Mateo. The vast menu has Mediterranean staples (gyros, kebabs, kofte and the like) as well as a hamburger, pasta and pizzas. The restaurant hosts live music, DJs, belly dancers and other events, making good use of its large outdoor patio.
Orenchi Ramen: In a coup for the local ramen-obsessed, South Bay ramen darling Orenchi opened at 2432 Broadway in February. The restaurant, which got its start in Santa Clara in 2010, is known for its tonkotsu ramen and long lines. This year’s Michelin guide said the wait is well worth it for the “rich and utterly delicious bowl of tonkotsu ramen full of chewy noodles, roasted pork, and scallions.” There’s also a soy sauce ramen, salt ramen and a limited supply of tsukemen, or dipping noodles. Orenchi Redwood City’s menu is largely the same as the original Santa Clara restaurant, with slightly different appetizers and beer.
West Park Farm and Sea: A trio of local restaurateurs who originally hail from Turkey teamed up to open West Park Farm and Sea at 855 Middlefield Road in April. Chef Mehmet Ali Ozturg learned to cook from his father in Turkey but worked in a range of cuisines after moving to the United States 15 years ago. Cem Bulutoglu owns a Mediterranean restaurant in San Francisco and Onur Alkanoglu runs West Park Bistro, an American restaurant in San Carlos. Bulutoglu described West Park Farm and Sea as “casual California cuisine, healthy, organic (and) plant-based” with vegan and gluten-free options. The menu includes salads, wraps and rice bowls. There are also small plates, like Japanese eggplant with tahini-yogurt sauce and a bowl of bright-pink beet hummus served with sheets of lavash bread. The restaurant uses Mary’s Organic Chicken, grass-fed beef and wild seafood, Bulutoglu said. There’s also beer and wine.
Why did the group decide to open a new venture in Redwood City?
“We see the potential here in Redwood City,” Bulutoglu said.
Ok, but still the downtown needs more clothing / fashion stores, an apple store, more entertainment, a big nightclub playing music for a diverse community / more outdoor events and festivals / more big chains of restaurants / more stuff for kids and young people / easy transit stops in the downtown / a streetcar line / mini markets like the ones in El Camino / a small central park etc. I hope one day the downtown of Redwood City will see as the one in Palo Alto / San Mateo / Berkeley, it still needs more addings and a little of patience to get there.
Question: how is Redwood City preserving their retail space and keeping rents low enough for these retail businesses to survive? Palo Alto needs to learn how to do this.
I recently had lunch with a friend at Orenchi another newish restaurant in the downtown area. Ramen was great but the parking was awful. Drove around for 15 minutes trying to find an open parking space close to the restaurant so I didn’t have a long walk. Finally gave up and used my handicap parking card and parked in one of those spaces on the other side of the railroad crossing. As Redwood City grows they better start looking at parking structures convenient to the growing downtown area.
Fantastic! We always need good restaurants.
A night club/live music scene would be nice.
There is enough retail around: Stanford Shopping Center, Town & Country, Hillsdale, Westfield (Valley Fair). Only big name chain stores can make it in a downtown, like Palo Alto has: Vans, Apple, Lululemon.
In response to “resident”, RWC is NOT keeping rents low enough for retail to survive. A number of smaller businesses I know and love are beginning to look elsewhere, as new construction and franchise spaces with more capital are driving rents sky-high. I love seeing the new restaurants come in, but not at the expense of some of my favorite tea shops and salons!
@egsnjamb, hah! Fortunately they’ve got almost everything you mentioned except the big chain restaurants.
They’ve done wonders for their downtown. You can hear live music at the Little Fox every night, attend concerts at The Fox, enjoy dinner and a concert at Angelica’s Bistro, step outside The Fox and join a few thousand folks enjoying Movie Night on the square which hosted 5,000 people for the Women’s March Rally with Joan Baez et al.
They’ve got the movie theater, pubs, a few good Thai places, a wonderful Pho place, quite few good Italian places, seafood places. decent parking, etc. etc. Lots of neat older buildings, including some used as restaurants and art galleries and boutiques.
It’s not an office park and the big companies like Box are mostly on the outskirts, not downtown. It’s got character.
@Allie, that’s upsetting. I’m seeing/hearing the same thing in Menlo Park.
@ Online Name – Box is between M’field & Jefferson, 1 block from Broadway. This IS downtown.
@JoanneB – There are hundreds of parking spaces in garages under the M’field/Jefferson/Broadway block, muni garage on Broadway betw.. Main-Jefferson, Box bldg after 5 pm, & Muni lots @ Winslow & M’field + 2 lots on M’fled betw. Jefferson & Main, another on between Broadway & Brewster. Hard to believe you couldn’t find parking.
Allie’s concern is real.. Redwood City is restaurants & offices, loads of coffee chains, with a handful of salons, 2 jewelry stores & a couple of mishmash boutiques. People like to shop & eat. A 30+ minute trip to Stanford Shopping Center (El Camino gridlock @ most hours) doesn’t fill the town’s retail needs. Since Pamplemousse closed, there is no bakery. Rents are too high. The “galleries” aren’t top notch & downtown apartment rents approach $3500 mo for 1 BR.
Street fairs-events? Average 1 per week, 2. + in summer, many Latino culture based. Frequent use is made of the Courthouse Square with concerts & outdoor movies. Not sure how many more you want.
@Chip, I know where Box is and it’s separated from downtown by parking lots and a major street; it doesn’t feel like it’s in the midst of everything. I’d hate Allie’s concern realized and for the “mishmash” and quirky boutiques, less than “top-notch” “galleries” and antique stores disappear due to high rents.
@ Online Name –
We definitely have very different ideas about what “separation” is. I walk out of the Box garage, use the crosswalk in front of me, & continue in a straight line along the 800 block of Middlefield (restricted traffic) which has Portobello Grill, Timber & Salt, Arya, La Tartine, Chipotle, then Quinto Sol, & Cinemax Theaters, at the corner of Middlefield & Broadway.
To me, that’s downtown, but obviously your route is different. I’ve crossed one street. I don’t go past any parking lots.
The antique stores on Main closed long ago but the window displays are still there. I’d like more retail, hopefully of higher quality. A good stationery store, for example? The clothing store near by La Tartine is tiny & has cheap stuff. I’d like to see shops with nice accessories or a Footwear Etc, which has the kinds of shoes most of the downtown employees & residents wear.
Of course, if I made a right turn after crossing the street in front of Box, at the end of that block is Cost Plus World Market with quite an array of goods.
Chip, you’re right about different routes. I was thinking Winslow and Broadway.
Thanks for the head’s up that the antique stored are closed but the displays are still there. Too bad. Yes, more retail’s always good.
Someone is asking for more festivals and downtown events? I’d say RWC has that in spades compared to neighboring cities – there’s movies, music every weekend in the summer. That’s one thing I love about RWC that I don’t see other places. A very central downtown space to gather and I’d say the events planning groups use it well.
I just took a survey about creating a park green space downtown so I think that’s coming – fingers crossed. I’d love to see some of my favorites expand to RWC – I think they’d do well here. Asian Box, Oren’s Hummus to name a few.