A year and a half ago I posted about the Italian restaurant Ottavio in downtown Walnut Creek. Recently I noticed what seems to me as new signage although it may have been up for a while.
A year and a half ago I posted about the Italian restaurant Ottavio in downtown Walnut Creek. Recently I noticed what seems to me as new signage although it may have been up for a while.
Corners Tavern kids burger
I consider the Corners Tavern burger (Walnut Creek) one of my favorite burgers in the East Bay (through the tunnel). So when I found that recently opened Rustic Tavern (Lafayette) was offering a burger I knew I had to try one out to see if it can hold its own against a Corners burger.
The Corners burger comes with fries, pickled onions, lettuce, tomato and aged cheddar while a Rustic burger comes with fries, bacon, grilled onions, pickles, and cheese. The Rustic bun was more brioche-like, fries thicker cut and herb-coated. A Corners burger costs $15 while a Rustic burger goes for $14.
There’s a saying that everything tastes better with bacon so I’m not sure if it’s the bacon but the Rustic burger tasted amazing. Everything worked really well together. I thought I’d miss the lettuce and tomato but the pickles, bacon and onion combined with the high quality ground beef was delicious. I’m so glad there are multiple burger options around here. And pretty soon Lafayette will have yet another burger option as Roam Artisan Burgers plans on opening in October. Yum!
Rustic Tavern half-burger
Rustic Tavern is located at 3576 Mt Diablo Blvd in downtown Lafayette and Corners Tavern is located at 1342 Broadway Plaza, Walnut Creek next to Macy’s.
Last month I noted that Residual Sugar would be expanding next door with a separate pizzeria but now Diablo Dish is reporting that these plans have been canceled due to, “too many building code and fire requirements and regulations for the project to make sense financially”. This is really unfortunate as downtown Walnut Creek needs a nice pizzeria. Downtown Lafayette has Pizza Antica and Patxi’s so why can’t downtown Walnut Creek get a nice pizzeria?
Barlovento Chocolates espresso truffle
The popular chocolatier Barlovento Chocolates is planning on opening a retail location in downtown Walnut Creek according to someone involved in the search I spoke with recently. They currently have a store in Jack London Square in Oakland as well as stands at the Oakland, Marin and Palo Alto farmers’ markets. I tried their truffles at Citra Grill in downtown Walnut Creek which were delicious so I really hope they open in Walnut Creek.
Check out their truffle menu here. Read about their story here. From their website:
Barlovento Chocolates is an artisan chocolatier with a Farmers Market ethic. We apply the “Fresh and Local” creed of our Farmers Market to every truffle we make. We use 100% Venezuelan single source chocolate, so all the cacao beans come from the Carenero region east of Caracas. Venezuela is known world wide to have the finest cacao. We combine the chocolate with fresh cream and butter to make our truffles. Our flavor ingredients include fresh spearmint, fresh tarragon, herbs and spices and fruit. These hand crafted truffles are made in small batches to ensure you receive them at their peak of freshness. Enjoy!
According to a public notice posted at the Japanese restaurant Fujian on Bonanza St. in downtown Walnut Creek, a new restaurant called Kanishka will be opening up at this location.
A couple of weeks ago L & L Hawaiian BBQ closed in the Pleasant Hill shopping center at 60 Crescent Dr. You’ll need to travel to Pleasanton or Martinez for the closest locations of L & L.
Pot, meet kettle. Yesterday Berkleyside reported that the owner of Cream in Berkeley is requesting that the city “revoke the permit for a new ice cream take-out window” located across the street from Cream in Berkeley. According to an appeal filed in February, one of the reasons given is “a second nearby business selling ice cream and cookies would mean market saturation and be detrimental to Cream”.
Cream in Walnut Creek is opening a block away from Lottie’s Creamery and within a short walking distance to Gelateria Naia and San Francisco Creamery.
Corner Bakery Cafe is opening on June 3rd in the former Yan Can Asian Bistro location in the downtown Pleasant Hill shopping center. Check out their menu here. Anyone have favorite dishes to recommend?
From their website:
We started as a little bread bakery, supplying freshly baked bread to happy customers around town. People loved our breads so much, we couldn’t help but evolve into a cafe where we could serve equally remarkable sandwiches. This, of course, led to delightful sweets, savory panini, fresh salads, and hearty bowls of soups and pasta.
The inside is almost ready:
This is a wide shot of the location:
Corner Bakery Cafe is located at 35 Crescent Drive in Pleasant Hill.
Back in February I posted some scuttlebutt about the frozen yogurt shop Pinkberry opening in downtown Walnut Creek right near The Cheesecake Factory. Based on the photo below as well as a UPS notice addressed to ‘Pinkberry’ and it’s obvious this indeed will be a Pinkberry.
Any Pinkberry fans out there? I love Pinkberry and since I also love Greek yogurt I can’t wait to try their new Greek Yogurt selections! I also think this cements this area as being the fast food mecca of Walnut Creek. Ike’s, Bukhorn Grill, Chipotle, Panera, Starbucks and now Pinkberry.
Lottie’s Creamery root beer float
Last month at Lottie’s Creamery grand opening in Walnut Creek I learned that root beer floats were going to be offered and was excited to see how they tasted. It turns out that Cake in Lafayette has decided to get into the ice cream business as well, albeit on a smaller scale and also offers root beer floats with home made organic ice cream. Being the root beer float loving guy I am I had to try them both out.
Both Lottie’s and Cake offer one scoop of home made vanilla ice cream in a glass of root beer. Vanilla beans were visible in both floats, yeah! Lottie’s comes with a massively wide straw to slurp the ice cream through while Cake comes with a spoon. Lottie’s uses bottled Jones root beer while Cake uses Devil’s Canyon root beer on tap. Lottie’s ice cream is hard while Cake uses soft serve ice cream that is chilled so it’s not too soft. (Cake will be offering soft serve ice cream for sale very soon!) Price-wise a Lottie’s float will run you $5.50 and is available in black cherry and orange cream, while a Cake root beer float comes to $4.50.
As for taste, it’s even-steven, they are both incredible!
Cake root beer float