Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek currently has one Starbucks near California Pizza Kitchen, and a new Starbucks will be opening this October inside Macy’s according to signs plastered all over the construction area. Considering that most of the cafes are on the other side this makes sense, although I personally would have preferred a different chain like Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, but I can’t say I”m surprised. Starbucks is everywhere.
Although some of you may never have dined at the French restaurant Le Virage in Walnut Creek, if you have ever driven down N. Main St. to get onto 680N you probably saw the exterior of the now closed restaurant because of the incredible murals painted around the entire building. Unfortunately, they have recently been completely painted over as pointed out by the editor of Diablo Magazine. When I stopped by to check it out, I noticed that one of the windows wasn’t completely boarded up, so of course I crept up and took an ominous look inside the broken glass window frame:
And this is what I saw (picture intact):
Here’s another view:
This would make for a great horror movie:
Scene 1: Group of teens smoking in the parking lot behind Le Virage at night
Teen 1: I can’t believe they painted it over!
Teen 2: Hey, check out the window, it’s not boarded up.Scene 2: Teens go closer to window and look inside
Teen 1: Cool!
Teen 2: I think we can squeeze in there, let’s go in!
Teen 3: I don’t know, looks a little spooky.
Teen 4: Oh, come on! What are you chicken?
Teen 3: No way, let’s do this.Scene 3: Teens squeeze through opening
Teen 1: Whoa, this is incredible!Scene 4: [?]
So how should scene 4 go? Any suggestions?
It’s really too bad that the murals are gone, although I guess the owners wanted to make it easier to sell. I’ll be making another post next week with before photos of the murals.
I hope some of you can make it over to Corners Tavern (next to Macy’s in Walnut Creek) tonight at 7pm where I’ll be parked at the bar in a red shirt. Or mention Beyond the Creek to the host and they’ll point me out. Corners Tavern has a great drink selection and the food is delicious as well so come on over and hang out a bit while getting to know your BtCreek neighbors.
Shish Kabab Show, a mediterranean restaurant which opened last year in the Rheem Shopping Center in Moraga, near Lamorinda Pizza, offers typical mediterranean dishes like falafels, Greek salads, and, not surprisingly, shish kababs. Check out their menu here. In addition to food, they also have a belly dancer entertaining on Saturdays beginning at 6:30pm. So has anyone tried this place? What dishes do you recommend? Is it fun seeing the belly dancing?
From a press release:
ALMOST SOLD OUT!
DIABLO BALLET 2012 GOURMET GALLOP FOOD & WINE WALK THIS THURSDAY
For one night only, you can have a culinary adventure and taste some of the best food and wine in Walnut Creek. This Thursday (August 9th) 6 – 9 PM, Diablo Ballet’s Gourmet Gallop returns to downtown Walnut Creek.This benefit for the Company’s youth outreach program is almost sold-out. For information, visit www.DiabloBallet.org or call 925-943-1775.
You’ll sample and sip your way through 13 downtown Walnut creek locations, who are ready to give your taste buds a treat:
Walnut Creek Yacht Club
Massimo
Sasa
Cypress
Boshporous
Babalous
Silk Road
Peet’s
Pomegranate
Tender Greens
Lettuce
Olde SF Creamery CompanyPlus an exclusive Damian Rae Wine tasting at We Olive
Diablo Ballet’s Gourmet Gallop is a fundraising event for the Company’s acclaimed PEEK Youth Outreach, which brings in-school arts education to over 5,000 students in under-served Contra Costa County elementary schools. See this report from KGO TV on the PEEK program by clicking here.
Diablo Ballet’s Gourmet Gallop takes place Thursday August 9th 6 – 9 PM in downtown Walnut Creek. If there are tickets available the night of the event, you may stop by Massimo Ristorante (1604 Locust Street at Civic Drive) starting at 6 PM.
Citra Grill opened just last week and based on customer feedback they have already lowered prices on many of their menu items.
The left-hand column includes one skewer, and the right-hand column includes two skewers, almost 50% less expensive than the original price:
Soups and salads are less expensive as well:
It’s good to see Citra Grill responding to feedback to improve the new restaurant.
Va de Vi in Walnut Creek is hosting a dinner for the Lindsay Wildlife Museum to raise money for rehabilitation and educational programs on September 9th at 5pm. The dinner reservation is $75 and can be reserved here. From their website:
Mark your calendar for a delightful evening at Va de Vi Bistro & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, recognized for the eighth year running as a Top 100 Bay Area Restaurant by the San Francisco Chronicle. Proceeds will help fund the rehabilitation and education programs at the museum. Nan and John Walz and the partners of Va de Vi look forward to seeing you there.
Back in May I noted that Loot Antiques was closing in Lafayette, and also mentioned that a cupcake chain would be possibly moving in. Well, this has now been confirmed thanks to an email from a reader. SusieCakes will be opening up shop sometime in the Fall at the old Loot Antiques store at 3598 Mt. Diablo Blvd, next to Pizza Antica in Lafayette.
SusieCakes started out in Southern California and currently has 3 Northern California locations, one in Marin, one in San Francisco, and one in Menlo Park, so an East Bay location seems well thought-out. It will not be a franchise, but rather owned directly by SusieCakes.
From their website:
SusieCakes is an all-American bakery offering home-style dessert favorites baked entirely from scratch. Our classic treats are made daily by in-house bakers, using the freshest & finest ingredients. Come visit us for delicious, sentimental sweets and a friendly, old-fashioned neighborhood experience.
This interview with SusieCakes founder Susan Sarich by Forbes has quite a bit of information about the founder as well as the bakery. It looks like they will offer plenty of custom cakes for all kinds of celebrations, baked on-site with natural ingredients.
Although I’m not a big cake eater, I look forward to checking out SusieCakes to try a cookie every now and then. Yum!
Back in May I noted that Tangelo Frozen Yogurt was ‘coming soon’ to the Rheem Shopping Center in Moraga, and if everything goes as planned it looks like it’ll be opening up this Saturday, August 4th. Check out their Facebook page here which has photos of the progress inside. When I took a peek yesterday they were trying the frozen yogurt in the back of the store (if you look closely you can see them in the above photo). Walnut Creek has plenty of frozen yogurt options inlcuding Coco Swirl, Blush and Yogurtland in Walnut Creek, but this will be the only frozen yogurt shop in Moraga. Tangelo Frozen Yogurt is located at 384 Park St. next to Lamorinda Pizza in Moraga.
Back in July I noted about a new ice cream store opening at the former Erawan Thai location on N. Main St. in downtown Walnut Creek, and now there is a sign up with the name, Lottie’s Creamery. You can check their Facebook page here.
I received an email from co-owner Deb Phillips who wrote:
We will be making super-premium ice cream from organic straus dairy – like Ici. However, our product will be unique among the artisan ice creameries in the Bay Area because we will be pasteurizing our own ice cream base entirely from scratch, rather than buying a pre-made mix as they do at the other artisan shops in the area (Tara’s, Ici, Bi-Rite, etc.) This will allow me an incredible amount of flexibility when designing my flavors.
We will focus on making amazing mostly-traditional flavors with high quality ingredients.
Check out the pasteurizer:
Photo courtesy of Lottie’s Creamery
Diablo Dish notes that Phillips worked at Ici in Berkeley for a couple of years. Ici makes some of the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten, and others would agree as they always have lines out the door waiting to try one of their creative flavors. You can check out today’s flavors here. If Lottie’s turns out to be as good as Ici that would be awesome! I can’t wait to try this place out.