Restaurants

Last week I wrote about ØL Beercafe & Bottle Shop focusing on beer on Giammona Drive in downtown Walnut Creek, and right around the corner is Residual Sugar Wine Bar on Locust St. This bar opened in May, 2010 and has been getting rave reviews, including winning the 2011 best wine bar award from Diablo Magazine.

The bar is long and narrow with one wall stocked to the brim with wine bottles, as can be seen in this photo.

Residual Sugar features some of the world’s best wines with over 35 available by the glass. Residual Sugar is able to offer this wide selection thanks to its unique 32 Tap Cruvinet System, enabling wines to be opened while maintaining their freshness and flavor.

Additionally, Residual Sugar makes its entire 800+ item wine list available by the glass, provided that the party orders at least two glasses of that wine. This unique aspect of Residual Sugar’s wine program allows customers to have the opportunity to taste a wider selection of wines, many of them limited production. All partial bottles are added to a blackboard behind the bar and sold by the glass.

According to owner Jim Telford the clientele ranges from twenty-somethings to an older Lesher Center crowd and they aim to educate people about wine without pretension. Has anyone been here?

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ØL Beercafe & Bottle Shop is only a few months old, tucked away on Giammona Drive in Walnut Creek, next to Skipolini’s Pizzeria. This place takes their beer very seriously. You can even check out exactly what’s on tap online.

This is just part of their beer selection. “100s of bottles, 18 taps”. Focusing on independent brewers, they offer both domestic and foreign, with a particular focus on Belgium brews. When I inquired about Lambics the bartender showed me at least 5 different types of Lambic.

In addition to beer, they offer cheese plates, and other small dishes. You can even order a Skipolini’s pizza right from your table. The bartender also mentioned if you bring in a bagged lunch from outside they’ll take $1 off a draft. Sounds like a good deal for office workers nearby.

If you’re wondering why Walnut Creek, it turns out one of the owners of the highly regarded Oakland bar The Trappist lives in Walnut Creek. Anyone check this place out yet?

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A year ago there was a Persian restaurant called Bijan at this location, and then 6 months ago C U Sushi opened at 1690 Locust St. (towards Target) in Walnut Creek, in addition to their Berkeley location. This is a Korean owned sushi place. Any fans?

This Walnut Creek location is turning into one hip place. Stay tuned this week for posts highlighting two great bars around each side of C U Sushi, one wine, one bar, that may convince you to check out this side of downtown more often.

Update: Thanks to the commenter for noting that the restaurant Bijan was Persian, not Turkish.

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Previously we reported that Caffe Delle Stelle was becoming Cafe of the Stars. However, after talking to more folks it looks like it’s going to be a Greek restaurant called Opa. The remodel looks like it’s going nicely and the tarp has finally been removed. The restaurant location is 1532 N Main St, next to Prima Ristorante.

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True to its name, Hubcaps, located at 1548 Bonanza St. in downtown Walnut Creek has car-related pictures and memorabilia hugging the walls everywhere. As you can see from the colored pictures hanging as well, it’s a great place to take kids. Whenever I go I have the Polish sausage meal and it’s been delicious every time. At the end I share chocolate ice cream. They always serve it soft, and that half-melting state always makes for a tastier ice cream.

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So I finally made it back to Pinky’s Pizza, the Walnut Creek institution, in the new location at 2085 N. Broadway and boy was it crowded. I wrote about it less than one week ago before it opened and when I tried to get in yesterday there was a line out the door. I guess everybody wants to try it out. The atmosphere is great in there, just like the old place. I ordered the mushroom and sausage mini pizza and liked how crispy it was. I’ll be back that’s for sure. Anyone else have an opinion on Pinky’s?

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Having a weakness for Japanese cuisine caused me to do a double take while strolling through the Walnut Creek farmer’s market yesterday having encountered this bold looking black stall pictured above. Hiroshi’s Catering markets itself as “Local. Organic. Sustainable.”, and with an eclectic menu that included persimmon in one dish I couldn’t pass up the chance to try something. To be honest, I did have a moment of doubt creep into me when I saw it wasn’t run by a Japanese person but I ended up getting the Iwana handroll, fresh Artic Char with persimmon and avacado. To test the overall quality I shared it with a sushi-loving Japanese person and as I devoured it I knew this was a winner but didn’t show any emotion in order to get the Japanese person’s honest opinion. Turns out they loved it as well, so I’ll definitely be back for more next time.

They will also be at the San Ramon farmer’s market at Bishop Ranch on Thursdays from 10 – 2pm. As for the owner/chef, it turns out he’s half-Japanese, not that that matters or anything. 🙂

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