Bay Area diners said farewell to a lot of beloved restaurants in 2021.
The ones we pay tribute to here had been favorites for generations. Some chefs and owners decided to retire; others couldn’t weather the costs of doing business in this pandemic era or lost their leases to redevelopment plans. Some may have simply cashed out.
Here, in order of longevity, were 10 restaurants in business for 30 years or more that shut their doors. Let us know if we missed one of your favorites.
ORIGINAL U.S. RESTAURANT, about 125 years: This historic and homey Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood has seen a succession of addresses and owners over the past century-plus, though details about who owned the restaurant and when may be lost to history. One thing’s certain: The U.S. in the name doesn’t stand for United States. It’s short for Unione Sportiva — a reference to the Italian-American athletic clubs the restaurant fed back in the 1890s, the website says. According to the SF Chronicle, co-owner Alberto Cipollina chalked up the closure to retirement (he’s 77) and pandemic hiring woes.
PATTY’S INN, 88 years: Patty’s was known variously over the decades as a working-class bar, a classic dive and a hangout for San Jose Sharks fans, but we figure enough patrons enjoyed “liquid lunches” here to count in the restaurant list. Plus, owner Ken Solis served corned beef every St. Patrick’s Day. The bar opened in 1933 at the end of Prohibition. As columnist Sal Pizarro wrote, “The 1890 building survived the Loma Prieta earthquake, a 1993 fire and the construction of the Shark Tank just a few blocks away, but Google’s plans to develop the area for its Downtown West campus proved to be too much.”
ANN’S COFFEE SHOP, 75 years: Since 1946, Ann’s Coffee Shop on Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park had been serving up fluffy pancakes, homemade pies and hot coffee to everyone from GIs returning from the war, to the new suburbanites of the ’50s and ’60s, to Peninsula CEOs, according to our reporter Aldo Toledo’s account. Customer Al Peters called Ann’s “a good American-style restaurant that doesn’t exist in Silicon Valley anymore.” The pandemic lockdowns and upcoming development plans put an end to owner Nicki Poulos’ desire to see the diner make it to 100.
LONGHORN CHARCOAL PIT, 61 years: Sunnyvale’s Longhorn Charcoal Pit served its last steak sandwich in October, with development plans on the horizon for the Fremont Corners Center at Fremont Avenue and Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein made a point of eating at the Longhorn during his pandemic campaign to support local businesses. He reviewed more than 100 restaurants. “This is a classic diner experience from the past, with wagon wheel chandeliers, Western paraphernalia, and John Wayne photos on the wall,” he wrote in his account.
BLACK OAK, 51 years: For many families, a drive between the Bay Area and Sacramento/Tahoe over the decades often meant a stop at one of the three legendary road-trip restaurants with gift shops off Interstate 80 in Vacaville — the Nut Tree, the Coffee Tree or the Black Oak. The last survivor of the trio served takeout meals and offered outdoor dining during the pandemic, but the owners announced the closing in February. Hundreds of heartbroken fans took to social media to lament the loss — not just of the restaurant but of another piece of local history. “Devastated!” wrote Heather Rogers. “Vacaville will not be the same!!”
MILLIE’S KITCHEN, 46 years: In mid-December, Millie’s Kitchen owner Eva Clement announced she was retiring and closing this homey Lafayette breakfast institution known for crumble-topped coffee cake and Santa Fe scrambles. “Over the decades, Millie’s was known as an iconic community spot for breakfast or brunch, a place where cops hung out, kids could buy a Tootsie pop for a dime and maybe even spot one of their favorite Oakland A’s ballplayers,” our reporter Jessica Yadegaran wrote.
BAJA CACTUS, 36 years: With the building sold and no option to renew the lease, Anna and Tony Peña in March tearfully closed their Milpitas restaurant — a Main Street mainstay for Baja-style Mexican food. This had been a family operation since 1985, when founders Jose and Edelmira Bañuelos opened with recipes for enmoladas, chile verde and seafood from their native Ensenada before moving to SoCal to open another restaurant and leaving Baja Cactus in the hands of the second generation. Mercury News restaurant reviewer Sheila Himmel called the restaurant “the 84-seat pride of Milpitas.”
OLIVETO, 35 years: Bob and Maggie Klein’s Oakland shrine to seasonal California cuisine has been destination dining for Northern Californians for so long that it’s hard to imagine the iconic Rockridge corner without Oliveto. Over the years, they and their top-tier chefs — among them, Paul Canales, Michael Tusk and Paul Bertolli — embraced whole-animal husbandry, hosted white truffle dinners, celebrated heirloom tomatoes, showcased sustainable seafood, made pasta by hand and paved the way for a new generation of Cal-Italian standouts. In retirement, Bob Klein will devote himself to Community Grains, the heritage wheat and whole-grain flour company he founded to support California farmers.
RINGER HUT, 31 years: This Japanese chain caused quite a sensation when it brought its fast-food bowls to San Jose in January 1990, according to a Mercury News article subtitled “Look out McDonald’s, you’re about to be whiplashed by udon noodles.” Crowds flocked to Saratoga Avenue to try the Nagasaki champon, described as a soothing mix of udon noodles tossed with squid, shrimp, fish cake, beef, cabbage, corn and bean sprouts in a pork broth. Decades later, customers raved that this was still the best version of champon in the Bay Area. The good news: San Francisco’s popular Udon Mugizo is now serving bowls of noodles in this space.
SHIKI JAPANESE, 30-plus years: This mom-and-pop restaurant in South San Jose was beloved for both its food and service. Every customer had a favorite — maybe the calamari or the katsu or the teriyaki-tempura combo. The matriarch died this year, prompting this announcement on the door: “We unfortunately have to permanently close due to a family emergency. Thank you for all of your support throughout the years. — Shiki.” Customers have posted their condolences and notes of appreciation, along with their best-dish memories, on Yelp and Reddit.
CLOSING IN JANUARY:
NORDIC HOUSE, 59 years: Since 1962, Nordic House — whether in Oakland or at the current Berkeley location — has been a destination shop for Scandinavians in search of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian culinary specialties from smoked fish to salted licorice. You’ve got just days left to stock up on imported and house-made goodies, as owner Pam Klausen will shut down sometime in January. “Unfortunately, our import laws are just too strict, which makes it impossible for a small store like ours to survive,” Klausen told Berkeleyside.
INDIA JOZE, 50 years: Chef-owner Jozseph Schultz, a Santa Cruz legend, will call it a career and close his eclectic Asian- and Middle Eastern-inspired eatery after a farewell party Jan. 8. The restaurant site — his fifth in five decades — is destined for redevelopment. “I’ll be teaching classes at home and be doing small-scale catering events, but I have no plans to open another restaurant. Fifty years is enough. I have been in business for five-zero years, since 1972,” he told our sister paper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Look, however, for his legacy of community service to continue.
AND THE JOYOUS REVIVALS:
EL CHARRO, 73 years the first time: Generations of East Bay residents who celebrated anniversaries and birthdays with chiles relleno and that famous garlicky Charro dip at this Lafayette landmark can do so again. Restaurateur Benjamin Seabury bought El Charro out of bankruptcy and has relaunched it in Walnut Creek with a lightened-up menu of favorites plus new recipes, familiar memorabilia and tributes to California’s first Mexican-American restaurants. The massive burritos and combo plates will rejoin the lineup soon.
SPECIALTY’S, 30 years the first time: Nine months after the Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery chain shut down, the brand was resurrected early in 2021 — by the founders. Craig and Dawn Saxton, who launched the cafe in 1987 in San Francisco with Dawn’s recipes and expanded widely, then sold the chain in 2017, bought the business out of bankruptcy. They’ve started again with one of the former locations, on Ellis Street in Mountain View, along with recipes old and new (think Smoked Ham with Fennel-Apple-Onion Chutney). And yes, the cookies are back.
Source: www.mercurynews.com