As jobs and residents continue to pour into Concord, new restaurants are following.
Several restaurants are slated to open downtown, filling up the site known as Salvio Pacheco Square that borders Todos Santos Plaza.
First up on Salvio Street will be Lima, an upscale Peruvian spot scheduled to open next month, followed by three other eateries this fall within the square, including modern Asian-fusion restaurant Fusion Bistro, poke bowl shop Poke Salad, and T4 boba tea shop.
Those will follow several recent openings, including Yanni’s Gyros and Burgers on Concord Avenue and Canasta Kitchen, a brick-and-mortar incarnation of a popular local food truck favorite from Ivan Tellez and Carlos Rivas on Mt. Diablo Street.
“We’ve definitely seen a surge of new restaurants wanting to come to Concord,” said John Montagh, the city’s economic development manager.
The access to both daytime and nighttime customers is attractive to restaurateurs, he said.
“Concord is the job center of Contra Costa County, and office space is being leased up, adding lunch and dinner demand,” he said. “Those are kind of fundamental things that make restaurants choose Concord over other destinations.”
Elizabeth Marquez, the restaurateur opening Lima, called the location on Todos Santos Plaza “prime.”
“We think Concord is an up-and-coming area,” she said of her decision to sign a lease there. She owns an existing restaurant, Artisan Bistro, in Lafayette. “There is lots of new construction in Concord, and lots of new, exciting things.”
Lima will be a full-service restaurant and bar at 2151 Salvio St. Marquez’s son John, who will be the chef at the restaurant, trained with notable Peruvian chef Gastón Acurio and worked as a chef in such restaurants as Picasso at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, The French Laundry in Yountville, Per Se in New York and Fringale in San Francisco.
It’s an example of the destination restaurants that Concord could attract more of.
“There are new opportunities that have presented themselves, combined with new concepts that have been searching for Bay Area locations that are different, maybe, from what we would have seen (in Concord) seven years ago,” said Rhonda Diaz Caldewey, managing director of real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. “With more traffic congestion, the rise of housing and spread of folks out to other areas of the Bay Area, areas like Concord benefit.”
Concord is centrally located in Contra Costa County and offers two BART stations, including one about three blocks from its downtown restaurant hub. That makes it an appealing alternative for those pushed out of pricey places like San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Walnut Creek, Diaz Caldewey said. Downtown rents in Concord can be about half the cost of those in downtown Walnut Creek.
Throughout the country, she explained, food and beverage spots have become anchors for retail and activity. Roughly 60 to 70 percent of the retail transactions handled by Cushman & Wakefield are in the food and beverage category. So, eateries follow the growing population of residents and workers in Concord.
According to U.S. Census data, Concord’s population increased by about 5.4 percent from 2010 to 2015 (to roughly 129,000 people). From 2012 to 2016, it saw a 7.1 percent increase in jobs.
The growth of the city’s population is part of what prompted Voula Gougousis Garofalidis to open Yanni’s in the downtown area. Having opened her original Yanni’s Greek Cafe in Martinez in 2008, Gougousis Garofalidis said she’s been eyeing the Concord spot for a while.
She opened the eatery, which serves a variety of gyros, burgers, skewers and other Greek items, at the end of July. So far, she said, it has been busy.
While opening and operating a restaurant in the Bay Area is an expensive venture, Concord is “still pretty affordable,” especially compared to other cities, she said. She recently closed a Yanni’s location in Danville.
Some are questioning whether the new openings are an example of an actual restaurant boom or just the latest turnover of restaurateurs. Indeed, Yanni’s location at 1960 Concord Ave. has been home to several unsuccessful retailers in the last five years. But Diaz Caldewey said the city’s efforts to attract restaurants, combined with market forces, could help Concord solidify its place as a dining destination.
As CenterCal Properties prepares to build a 375,000-square-foot shopping center on the former Chevron campus on Diamond Boulevard, it will pursue “chef-driven” restaurants, Concord’s Montagh said.
That could be a welcome addition for those who want more unique dining offerings in the city. Concord resident Daryl Bergman said she recently renovated her kitchen and was forced to eat out for several months, and found limited options in her hometown. While new openings could change that, she said she’d like to see more restaurants go into places outside of the downtown.
“The rest of the city is starved for good restaurants,” she said.
The activity on Diamond Boulevard could change that. In addition to the CenterCal development, which will offer a mix of retail and restaurants, the Willows has the popular Eureka and Lazy Dog, and will soon be home to the first East Bay location of popular Sacramento-area eatery, Dos Coyotes.
Founder Bobby Coyote said a developer first stirred his interest in Concord, and he was encouraged by the restaurant activity going on in the area. The new Dos Coyotes, which will be the first of his restaurants to have a full bar, could be serving margaritas by the end of August.
“We’re excited to open,” he said.
Contact Annie Sciacca at 925-943-8073. Follow her at Twitter.com/AnnieSciacca.
