Kurt Annweiler and wife Betty Burri have been Thursday night regulars at Original Joe’s in Daly City for years because he works at nearby San Francisco State. But this Thursday, he and Burri ventured out to the East Bay suburbs via BART for an exciting new Original Joe’s experience.
The legendary Italian-American restaurant, with roots in San Francisco going back to 1937, has opened its newest location in downtown Walnut Creek. And it did so with Original Joe’s fans, like Annweiler and Burri, lining up around the block to get in for the first seating when the restaurant opened its doors at 11 a.m.
A priest’s blessing, a mayoral speech and an old-fashioned ribbon cutting added to the excitement, which is more than the city has seen for quite some time for a restaurant opening, according to city leaders.
“I can’t wait!” said Annweiler, who also frequents the more-famous Original Joe’s location in San Francisco’s North Beach. He loves the house-made lasagna with meat sauce or the restaurant’s grilled pork chop. “The food is great. The people are great.”
The grand opening of Original Joe’s in Walnut Creek, on a prime corner in its premier Broadway Plaza shopping center, provides another reminder that the city remains the nexus of culture, retail and dining in the East Bay suburbs. The city also has become a destination for people all over the Bay Area, largely because of Broadway Plaza, which serves a metropolitan sub-region of more than 2.5 million people.
“I think of Walnut Creek as the epicenter of the East Bay,” said John Duggan, the grandson of Tony Rodin, who opened the first Original Joe’s in the Tenderloin before World War II. “I think people have been coming to Broadway Plaza to shop for years, I think they’ve celebrated many moments here in other restaurants, and this corner was just a big corner that had the bones for our brand.”
Duggan is talking about the corner of Broadway Plaza and South Main Street, which was formerly the site for the popular Stanford’s restaurant. Duggan and his co-owner, sister Elena Duggan, have spent the past several years converting that former eatery into a stylish 9,000-square-foot space fronted by the iconic yellow-gold Original Joe’s sign. The restaurant employs about 175 people.
Original Joe’s in Walnut Creek serves hearty, home-style Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chicken Piccata and other Italian-American comfort food in a bright, bustling space that feels like a chic brasserie, complete with plush seating in the main dining room and bar.
The extensive menu also is packed with contemporary updates on elegant steakhouse classics: Wedge and Caesar salads, Filet Mignon and Wood-Fired Salmon. Among the traditional options are Joe’s Special, a scramble of ground beef, spinach, onion and eggs invented decades ago, and Joe’s Famous Hamburger Sandwich.
Elena Duggan said the specialties developed specifically for Walnut Creek customers include an unusual Bone-In Veal Parmigiana, a creamy pasta dish with pancetta and sun-dried tomatoes called Marry Me Farfalle and an affogato-style Espresso Martini,
A key feature of the Walnut Creek dining room is the counter seating looking onto the kitchen, a hallmark of Original Joe’s restaurants. According to John Duggan, Original Joe’s helped pioneer that concept, going back to the Tenderloin location, which started as a 14-stool counter. “It’s kind of common to see that now in restaurants, but as I always say, the counter is the original communal table,” he said.
While Duggan said that many of their San Francisco customers hail from the East Bay suburbs, he realizes that the Original Joe’s brand may still be unfamiliar to potential new customers in the area. “We plan to (bring in new) customers with one smile, one hamburger at a time, and we look forward to creating great memories,” Duggan said before the ribbon-cutting.
Walnut Creek Mayor Cindy Darling expressed gratitude for the family’s efforts. “We strive very hard to make Walnut Creek a place where everybody can come and safely and happily enjoy living, working, playing and going out to dinner,” she said. “We are so excited that Original Joe’s has decided to make this kind of an investment in Walnut Creek.”