Original Joe’s is set to reopen again in Walnut Creek on Wednesday, nearly seven weeks after its big, splashy arrival on this city’s dining scene was cut short by a late-night kitchen fire.
A spokesperson for the legendary Italian American restaurant confirmed that it would re-open its Broadway Plaza location on Wednesday, though more details were not available Monday afternoon. A staff person at the restaurant said it had begun taking reservations on a limited basis and would have a “soft opening” on Wednesday.
Just three days after Original Joe’s invited local dignitaries, the news media and longtime loyal customers to its Aug. 14 opening in Walnut Creek, a fire erupted in the restaurant’s kitchen, forcing it to close temporarily. The opening, with a speech by Mayor Cindy Darling, a red ribbon cutting and the blessing of a local priest, was considered to be one of the buzziest, new-restaurant openings in the city’s downtown for quite some time.
It was initially thought that the closure would only last a few days or a week, as the restaurant underwent “facility improvements,” the owners, the Duggan family, said in a statement in August.
It’s not known if the “improvements” had to extend beyond the kitchen. But that temporary closure stretched into weeks, leaving an empty building on a prime corner in the city’s premier Broadway Plaza shopping center.
The fire was reported to the Contra Costa Fire Protection District just after midnight on Aug. 17. The damage it caused wasn’t considered “major,” but it ended a celebratory few days in which the restaurant enjoyed an “incredible” opening weekend, according to the Duggan family. Before the fire, the restaurant’s Instagram account was filled with messages from people talking about trying to score reservations.
“We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of concern and support we have received over the last week from the Walnut Creek community and across the Bay Area,” the statement said. It mentioned that the city of Walnut Creek was doing what it could to help with the reopening.
The Duggan family’s decision to open its newest Original Joe’s location in Walnut Creek was seen as a reminder that the city remains the nexus of culture, retail and dining in the East Bay suburbs, according to the Duggan family and city officials. Original Joe’s, which first opened in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district in the 1930s, currently has other popular locations in San Francisco’s North Beach and in Daly City.
“I think of Walnut Creek as the epicenter of the East Bay,” co-owner John Duggan said at the opening. He is the grandson of the original owner, Tony Rodin.
The new restaurant opened on the corner Broadway Plaza and South Main Street, which was formerly the site of the popular Stanford’s restaurant. Duggan and his co-owner, sister Elena Duggan, 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.
A key feature of the Walnut Creek dining room is the counter seating looking onto the open kitchen, a hallmark of Original Joe’s restaurants. According to John Duggan, Original Joe’s helped pioneer this 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.