Teriyaki Madness, the newest addition to Redwood City’s lineup of restaurants along Theatre Way, opened recently. I had an opportunity to try it out, and I must say I am pleased. Teriyaki Madness specializes in teriyaki bowls: proteins and/or veggies atop noodles or rice (white, brown, or fried). They have a handful of “appetizers” as well: egg rolls, pot stickers, edamame, and crab wontons. You can order there to eat in or take out, or you can order online for pickup or delivery. I’ve only had occasion to eat there once so far; I tried the Steak Teriyaki bowl on white rice, with steamed vegetables. The steak was nicely cooked, as was the rice, and the steamed veggies — mine had cabbage, broccoli, cucumber, and carrots — seemed fresh. All in all it was a good combination for a fairly reasonable price (I got the regular-sized bowl — which was plenty for lunch — and paid $14.95 plus tax and tip). It was quite busy while I was there, during prime lunch hour, which is a good sign for their future. I do plan to go back: it seems a nice, healthy, quick lunch, which will be perfect for when I’m out exploring the city. Whether one is out walking or driving, it’s easy to get to (note that you can park in the underground theater garage at no cost, as long as you don’t stay beyond 90 minutes). They also deliver, and, if you really like what they are making, they cater as well.

Teriyaki Madness is located near the Winslow Street end of Theatre Way (closer to the Box buildings), next to Timber & Salt. Just look for the bright red awnings: you can’t miss them. They’re open every day from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. (they stay open until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays).

This week I spent some time exploring the life science office/lab building under construction at 200 Twin Dolphin Dr., just across that street from the Grand Bay Hotel. Since my last visit, the building’s framework has gone up rather quickly:

The five-story structure you see in the above picture will ultimately be a glass-enclosed, 202,000-square-foot building accompanied by a free-standing five-level parking garage with some 690 parking spaces (the concrete structure with the wooden forms against the left edge of the picture is part of that parking garage).

So far the structure looks to be very flat-sided, but renderings show that the piece sticking out towards the right side of the picture will ultimately be quite rounded:

Here is what the building currently looks like from Shoreline Drive, the street leading off to the left in the above rendering:

I for one will be curious to see how that curve is formed. Clearly, the bones of this new building are not yet complete.

Looking at the “200 Twin” building, it reminds me, a bit, of a much smaller one (12,000 square feet) being built at the corner of Woodside Road and Massachusetts Avenue:

This project feels like it should be in the running for slowest project ever. The site (there used to be a bank here) was cleared in July of 2021, and by August the foundations were being formed. Now, after more than two years and three months, the building still is not complete. Some of the glass has yet to be installed, and I don’t think that the cement floor on the lower level has been poured (that lower level is almost entirely a parking garage, but thanks to the walls that make this look like a conventional two-story building, it’s hard to see into that garage from the sidewalk). It appears that the interior of the upstairs needs to be finished, and of course the landscaping has yet to be started. I don’t know if a tenant has been identified for this building: perhaps the developer is holding off on the interior build-out until one is, so that it can be customized to suit that new tenant. In any case, the construction fences are still up around the building; I’m not going to stop my clock and call this done at least until those come down.

The 1390 Woodside project may be proceeding slowly, but truthfully I think the winner of “slowest project” has to go to the five duplexes that are now half-built at 112 Vera Ave. That project began in August of 2019, with the demolition of the long-abandoned and rotting duplexes that previously stood here. Since then it has proceeded in fits and starts, with long — on occasion very long — periods of idleness. I have noted no visible progress for just over a year now, but continue to go by on the off chance that work will resume. And this week, work of a sort was indeed going on, although it was a very curious kind of work:

A drilling rig was slowly boring into the earth in front of one of the partially built units. I don’t know if the developer was suddenly told to check for soil contamination, or what. Surely they aren’t drilling for a well: if so, the well head wouldn’t be placed right in front of one of the units like this, would it? In any case, this is a sign that the project, going on more than four years now, isn’t completely dead.

Back to Woodside Road, the renovations on the L-shaped apartment building that extends behind the old drive-thru coffee place is finally done, and the coffee place — which has been closed for a couple of years now, and was being used to stage materials and equipment for the apartment project — seems to have been spruced up:

There are no “for lease” signs up, so I don’t know if the building’s owner is trying to find someone to occupy this little hut, or if they plan to reopen the original coffee place, or what. Whichever it is, it is nice to see the place looking somewhat spiffy again.

Next door to that coffee place is a building that until recently was a mortuary. These days it is a church of some sort (“Inglesia de Dios Vida”) but as part of the large mixed-use (office and retail) project proposed for 1900 Broadway (in downtown Redwood City; the now-empty building where Wells Fargo Bank once operated), that developer aims to clear this Woodside Road site and then construct a five-story, 86-unit affordable housing project. A sign recently appeared on the site with a nice rendering of what that housing project might look like (the entire project has yet to be approved by the city; it may not be, and even if it is the design of this apartment building may change):

While on the subject of Woodside Road, be aware that Caltrans will be repaving it all the way from I-280 to US-101, starting in early 2024. The project will be a bit more than just new asphalt, though: it will include “traffic safety enhancements such as high-visibility crosswalks for pedestrians and bike facilities along Woodside Road.” I don’t have the specifics, but the construction is likely to be disruptive for at least some period of time. So keep an eye out for signs of activity and plan your driving accordingly in the new year.

This week I also checked in on that modular house on Ruby Street in San Carlos (see my post Chasing Houses for the beginning of the story). Modular construction can speed the construction process, but in this case I have to wonder: those modules were installed at the beginning of August, and I had gotten the impression that once the modules had been installed the completion should take another two to four months. However, I may have misunderstood, and that two-to-four-month period was simply to bind the modules into a cohesive whole (which would presumably include connecting up wiring and plumbing and such). Anyway, it’s been just a tad over four months, and here is what the house looks like today:

While it does appear to be a unified whole, and I’m guessing that the roof is on, the exterior finish has yet to be applied, the garage door has not been installed, and it looks like at least some interior work still needs to be done. Certainly, the driveway and any walkways have yet to be installed (much less any landscaping; that would come last). I wonder if the homeowners were expecting to be in their new home by the holidays. I don’t think that’s going to happen…