For anyone who has wondered about the somewhat erratic nature of my posts of late, I’ve been traveling, and thus haven’t been around to do the walking research I need to construct a meaningful post (about Redwood City, at least). Summer isn’t over, and I still have another trip or two on the books, so don’t be surprised if I miss another post or two here and there. But to the degree that I can, my intention is still to publish something every Friday afternoon or so. Oh, and for those of you who didn’t notice or simply don’t care about having a post to read every single week, you can ignore everything I just said…

Upon my return Sunday night, as my wife and I got off of Highway 101 and drove up Whipple Avenue heading west, we got to the tracks and were startled by this place:

It isn’t too bad during the day, but drive by at night sometime: the flame logo and red lettering is brightly lit, and facing it from across the tracks you can’t help but stare straight at the place. As you can see, even during the day the windows are made more prominent by the white lights that outline them. At night, those windows just add to the almost Vegas-like vibe that the place gives off. But I have to give them credit: Flames Smoke Shop wants you to know that they are there, and their signage and lighting certainly does the trick. Oh, and they are open for business.

For many years this place was a liquor store (Village Bottle Shop), but as I understand it the owners of the building wanted to go in a different direction, so in January of 2017 the liquor store lost his lease and had to close. The building was then cleaned up and turned into a small office building intended for tech startups. it did have a tenant or two, I believe: for one thing, I’m pretty sure that when Starship was testing its rolling delivery robots on the streets and sidewalks of Redwood City, this building was where the robots were stored and worked on. But for long periods of time — most of the time since the Village Bottle Shop closed up, I believe — this building has sat empty. Thus, I’m only somewhat surprised that this building is back to being a retail store. Not being a smoker, personally I’d prefer to have seen something like the Village Bottle Shop move back in, but whatever.

As soon as I could upon my return I took a very long walk (11 miles, as it turned out) to check on a number of projects and businesses that were in the works before I left. I was very pleased to see progress on a number of fronts. Some, like ELCO Yards, are such big projects that there wasn’t much progress visible from the outside — but judging by the number of workers I saw on all parts of the enormous project site, its clear that a lot did get done. Then again, Redwood City’s other really big project, Broadway Plaza, made a lot of progress that is very visible from sidewalk level:

One small project that has wrapped up is the one just down the street from Flames Smoke Shop: Redwood City’s fifth(!) cannabis retailer completed the remodel of their building and has opened its doors:

Flor is the name of this new venture, and like most (all?) of Redwood City’s other cannabis storefronts, it sells a variety of cannabis products. Again, this is something I personally have no use for. Thus, I can’t tell you much about it that their website doesn’t already do. But if products of this type interest you, by all means pay Flor a visit: you’ll find them at 620 El Camino Real.

Since I’m on the subject, seeing Flor open their Redwood City storefront got me to thinking about the one remaining cannabis retailer who was granted a license to operate (number six!) by Redwood City but has yet to open. I’ve kept an eye on their proposed site for some time, but until now had not noticed any indication that they were actually going to go ahead and replace the small liquor store/deli that has been operating where they intended to go. Since I was passing that way anyway — my walk not only took me over to the waterfront but all through downtown, down Broadway, and up Woodside Road to Woodside Plaza — I checked it once again, and this time I saw that the business has taken the first concrete steps towards opening. To make sure, I double-checked for a building permit, and although one has not yet been issued, it has been applied for. So for those of you who enjoy cannabis products and live on or near Woodside Road, at sometime in the relatively near future you’ll apparently be able to shop right at the corner of Woodside Road and Central Avenue (think Hudson Street, for those who don’t know where Central Avenue is), in this storefront:

The Gold Star Market, which formerly operated in this space, is no more; the interior has largely been demolished, and now the owners are presumably just waiting for the building permit to be issued.

Enough cannabis talk. On to the never-ending restaurant news! Across Woodside Road and down a bit, at 756 Woodside Rd., a former Pho restaurant in a small strip center on the north side of the street is apparently going to become a restaurant serving Filipino cuisine:

Over on the south side of the street, the new McDonald’s store that is replacing the one that burned some time ago is finally well underway:

You’ll find it at 709 Woodside Rd., at the corner of Woodside Road and Nueva Avenue.

At 980 Woodside Rd., Bravo Taqueria should soon reopen in their previous location (but in a drastically remodeled building):

Its sister building just across the parking lot has also undergone the same remodeling treatment, but that building’s former tenant — 5th Quarter Pizza — will not be making a reappearance. Currently there is a “For Lease” sign on the much-improved building:

Heading downtown, Dasbierhauz — the new “authentic German beer garden” that has replaced Café La Tartine on Theatre Way (Middlefield Road) is, contrary to what their website says, very much open for business:

They opened last Monday, August 5. I have yet to try them out, but I plan to, soon.

Across the way, Limón, Redwood City’s newest Peruvian restaurant, isn’t open yet, but based on what I can see from peeking inside, should be almost any day now.

On the far opposite corner of the same building housing Limón, at the corner of Broadway and Jefferson Avenue, Ocean Oyster Bar & Grill finally — finally! — has an opening date (September 30 at 5 p.m., if my math and the countdown clock on their website are correct). On my walk I was delighted to note that all but one of the boarded-up windows along Broadway have finally been replaced with proper windows. Or, perhaps I should say, doors: as you might expect these appear to be glass doors that enable much of the Broadway side of the former Old Spaghetti Factory space to be opened to the outdoors:

Not far away, I was a bit surprised to see that Yokohama Sushi, on Broadway, has closed its doors. But a new owner will soon be taking over the space, and opening a restaurant called “Bao” (no prizes for guessing what they’ll be serving…):

Redwood City’s Bao is apparently a second location for an existing restaurant on Valencia Street in San Francisco. See their menu and learn more about what we’ll be getting in Redwood City here.

Heading down Broadway beyond Main Street, Ahisushi Hibachi has apparently changed owners and will (or perhaps already has) change its format slightly. The new restaurant will be named Ahi Sushi & Steakhouse:

Although I admit to missing it on my walk — I seem to have skipped the relevant portion of Main Street this week somehow — from an email from the city I learned that Redwood City has an intriguing new dessert place: Cravingz, at 826 Main St. Because I have yet to pay it a visit in person, for now I’ll direct you to its website. But know that this “small family owned business” serves ice cream in various forms (cones, sundaes, shakes, and such) plus ice cream sandwiches using either cookies or doughnuts. And that it obtains items from four small Bay Area businesses: Loard’s Ice Cream (dairy ice cream), Milk & Sugar Creamery (non-dairy ice cream), Oomymycookies (cookies), and Chuck’s Donuts (doughnuts). I just know I’m not going to be able to resist this one…

Out in Redwood Shores (no, I didn’t walk out there this week; I was driving through there as part of my regular Meals on Wheels route) I discovered that there is a relatively new Ghost Kitchen in the same building as the Bay Club, on Redwood Shores Parkway just past Twin Dolphin Drive:

Local Kitchens has locations throughout California, one of their newest being in Redwood Shores. There you can get items from Yalla Falafel (Mediterranean food), Flavor Trippin’ (sandwiches), Nopalito Taqueria (Mexican), Proposition Chicken (chicken sandwiches, salads, and chicken tenders), Square Pie Guys (Detroit-style pizza), Milk Bar (“sweet treats”), and Humphry Slocombe (ice cream). You can order and eat in, order for pickup, or order for delivery.

Inside is pretty nice:

If you don’t order online, you use the kiosks you can see at the left to place your order in person.

My wife and I, and her sister, opted to give them a try. Together we ordered a grilled chicken burrito (from the Mexican menu), a fried chicken sandwich (from Proposition Chicken’s menu) and a regular (i.e., cheese) pizza from the Square Pie Guys menu. I’m very happy to report that everything was really good: enough so that we’ll definitely be back, and will be trying some of their other menu items.

If you opt to give it a try, know that you park in the lot on the east side of the Bay Club. If you are just picking your food up, as we did, there are four 15-minute reserved spaces just for Local Kitchens (up against the street, not far from the entrance to the parking lot). Otherwise, just find an available space elsewhere in the lot. You enter Local Kitchens from the outside (and not from within the club): the entry door is just to the right of the bright yellow sign you see in my photo of the building’s exterior.

Finally, I’m truly excited to report that The Baker Next Door, Redwood City’s new downtown bakery, hopes to open its doors to the public next Tuesday, August 13. I’ll add that its projected opening date assumes that everything goes well between now and then, so if the opening slips a bit, keep going by its storefront at 851 Main St. (or keep watching on Instagram). All this week the proprietors have been setting things up and stocking their shelves, and the place is looking terrific:

Whichever day it actually opens, I’ll be there: my wife and I really want some more of their bread (and a few cookies, of course!)…

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On this week’s walk (on the hottest day of the week, as it turns out) I took a midday break and enjoyed an Arnold Palmer at The Yard coffeehouse. While sitting on its lovely front patio, I couldn’t help but notice the signs for the “Cars & Coffee” event that’ll be held there this Sunday, August 11, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The event will feature “vintage cars, coffee, prizes, food, local artists, music, and special guest Jm Appleby, former star of Beach Blanket Babylon.” If you’ve read this in time, do consider dropping by 1018 Main St. (just around the corner from the downtown Redwood City public library).