On Monday night, my wife and I, along with my brother (who was in town on business) went out for dinner. Because most restaurants are closed on Mondays, our choices were limited. One of the few that was open is Ocean Oyster Bar & Grill, and since I’ve been looking for an excuse to try that relatively new (to downtown Redwood City) establishment, off we went.

Ocean Oyster Bar & Grill has been open for a while now, but we haven’t visited primarily because my wife has a shellfish allergy, which puts a large part of their menu off limits, at least for her. And I personally am not a fan of oysters, although I do love many varieties of ocean fish and willingly eat shrimp and crab. So I wanted to visit when we had someone who could appreciate their oysters. My brother is just such a person, and he happily ordered six Blue Points to start off his evening. Me, I began with a bowl of clam chowder.

According to my brother, the oysters were very good. And my clam chowder — which is the New England, or white, variety — was also quite good. After enjoying those, along with part of a shared bottle of Chardonnay, the three of us ordered our entrees. I opted for something simple: their Atlantic salmon, which comes with vegetables and either rice or mashed potatoes (I had the rice). My wife had the 10-ounce ribeye steak. And my brother tried the seafood enchiladas.

My wife and I both loved our entrees. Both came with mixed vegetables, which were good — although we both would have preferred them to be more finely chopped. As for my brother, he liked his enchiladas, although he thought the red sauce could have been a bit zestier. Having said that, he noted that a peppier sauce might mask the taste of the seafood inside the enchiladas, and thus he understood the choice that the chef had made.

We were all too full for dessert, so we passed, although we did look at the menu just to see what our choices were, and I saw that of the five items on offer, I would have been happy with any of them. So next time — and there will indeed be a next time for us — I’ll save some room.

Although Ocean is one of the rare restaurants in our area that is open on Monday evenings, when we were there it was very quiet, at least in the dining room. The bar area, which is located along Broadway and has glass doors that can open out onto the sidewalk, was doing a good business that evening (I believe the full menu is served in the bar, along with a full complement of drinks). I’m pretty sure the place is more popular on Friday and Saturday nights, at least, so a reservation, at least on those nights, is probably a good idea.

Finally, we all really appreciated the decor. We sat in the main dining area, which extends along the Jefferson Avenue side of the building, and enjoyed the large “virtual fish tank” above the secondary bar (a large screen TV showing high-definition images of exotic fish swimming in a tank or in the ocean). Some interesting circular lights dotted the walls that we decided were meant to evoke portholes. And the colors and other decor made for a high-end “ocean” feeling, without going overboard. All-in-all, the place felt classy and elegant, but not too high-end (I wore jeans and a button-down shirt, and felt quite comfortable).

Redwood City’s Ocean Oyster Bar & Grill (there is also one in Union City) is located at the corner of Broadway and Jefferson Avenue, in the Century Theaters building. They are open seven days a week for lunch and dinner (they are closed between 2:30 and 4:30 Monday through Thursday). I should note that their website is currently quite sparse if you click on the Redwood City location; to see an online menu — which seems pretty much identical to what we received when we were there — select the Union City location and view their menu. Looking for their operating hours? Check Yelp.

---

This week’s walk took me down to the Stanford in Redwood City campus, to get a good look at the construction activity underway on the Health Care side of things.

Given all of the activity, and given that the sidewalk along most of the parcel being redeveloped is blocked off to pedestrians, photographing this project at this point is a bit tricky; all of the work is being done to establish the foundation for the new building, and there are no good opportunities for a non-Stanford employee to get a good “over the fence” view of things (there is a multi-story building just across the street, but I don’t believe I can go up there). Eventually the development will start to rise up from the ground and be easier to see and photograph, and when it does you can bet I’ll be there to take some pictures. For now, though, know that the current activity involves lots of digging, earth drilling, and concrete pouring.

For a fuller description of the project, including a rendering, try my February 7, 2025 blog post, Incubating. But in short, Stanford is constructing a nine-story medical office building (stepping down to three stories closer to Broadway) on the site where at one time Ampex had their corporate headquarters. Behind it, along the freeway, they are also building a second multi-level parking garage that should look a lot like the one that is behind the existing Stanford Health Care buildings on this campus. Although Stanford does not have an immediate need for all of the building’s nine stories, they need some more space, and so Stanford will build the basic shell of the building and for now only fit out a couple of the building’s floors. Later, when they need to grow further, they’ll come back and finish off the interiors of additional floors. But from the outside, the building will look complete, and of course the parking garage will be fully usable (although presumably will have plenty of empty space).

For those who regularly drive by either on Highway 101 or on Broadway, keep an eye out for a tower crane: that is the sign that the building is about to start climbing towards the sky.

On nearly every walk these days I find myself spending at least some time on the site of Redwood CIty’s largest in-process project: ELCO Yards. This week I paid special attention to the work now underway on the future site of one of the project’s residential buildings, along El Camino Real between Maple and Beech streets. That site has long been used as a staging area for materials and equipment needed for the construction of the project’s four office buildings. With those buildings all rapidly nearing completion (the one at El Camino Real and Cedar Street may already be done), staging on the site no longer seems necessary. So I got excited when I saw actual work on the site, thinking that perhaps the residential building planned for there (one of two that will be part of ELCO Yards) was getting underway. However, upon inspection it appears that the work so far is confined to just along El Camino, and thus is probably part of the work to reconstruct the sidewalk along that particular block (that sidewalk having been torn out some time ago):

And a quick check of the permits for the residential building shows that they are still pending. Thus, unless the permits have been issued and the online system has simply not been updated, there shouldn’t yet be any actual work going on for that particular building.

Back to the actual work taking place, contrary to previous speculation on my part — in which I presumed that the protected bike lane along this block would only be constructed after the residential building was completed — it appears that the protective curb that will provide physical separation between the bike lane and the two lanes of northbound traffic along El Camino Real has already been poured. Thus, I’m now speculating that this current effort is not only to construct the sidewalk, but the new bike lane as well. So, we are soon to have two contiguous blocks along El Camino with a protected bike lane (although only on the northbound side), the adjacent block between Beech and Cedar having already been completed:

If only the city would find the money to extend the protected bike lane all the way to Jefferson Avenue…

While exploring the ELCO Yards development, I noted that a couple of curvy white concrete benches are sitting in the future public plaza that will be located along Main Street just up from Chestnut Street, where the development’s free-standing restaurant building is being built:

I’m not sure if these are in their final locations or positions, or have merely been dropped off here temporarily. We’ll certainly know soon enough: the restaurant building is moving along swiftly, and the plaza itself is likely to get underway soon.

Finally, at the other end of the ELCO Yards development along Main Street, the Main Street Dog Agility Park is finally being rebuilt:

With the short section of Beech Street between Main Street and the Caltrain tracks having been abandoned as part of the ELCO Yards project, the dog park may be gaining an additional section, close to the adjacent (new) building:

Maybe this is for smaller dogs. Or maybe it isn’t part of the dog park at all? Again, we should know soon.

On this week’s walk I also dropped by the Veterans Memorial Building to see if anything exciting was going on. I did notice that a couple of fancy new water fountains (with integrated dog water bowls) have been installed along the promenade:

And somewhat harder to see (much less photograph) from the ground, are the rooftop solar panels that have now been installed on the building’s roof:

The plans show solar panels covering almost all of the building’s flat roof. Those will of course be instrumental in helping the building achieve its “net zero energy” goals.

On my way home, I walked up Broadway. I was a bit surprised to see that a new store selling what appears to be smoking products has moved into the empty space next to Teaspoon that previously was home to Site for Sore Eyes:

And I noted that The Wild Rover, which is taking the place of City Pub, has already put up their sign:

Although I personally don’t always love some of the businesses that move in to spaces like these, I’m glad that those spaces aren’t remaining empty for long.

---

The Port of Redwood City’s 2025 “Rock the Dock” concert series, which has been underway since early April, continues with a concert this Saturday and continues each (I believe) Saturday through November 1. With so many concert dates, surely everyone can find something that will appeal to them. All concerts are free (as is parking), and generally begin mid-afternoon (click on a concert to find out when that concert starts and ends). Although there will be on-site food vendors, outside food is also welcome, so bring your lawn chairs, blankets, jackets (it can get chilly out there, particularly if the wind picks up) and, if you prefer, your own food and drink, and make your way to 459 Seaport Court for great music and dancing.