More than a week after its splashy, red-ribbon opening in Walnut Creek on Aug. 14, Original Joe’s remains closed, following a kitchen fire that has left the owners of the legendary Italian-American restaurant still uncertain about when they can reopen.
In a statement Friday evening, the Duggan family told this news organization that the “facility improvements” were under way at the new Original Joe’s Walnut Creek, on a prime corner in the city’s Broadway Plaza shopping center. But they could not provide an estimated timeline for when the repairs would be completed.
“We look forward to sharing details on our reopening as it becomes available,” the statement said.
The fire was reported to the Contra Costa Fire Protection District just after midnight Monday. The damage it caused wasn’t considered “major” but it forced Original Joe’s to close its doors, just three days after orchestrating one of the buzziest, new-restaurant openings in the city’s downtown for quite some time.
To herald Original’s Joe’s third Bay Area location, a priest gave a blessing and Walnut Creek’s mayor made a speech, followed by an old-fashioned ribbon cutting. People lined up around the block to get seats after the restaurant officially opened its doors at 11 a.m. Diners were eager to enjoy a taste of the hearty, home-style pastas, appetizers, burgers and other dishes for which Original Joe’s first became famous in San Francisco nearly 90 years ago.
But seven days later, evidence of ongoing repairs from the fire damage could be seen from the restaurant lobby. On Thursday evening, the restaurant’s signature “exhibition kitchen,” which is open to the main dining room, was hidden behind a tarp.
Original Joe’s Walnut Creek enjoyed an “incredible” opening weekend, according to the Duggan family statement. 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 can to help with the reopening, and restaurant employees were still “engaged with ongoing team trainings.”
At the grand opening, co-owner John Duggan said the new restaurant was providing employment to 175 people.
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. “I think of Walnut Creek as the epicenter of the East Bay,” Duggan said at the event. He is 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,” he also said.
Duggan was talking about the corner of 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 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.