In the six months since I've moved here there's been two restaurant closings and two restaurant openings.
The two closings are the
Irth Cafe, on B Street between Watkins & Mission; and the
Silver Spoon Hofbrau, on the corner of B Street & Mission.
I don't know what the issues were with the Irth Cafe - they opened in late 2004, and closed by the following summer. It might've been the competition with the Starbucks around the corner, or perhaps the rent was too high. (This B Street Marketplace has seen a lot of comings and goings. New owner => higher rents => businesses forced out.) I miss Irth Cafe's organically-grown coffee for 50 cents a cup. Their space is still vacant.
The Silver Spoon Hofbrau was an eclectic blend of Chinese food with traditional Hofbrau fare. It was a good place for a simple hot breakfast, or a traditional hofbrau-style hot sandwich. It closed for business on 12/1/2005. The Silver Spoon, in the old Palmtag Building, might relocate elsewhere over the next several months. Matt O'Brien of the Daily Review had a nice piece on this 25-year old restaurant and their clientele. To me, it was a great hangout for Hayward oldtimers. Hopefully they'll return....
The two new restaurants are across the street from each other at the corner of Mission and D Street:
La Victoria Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, and
Le Paradis / La Patisserie Vietnamese Restaurant.
La Victoria is a more upscale Mexican restaurant from the owners of
La Pinata (Mission & Rose). 124 tequilas on the menu. The owners remodeled the old Pablito's Restaurant (I understand the building is of historic or cultural interest. Worth digging into.) Chicken mole is very good, and next time I'll try the turkey mole. La Victoria opened mid-October (?) 2005, and appears to be doing very good business. They've advertised heavily in the East Bay Express and other local papers, and I assume they're getting good word-of-mouth.
Le Paradis is a combination bakery / Vietnamese restaurant. The owner relocated her bakery from Main Street (between A and B Streets) to this new location, and expanded the menu to include traditional Vietnamese food including Pho soups and Vietnamese sandwiches (Banh mi). Le Paradis / La Patisserie still has great croissants, scones & bakery items. I've read very little on the restaurant, or seen much advertising in the local papers or the East Bay Express. I believe the owner is trying for word-of-mouth, which may or may not work. Suffice it to say that they are the best (only?) place for banh mi and pho in downtown Hayward, and I would give it a strong, positive recommendation.
