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By Elena Kadvany
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I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community.
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Cafe chain moving into vacated Bargain Box space in Palo Alto
Uploaded: Jul 21, 2014
South Bay bakery/café chain Le Boulanger has snagged the California Avenue spaces vacated by two longtime tenants, 58-year-old thrift store
Bargain Box and
Avenue Florist, according to planning documents submitted to the city.
Le Boulanger Senior Vice President Jeff Brunello has applied for a conditional use permit to sell beer and wine at 341 California Ave., as well as a request for staff-level architectural review for various upgrades. The vacant building ? which includes 341 California, formerly occupied by Bargain Box, and 347 California, vacated by Avenue Florist on June 30 ? allows for what seems to be a more ambitious Le Boulanger concept.
Plans include replacing exterior windows, painting the exterior of the building and the existing awning/overhangs, installing planters along California Avenue to create a "green screen to soften the sidewalk experience in the walk way between buildings" and installing an energy-efficient roof, among others. Inside, plan drawings show bar seating that faces out onto California, a pizza oven that sits behind a 10-seat bar, a large dining room and an outdoor patio with seating and an "indoor/outdoor" fireplace.
Above: A drawing of the proposed remodel for 341-347 California Ave. Courtesy City of Palo Alto.
Brunello did not return requests for comment. The project's architect is Berkeley-based Kahn Design Associates, according to the planning application.
Family-owned Le Boulanger operates
17 cafes throughout the Peninsula and South Bay, including in Mountain View, Menlo Park, Redwood City and Los Altos. View a menu
here.
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