In December, Icicles, 292 Castro, after reportedly buying out the lease of previously pending tenant Pushcart Creamery, opened to offer made-to-order rolled ice cream. At the time, local denizen Jamil Shaikh observed “there were a lot of people and most of them were intrigued by the process of making the ice-cream.” http://iciclescreamroll.com/
As promised, the business formerly Drunken Lobster (212 Castro) closed for rapid major remodeling under new owner Laurent Pellet, who declared intent to reopen soon as Maison Alyzee, a French bakery and café with “three pastry chefs from Paris” whom he was, the last I heard, busy recruiting.
1 Oz. Coffee, originally a coffee catering firm, opened downtown MV’s newest coffee house in January at 650 Castro #130, with espresso drinks and Alexander’s-Patisserie snacks. (The location had earlier housed Spica Coffee, then the Morocco’s spinoffs The Liquid Menu and The Phoenix.)
Rose International Market informed me in mid-January that reopening in Mountain View near their former 1060-Castro venue waits on the property developer, whose latest estimate of “February” may be optimistic.
Another of three pending Castro-St. bakery-cafés, C’est Si Bon, a San José-based business known for fancy custom cakes, plans to open in March at 282 Castro (where Icicles, above, was originally announced before taking tenancy at 292 Castro).
Pending since late 2016 in the divided former Bookbuyers space, the 317-Castro location of Korean-influenced bakery-café chain Paris Baguette has proclaimed plans to open as a “showstopper” site this Spring “to make a big impression in Mountain View.”
The 331 Castro St. storefront vacated in November by Bay-Area bakery-café chain La Panotiq (see recent closures summary at the end here) has a new tenant pending, Le Plonc LLC. Local expert analysts tracked down the ownership, and identified the new operation as a wine bar. Some details at http://www.justforkingaround.net/ep-40/
Dim-sum specialist Fu Lam Mum (153-155 Castro) remains closed for remodeling.
Gone: La Panotiq, Omelette House @ Ava’s, Song Pa Korean Cuisine (all in November).
