Kurt Annweiler and spouse Betty Burri have been Thursday evening regulars at Unique Joe’s in Daly Metropolis for years as a result of he works at close by San Francisco State. However this Thursday, he and Burri ventured out to the East Bay suburbs through BART for an thrilling new Unique Joe’s expertise.
The legendary Italian-American restaurant, with roots in San Francisco going again to 1937, has opened its latest location in downtown Walnut Creek. And it did so with Unique Joe’s followers, like Annweiler and Burri, lining up across the block to get in for the primary seating when the restaurant opened its doorways at 11 a.m.
A priest’s blessing, a mayoral speech and an old style ribbon slicing added to the thrill, which is greater than town has seen for fairly a while for a restaurant opening, in keeping with metropolis leaders.
“I can’t wait!” stated Annweiler, who additionally frequents the more-famous Unique Joe’s location in San Francisco’s North Seaside. He loves the house-made lasagna with meat sauce or the restaurant’s grilled pork chop. “The food is great. The people are great.”
Joined by members of the Duggan household, De La Salle Excessive Faculty chaplain LaSalle Hallissey, proper, leads the blessing of the brand new Unique Joe’s restaurant in Walnut Creek, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (D. Ross Cameron for the Bay Space Information Group)
The grand opening of Unique Joe’s in Walnut Creek, on a chief nook in its premier Broadway Plaza buying middle, offers one other reminder that town stays the nexus of tradition, retail and eating within the East Bay suburbs. Town additionally has turn out to be a vacation spot for folks everywhere in the Bay Space, largely due to Broadway Plaza, which serves a metropolitan sub-region of greater than 2.5 million folks.
“I think of Walnut Creek as the epicenter of the East Bay,” stated John Duggan, the grandson of Tony Rodin, who opened the primary Unique Joe’s within the Tenderloin earlier than World Conflict 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.”
Duggan is speaking in regards to the nook of Broadway Plaza and South Principal Road, which was previously the positioning for the favored Stanford’s restaurant. Duggan and his co-owner, sister Elena Duggan, have spent the previous a number of years changing that former eatery into a classy 9,000-square-foot area fronted by the enduring yellow-gold Unique Joe’s signal. The restaurant employs about 175 folks.
Unique Joe’s in Walnut Creek serves hearty, home-style Spaghetti and Meatballs, Hen Piccata and different Italian-American consolation meals in a vibrant, bustling area that appears like a classy brasserie, full with plush seating in the principle eating room and bar.
Elena Duggan and brother John Duggan Jr. lower the ribbon on the grand opening of Unique Joe’s restaurant in Walnut Creek, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (D. Ross Cameron for the Bay Space Information Group)
The intensive menu is also full of modern updates on elegant steakhouse classics: Wedge and Caesar salads, Filet Mignon and Wooden-Fired Salmon. Among the many conventional choices are Joe’s Particular, a scramble of floor beef, spinach, onion and eggs invented many years in the past, and Joe’s Well-known Hamburger Sandwich.
Elena Duggan stated the specialties developed particularly for Walnut Creek prospects embody an uncommon Bone-In Veal Parmigiana, a creamy pasta dish with pancetta and sun-dried tomatoes referred to as Marry Me Farfalle and an affogato-style Espresso Martini,
A key function of the Walnut Creek eating room is the counter seating trying onto the kitchen, an indicator of Unique Joe’s eating places. In line with John Duggan, Unique Joe’s helped pioneer that idea, going again to the Tenderloin location, which began 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 stated.
Unique Joes, first opened in San Francisco in 1937, is bringing its Italian-American fare to Walnut Creek (photograph by Emma Ok Morris for Unique Joes).
Whereas Duggan stated that a lot of their San Francisco prospects hail from the East Bay suburbs, he realizes that the Unique Joe’s model should be unfamiliar to potential new prospects within the space. “We plan to (bring in new) customers with one smile, one hamburger at a time, and we look forward to creating great memories,” Duggan stated earlier than the ribbon-cutting.
Walnut Creek Mayor Cindy Darling expressed gratitude for the household’s efforts. “We strive very hard to make Walnut Creek a place where everybody can come and safely and happily enjoy living, working, playing and going out to dinner,” she stated. “We are so excited that Original Joe’s has decided to make this kind of an investment in Walnut Creek.”
