WALNUT CREEK, CA — A fire burned through the roof of Lettuce, the downtown lunch spot at 1632 Locust Street, on Aug. 19. Nobody was hurt.
Six weeks later, the corner of Locust and Civic Drive is still dark.
It’s closed indefinitely while investigators work out what started it. The lunch crowd that used to queue up outside has scattered to other blocks.
What Happened
The call came in a little after 8 a.m. Employees heard popping sounds and smelled smoke. They got out before the flames took hold.
By the time Contra Costa Fire crews arrived, fire was already through the roof.
ConFire threw eight engines and more than 30 firefighters at it. That sounds like overkill until you picture flames on the roof of a building in the middle of downtown. The blaze was only a single alarm, and one alarm was enough.
Crews spent hours knocking it down, and the smoke hung over Locust into the afternoon. Firefighters returned around 3:15 after more smoke was reported, then stayed on the hot spots while investigators went to work.
By mid-morning, the smell of smoke carried down Locust toward Broadway Plaza.
The block stayed cordoned off most of the day. Locust is one of the busier stretches downtown, so the closure echoed up and down the street.
No injuries. Everyone got out. That’s the only clean part of this story.
“The property is insured. We’ll rebuild as soon as we can.”
— Dave Bowie, who owns the building
The Place That Fed Downtown
Lettuce opened in 2009, directly across from the Lesher Center for the Arts, and that address was the whole trick. You could grab a salad and a bowl of soup before a show. You could grab a sandwich between two meetings and be back at your desk before anyone noticed.
The menu stayed simple on purpose: entree salads, homemade soups and pastas, specialty sandwiches built in front of you. Sixteen house dressings, all gluten-free, with Acme bread and daily specials wired to whatever the farms were sending that week.
The order most regulars defaulted to never changed. A salad, a cup of whatever soup was on. A seat by the window facing the Lesher.
It never tried too hard, and it never had to.
It filled in waves. The 11:30 early crowd, the noon rush, and the slow trickle of people grabbing a light dinner before curtain.
The place also ran a catering arm. It quietly fed East Bay events that never listed a caterer on the invite, from backyard weddings to office lunches for forty. Nobody ever planned to cater those themselves.
Executive chef Bahman Tehrani opened Lettuce and built its following one bowl of soup at a time. He has since died, which makes the last six weeks land a little heavier for the regulars who knew the place best.
⭐ What We Know
- What: Roof fire at Lettuce restaurant; no injuries
- Where: 1632 Locust St., at Civic Drive, across from the Lesher Center
- When: Wednesday, Aug. 19, shortly after 8 a.m.
- Opened: 2009, by executive chef Bahman Tehrani
- Best known for: Homemade soups, entree salads, and built-to-order sandwiches
- Response: Eight engines and 30-plus Contra Costa Fire firefighters
- Status: Closed indefinitely; cause under investigation; owner plans to rebuild
What Downtown Loses
Downtown Walnut Creek has had a bruising year. Projects stalled, names walked away, and the wait on the old Neiman Marcus site keeps getting longer.
Lettuce is a different kind of loss.
It was never a headline restaurant. Nobody sent a press release when it opened in 2009, and nobody would have if it had lasted another twenty years. That was the point.
It filled a block with something harder to replace than a name: routine. The noon regulars who ordered without looking up, the couples ducking in before curtain, the trays that showed up all over town.
And the ripple goes past lunch. Downtown workers who used to walk to Lettuce now walk somewhere else. The shops between them feel that too.
Nobody is marching over a sandwich counter. But ask around downtown and the same word keeps coming up: a loss.
What Happens Next
The damage is the kind that keeps a restaurant shut for a while. The kitchen and both dining rooms were blackened, and the glass-front counter that held the salad fixings partially collapsed. By the next day, charred tables and chairs were piled in the fenced-off parking lot.
Mayor Kevin Wilk posted photos from inside the restaurant showing blackened walls and a centerpiece counter caved in on itself.
Bowie owns the building, and he told KRON 4 the damage to his tenant was devastating. He said the property is insured and he intends to rebuild.
The two sets of owners now face a slower fight. Insurers, salvage, and a repair schedule nobody can pin down. The Mercury News put it plainly: it will not move fast.
No reopening date has been announced. Nobody’s said whether Lettuce returns in the same space.
The cause is still under investigation; anyone with information can reach ConFire at 925-941-3300.
The Bottom Line
For a downtown that spent the year watching promises stall, losing Lettuce stings differently. It was the corner you used.
Da Mayor’s Take
Downtown can survive a lost chain store; it has practice. What it can’t replace so easily is the corner you personally used, where the salads were fresh and the name never needed directions. Get Lettuce back, and the block is whole again.
Until then, Locust and Civic is just a stretch of sidewalk with tape around it. The city will move on, the way it always does, but plenty of us will still glance at that empty storefront.
The short version: this one should come back, and not just out of nostalgia.
In the meantime, there’s still plenty to eat downtown. Here’s the full dining rundown. And the best sandwiches list still holds up if you’re missing that midday sandwich.
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