After Tiburon's Celebrity-Chef Summer, the Main Street Regulars Hold the Tables

"It's an honor to receive this recognition, which is well deserved by all the other businesses, especially as it's our first year receiving this," Paulino Monterroso told The Ark in a September 18 interview at his restaurant. His restaurant, Salt & Pepper at 38 Main St., is the Tiburon Peninsula Chamber of Commerce's 2026 Business of the Year. It has been on Main Street since 2010.

The timing matters. Less than four months earlier, downtown Tiburon's plan to become a fine-dining destination built around nationally known chefs lost both of its founding names within a month. What the town has left after this summer is a Main Street run largely by operators who have been there for years. In June, the Town Council created a permanent sidewalk dining program to replace the temporary agreements several of those operators had been using since the pandemic.

Two chefs, one landlord, one month

The first change came on June 1. Michael Mina stepped away from Bungalow Kitchen at 5 Main St., and Scottsdale-based Clive Collective took over management, keeping the name and keeping the restaurant open through the transition.

Three weeks later, on June 22, Petite Left Bank closed when its parent company, Vine Hospitality, shut down all seven of its Bay Area restaurants. The Ark reported that the scaled-down French brasserie, which carried Roland Passot's name, had been open nearly four years.

The same Ark story explained why the two changes belong together. Mina and Passot have both won James Beard Awards and Michelin stars. Both restaurants sit in buildings owned by the same landlord, A&C Ventures, which had wanted to remake downtown as a fine-dining destination by recruiting chefs with national reputations. The Marin Independent Journal describes A&C as a Sonoma real estate company that owns a large share of downtown Tiburon.

What Bungalow Kitchen serves under its new operator

Bungalow Kitchen is still open, and its website now lists it as part of Clive Collective, serving lunch, weekend brunch, dinner and private celebrations. The current menu leans toward the water: Hog Island oysters from the raw bar, seafood linguine, herb-crusted sea bass, steak, and a prix fixe for brunch.

Hours posted on the restaurant's site:

The events page lists a Sunset Sips happy hour, Cacio e Pepe Wednesdays, and a collaboration with the Angel Island Ferry. The ferry collaboration was dated Sunday, October 11, and Cacio e Pepe is the one listing tied to a set night of the week. The operator said at the handoff that it would share programming and menu changes later. Any of these details may shift, so check the site before you go.

The restaurant that started with a dish rack

Salt & Pepper's award reads differently in a year when downtown's big names changed hands. The Ark reports that Monterroso, a San Rafael resident, got his start in Tiburon in 1992 as a dishwasher at the former New Morning Cafe. He has owned Salt & Pepper since 2010.

The honors arrive in two stages. Bank of Marin's Spirit of Marin Awards, which recognize chamber award winners across the county, honored Salt & Pepper at a September 17 luncheon in San Rafael. The Tiburon Peninsula Chamber will present its own award at its annual celebration on November 17.

Salt & Pepper also appears on a short list the town drew up this summer, and that list turns one restaurant's honor into a pattern.

Six restaurants, and a permanent program for their sidewalk tables

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tiburon allowed six restaurants to set up sidewalk dining under temporary agreements, and the town extended those agreements several times past their original expiration. The Town's June 17 staff report names them:

1. Waypoint Pizza
2. Squalo Vino
3. The Caviar Company
4. Salt and Pepper
5. Luna Blu
6. Caffe Acri

Petite Left Bank, at 1696 Tiburon Boulevard, was never on that list, because its outdoor seating was already covered by its conditional use permit. That leaves the temporary sidewalk tables, the most visible part of downtown dining for the past several years, belonging entirely to the other operators.

At that June 17 meeting, the council voted unanimously to create a permanent sidewalk dining program, under which restaurants get a sidewalk dining permit instead of an encroachment permit. It approved the fee schedule 4 to 1, setting $765 for an initial permit and $180 for each yearly renewal. The council waived the $765 initial fee for the six restaurants that had been operating under temporary agreements, according to the Marin IJ. Councilmember Alice Fredericks voted against the fees, telling the paper by email, "I fully support local business, but the Council has a responsibility to develop an equitable policy before making gifts of public funds."

The ordinance also sets rules for how outdoor seating is set up and maintained, including accessibility requirements and clear walking paths along the sidewalk. Shari Meads, the town's community development director, told the council that since 2024 someone had been notifying the town, with copies to the Department of Justice, that it was out of compliance with certain ADA requirements. That was one reason for the new permit, she said. The council had turned down an earlier sidewalk dining ordinance from the Planning Commission in 2024.

Business owners weighed in as well. The Caviar Company's CEO, Petra Higby, asked the council to account for the money operators had already put into outdoor dining, including furniture and accessible tables. Robert Brown, an executive at A&C, urged the council to consider the business environment. A&C asked for five revisions covering requirements, town oversight and costs, and the Chamber and some businesses supported those requests.

According to The Ark, a second reading was scheduled for August 5, with the rules expected to take effect 30 days later, on September 4. Existing sidewalk diners then have 90 days from the effective date to file a complete permit application. If that schedule held, the filing window runs into early December.

Luna Blu's turn on camera

Luna Blu is another of the six, and it has had its own good summer. In a June 2 review, the Marin IJ highlighted co-owner and chef Renzo Azzarello's Sicilian-influenced cooking, including caponata, cioppino and house-made squid-ink linguini. On August 26, the Marin IJ reported that the restaurant would be filmed for "America's Best Restaurants Roadshow," a series about independent restaurants. No air date had been set.

So the national attention Tiburon dining is getting this year has gone to an owner-chef already on the sidewalk permit list, not to one of the imported names.

The newest arrivals are small, too

This year's openings follow the same small-scale pattern. In late April, Paradise Coffee parked a mobile trailer at Point Tiburon Plaza, serving coffee drinks, sandwiches, breakfast burritos and waffles, The Ark reported. On Main Street, the maritime clothing brand F.L. Woods opened at 21A Main St. Owner Wayne George's shop is managed by Tiburon residents Josh George and Marie Bergsund, according to The Ark's June story.

The corner still waiting

As of October 12, we have found no announcement of a new tenant or operator for the former Petite Left Bank space at 1696 Tiburon Boulevard. The coverage we reviewed also doesn't report any post-closure plan from A&C Ventures for downtown. Whatever goes into that space will decide whether A&C keeps pursuing its destination-chef idea. The next fixed date on downtown's dining calendar is November 17, when the Chamber presents Salt & Pepper's award.

We'll keep following what opens at 1696 Tiburon Boulevard and how the sidewalk permits play out on Main Street. If you're curious how changes on the downtown block show up in daily life on the peninsula, or you'd like to talk about your own place in Tiburon, Suzanne Hughes is always happy to compare notes over coffee. Elevate your next move. Contact Suzanne today.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.