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Goodbye Towles, Hello Perry’s?

More changes on the Avenue as Towles, recently of seafood fame, but much longer as a nostalgic eatery, will soon be replaced by Perry's (of the 1970's SF singles scene fame). Sorry to see Meg and Maureen retiring. We will miss the dancing on the bar! Friday week Dec 22nd will be the last chance to enjoy Jules Broussard at Towles.

Apparently Perry's will be taking over Bare Neccesities as well as the current Towles building. You can bet most of the old decor, and the great soda fountain will be going too. Also soon to be just a memory is Piazza Italiana, on Primrose.

As Yogi Berra once said 'The future ain't what it used to be'.

– Written by admin

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41 responses to “Goodbye Towles, Hello Perry’s?”

  1. Anonymous

    I’ve just heard that this is not a done deal, so now I’m wondering which information is accurate.

  2. Cathryn Baylock

    THE LONG GOODBYE:

    My family and I spent another evening at Towle’s tonight listening to “The Legendary Jules Broussard-Last Time on the Avenue” performance. Since the news broke two weeks ago, we’ve been spending time eating, reminiscing and continuing our “long goodbye”. Tuesday night is the last “Persian Night” with great middle eastern food. Long ago I had lunch at Towle’s with Burlingame Historical Society archivist Martha May where she declared the Towle’s corner “center of the Burlingame universe”. She is right, much of Burlingame passes this special corner on a daily basis.

    Thank you Meg and Mo, Kathleen and Lourdes, and the many other Towle’s family who have kept us warm, loved and well-fed over the past five years. We are grateful for the gift of hospitality you gave to Burlingame. xo

  3. Michelle

    Not sad to see this place (Towles) go. I’ve boycotted it for over 3 years, ever since they refused to let my 2 year old, potty training daughter use their bathroom because we weren’t paying customers at the time. They did the same thing to a friend and her child recently. The woman owner (don’t know which one) was so incredibly rude to me and my little girl, it was shocking. There is no place for this in a family town like Burlingame, so BYE-BYE, can’t wait to try Perry’s.
    Piazza Italia, however, will be missed, I love those women and the great food!

  4. Anonymous

    The restroom at Towles is unfortunately precarious for many folks, and I can’t imagine hustling a potty training toddler up there. I wonder if the new folks will address that issue. Hope the planning commission took a look at that.

  5. Anonymous

    What will be replacing Piazza Italiana? Also what is the story with that restaurant on the traintracks near Broadway? Is it called Pesce? Is is opened? Closed? Does anyone ever go there? Does the train stop there any more? Will it ever? I was wondering that the other day as I stopped at the traffic light. Anyway, I will be interested to see how they renovate the Primrose/Burlingame Avenue corner. What about Susans dress shop? Will they stay or go?

  6. Anonymous

    I’ve heard that Susan’s stays, but don’t take my word for it. I don’t even know Piazza Italiana, so I can’t help you with that one, and Pisces also seems dark as pitch to me. I’ve heard their restaurant reviews of late hadn’t been that great, so now one has to wonder whether they are closing up. The train no longer stops at Broadway, as shameful as that is. It probably didn’t help that restaurant, either.

  7. fred

    Pisces is an off-shoot of Aqua, a well-known restaurant in San Francisco. I haven’t eaten there, but everyone I know who has says it is very good. Jen, have you ever eaten there?

    I do not believe the restaurant is dependent on the train station for business. Though I’m sure the express trains are not too appetizing. There are a few largely undiscovered, but very good, restaurants in Burlingame. The chef at one of them doesn’t try to draw new business because he doesn’t want crowds in his restaurant.

    Jen, Pisces may not be the ‘Chicken-Chicken’ but it is one of the San Francisco caliber dining establishments in town. Palo Alto seems to have an unlimited supply of them, why shouldn’t Burlingame?

  8. Anonymous

    Not sure what you mean by the slights, Fred…..I’ve never compared Pisces to Chicken Chicken……they have nothing in common and never did, (except both may be closed.)

    In answer to your question, yes, I’ve eaten there three or four times, but not lately. I know the history, too. It was always excellent, albeit pricey, and the express trains added an interesting element to the eating experience.

    Lately I’d heard they weren’t as good. I haven’t been back since there are so many other great choices, locally. We have lots to choose from. Frankly, I don’t know how all these restaurants will fare in the end, considering the competition.

  9. fred

    What slights? Chicken Chicken seems to be the one restaurant that never gets a bad review here on the voice. Chicken’s good and the praises are endless.

  10. Anonymous

    Nope, before it burned, (and after) it got lots of praise: here, there and everywhere. We all miss it, and I fear it is lost for good. I think we are running out of places to grab good quality, tasty meals, to run home with………the loss of that establishment is really a shame–we agree! Maybe the new mexican one on Burlingame Avenue will be good one–if it ever opens.

  11. Anonymous

    According to Horgan’s SM Times piece, the Perry’s deal fell through……still, Towles remains for sale. It would be nice if it didn’t become another upscale establishment–the folksy atmosphere (whether one liked the owners, or not) was always its greatest asset.

  12. Stefanie (Visitor)

    I am so sorry to see this wonderful resturant go. I can’t imagine how hard it is to run a resturant with no previous experience. Its hard to make everyone happy, including toddlers in the process of being potty trained. In my opinion, the owners and staff of Towles Cafe have done well for the four or so years they have been running the resturant. The owners of Towles Cafe have kept a smile on their faces and an attempt to please everyone, even people who feel the need to go to “Family Oriented” Resturants. Good seafood, Good music and nice people. BYE-BYE to hard-to-please people. P.S. I will be sure to warn Perry’s that they might need to invest in a porter-potty, seeing as how they need to please toddlers and moms shopping on the avenue now.

  13. Michelle

    It has nothing to do with “hard to please”, the woman was downright rude. It wasn’t like I was asking to use the bathroom for myself, but I thought anyone would have a heart and understand that little kids can’t hold it for very long. I only asked there because we were right in front of the restaurant when my daughter had to go, I had eaten there before (she accused me of lying about that), and restaurants are usually very accomodating about that kind of thing in order to generate good will. Peets was more than happy to let us rush in there without buying coffee. How would it have hurt her to let a little kid use the bathroom? (If the bathroom would have been difficult for my daughter to use, as another commenter said, she could have said that – she didn’t, she just said it was for customers only.) And this is clearly her pattern since she did the same thing to another mom and child recently. She lost business because of her rudeness -my husband and I eat out every week and we have avoided the place since. I don’t understand Stephanie’s “Family Oriented” comment – but if the owner’s intention was to discourage children in the restaurant, she was clearly forgetting that parents hire babysitters and go out on their own too.

  14. Dan

    Michelle- Lighten up and let it go. As Stephanie points out, not every restaurant can accomodate every request. Have you ever been to Towles and had a line of people waiting down the stairs? I have. Because of its location on the avenue and the flight of stairs leading to the bathroom, I’m sure the owners had a hard time pleasing everyone. In a tough business environment, I’m sure they had to put their customers first. I don’t think we should bash people until we have walked a mile in their shoes.

  15. Michelle

    Again, the issue was rudeness. Had she been polite about it, there would have been no issue. She was not. Here is the difference: saying “No she may not use it, you are not a customer -I’ve been here for 3 years and I’ve never seen YOU in here before!” (what she said) verses something like “I’m really sorry, the bathrooms are difficult to access, I think an easier one would be Peets down the street, why don’t you try there?” The first is rude, the second is not. I “let it go”, I just don’t patronize businesses where the owners are rude. Would you feel good about the place if you were treated like that?

  16. Todd

    It’s always sad to see a restaurant close, especially one that’s family run. That is the unfortunate reality of the restaurant business where more fail than succeed. Hopefully we’ll get a few new good choices that work for both families and singles.

    I was also confused by Stefanie’s comment about “Family-Oriented” restaurants, but I’ll assume she didn’t mean that in a bad way. There are plenty of restaurants on the Avenue that don’t work for kids, and you can only feed your kids a Crepevine grilled cheese so many times (maybe a good topic for another thread?) The fact is that most restaurant and store owners on the Avenue are very accomodating for parents with kids. I think they realize that if we ask to use their restroom, it’s not because we left the house saying “Boy I hope I get the chance to bring my three kids into a public restroom where I’ll have one on the potty and two touching everything in sight.” I agree with Michelle. I have no issues with someone saying that we can’t use their restroom if there’s a good reason. Otherwise it’s just alienating potential customers, and the “family-oriented” audience is a big customer base here.

  17. Anonymous

    Most places resolve this with a simple sign “Sorry, Restrooms reserved for Customers Only.”

  18. Stefanie (Visitor)

    How unfortunate that after almost five years of running a thriving business that the focus of this blog is negative. These two women have put their heart and soul into bringing something different to the Avenue. Give Them A Break. There are no live music venues and no place where us “50ish” folks can hang out and have a good, fresh decently priced meal. I know for a fact that at least one lawsuit has been filed and another threatened from NON Customers who have slipped upstairs waiting for the bathroom or stumbled on the stairs. Or maybe you didn’t hear the story about one of the owners being arrested from a NON Customer who used the restroom and then made a citizens arrest for battery – saying that the owner touched them. I wish the two gals lots of luck in their new ventures and I for one will miss having a “Cheers” on the Avenue. Michelle…did you think about putting your child in a Pull Up before you started your shopping trip????
    P.S. Checked out Towles today and there are THREE signs saying Restrooms for Customers Only

  19. Todd

    Stefanie – You seem to have a lot of bitterness toward people with children. Sorry to hear that. It’s only natural for some people to like a place and others to not like it for one reason or another. The only negative comment on this blog was from someone who had a bad experience with the owner. It’s hard to disagree with someone else’s experience unless you were there. It sounds to me that judging from the rest of the comments on this thread that the owners of Towles will be missed, and I think it is always sad when a local restaurant has to close. But when I walk around Burlingame and see all the families, it makes me think that I’ve picked a good place to raise my children and hopefully they’ll eventually choose to stay here as well and form the fabric of this town. But I guess my ‘pro-family’ stance is also a matter of opinion, the same way that a favorite restaurant is a matter of opinion. I just don’t think I should lecture people about how they should choose their restaurants or prepare their kids for a shopping trip. Let’s be civil.

  20. Joanne

    Our family loved Towles and ate their frequently — we will be very sad to see it go. Meg and Maureen have provided a great service to the community. Towles was a great local hang-out — a place where one could enjoy a wide variety of food choices (how many places offer everything from oysters on the half-shell to a burger?) and hear live music. It was our “Cheers” — a place where everybody knows your name. Thank you, M and M! I wish you well.
    My two cents on the above bathroom controversy: I used the bathroom at Towles many, many times — but only when I was eating at the restaurant. It is not a convenient bathroom. When I am on the Ave and need a bathroom, I would recommend the following to young parents — or anyone else: The Public Library, Starbucks, Copenhagen, Peets, Pottery Barn, BlockBuster. Il Fornaio. All of these can be accessed without climbing up a narrow flight of stairs.

  21. Joanne

    James, this comment is for you. I know the difference between “their” and “there” — despite my blog above. I usually blog quickly and don’t stop to proof. It there were a way to let you blog with red ink, we could assign you the function of proofing and editing. As it is, we’ll just have to wait for your corrections 🙂

  22. Anonymous

    Jen, you had mentioned that according to Horgan’s piece the Perry’s deal fell through. Do you have details on that article? I had not read it.
    Jeriann

  23. Anonymous

    It was the SM Times, I think the local section, and it must have been the beginning of this week. Horgan writes a column that is far left, top to bottom of the page with his picture at the top. Sorry I wish I had more info. It just sounded like they were looking for another party to move in to the space., so it may be awhile.

  24. fred

    Try the link above for the John Horgan article.

  25. Mike

    Michelle get a life!!! Stop whinning about the bathroom issue. There are many situations in life where people cannot accomadate to you and your needs. Move on. Find another place to use the restroom. GET OVER IT!!!! Find something else to occupy your time.

  26. San Fran

    anyone familiar with the restaurant business knows what a grind it is, and extremely difficult not only to make a profit but to have a life. meg and maureen have invested their lives in this restaurant, but now it is time for them to have a life. bravo to them both for giving us this fabulous little town gem of a place for so long!

    pisces is indeed open and thriving – we have dined there occasionally over the past 6 months and have found it a near-city level of sophistication, ambiance (until a train rolls through!), and service, as well as menu choices. it is also city-level priced, which can be a problem for some, but it beats the drive to sf and the free parking on site beats city parking prices any time. in january many restaurants tweak their prices a bit to lure new business – might be a good time to try out our own bigcity seafood venue, since our smalltown one is closing….

  27. Steve

    What is going on with the new taqueria that was supposed to open on Burlingame Ave? La Corneta? Seems there has been no progress for a couple months. I was hoping we’d have an alternative to Pancho Villa in San Mateo. (ummmm,,,panchoo…)

  28. Anonymous

    I heard (rumor, so don’t quote me) they may have deviated from something on their approved plans, and now need to go back and get them approved…….hopefully won’t take long. We’re all looking forward to their opening.

  29. Steve

    I guess without the knowing facts it wouldn’t be the time for me to go on a rant about how counter-productive some city institutions are. I sure hope the city let’s this business get on with doing business. Imagine how many burritos those guys are going to have to sell to make up for months of lost time and income, paying those outrageous rents. Less of a chance that the business can be successful and more empty store fronts on our main street.

  30. alisa

    a agree with many of the above comments. specifically, i found the owner rude. i had frequented the restaurant several times, but when i wanted to use the restroom during a time that i wasn’t visiting the restaurant, the owner went nutso-cuckoo. i vowed not to spend my money there ever again.

  31. james

    Imagine how many burritos those guys are going to have to sell to make up for months of lost time and income, paying those outrageous rents.

    Imagine how callous a tenant would have to be to think that they can just change the approved construction plans however they like and whenever they like.

  32. Steve

    I should not have passed blame to the city on this one until we find out what has happened. But I do know of instances where very minor issues cause major delays because one inspector, having a bad day, interprets regulations differently than other inspectors. But like I say it may be premature to figure this is the case. We’ll see.

  33. Katie

    Went by Chicken Chicken! this weekend. Looks like the replacement will be Anthropologie – womens clothing.

    Janeville is closing as well. Gymboree owns them and are discontinuing the line.

    Argh – where is my lovely Burlingame Ave. going??
    Maybe it should be renames Gentrification Ave!

  34. Anonymous

    Chicken Chicken is quite a loss. I can’t quite think of anything to fill their place, especially for healthy take-home. Maybe the crepe place has take home? but it’s not really the same.

  35. Steve

    Burritos are healthy, kind of.

  36. Anonymous

    You know, the La Salsa place did attempt to have healthy burritos, but they were written up frequently for health violations, so I got sort of turned off. Hopefully the new place will have something similar.

  37. Steve

    Never heard that La Salsa was written up for health violations. Where did you come across that info? If it’s some sort of public database I’d like to bookmark that.

  38. Anonymous

    I just saw the La Corneta being boarded up the other day. And someone was taking down the sign. Does anyone know what is going on? Many of us who work downtown were waiting for it to open.

  39. Angela

    I heard they had not followed the City approved building plans. They are in the process of installing windows in the front of the building.

  40. Anonymous

    Good thing……it needed windows!

  41. Alison

    Does this mean that La Corneta is still planning to open? We’ve been waiting for an authentic taqueria to open in Burlingame for a long time.

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