74 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM co-owner David Nayfeld’s delight in his trendy Italian restaurant’s new branch. “Our space is larger, our wine cellar is three times the size, enabling us to dig deeper into reserve lists, and we have a room for private dining that can fit 70, or be divided. We also built a completely weatherized outdoor dining space.” Specialties include sourdough pizzas—such as a pineapple, Calabrian chile and red onion offering that’s a cult favorite—plus pastas, some Jewish-Italian specialties, as well as Manila clams and ‘nduja butter baked in pizza dough. The nature-inspired décor in the colorful space features red leafshaped Murano chandeliers, vivid leafy wallpaper and myriad terra cotta-potted plants above the bar. Similar to its San Francisco locale, Italian grocery Il Mercato di Che Fico will also grace the premises. For Proper Food owners and Stanford alumni Howard and Dana Bloom, opening a location in Springline is a return to their {food coloring} roots. The pair met on campus and launched Proper Food in 2014, after struggling to find high-quality to-go food while working in San Francisco. Now a successful SF-based chef-driven chain, Proper Food’s “fresh take on takeaway” menu includes seasonal sandwiches, salads, soups and entrees. Any food left over at the end of the day is donated to local food banks and charities. Greg Kuzia-Carmel, the chef and owner of Menlo Park’s already popular Camper, opened Canteen at Springline to showcase a small-plate menu inspired by his culinary experiences in the Basque region of Spain. With the goal of setting the “bar high for casual, but carefully executed dining,” Canteen’s cozy, welcoming space invites diners to settle in for conversation and bites. Doubling down, Greg is also the masterABOVE (left to right): Che Fico dishes out handmade pastas, pizzas and seasonal Cal-Italian fare; at Andytown Coffee Roasters, a mural created by artist Orlie Kapitulnik features a heron and snowy plovers, a small endangered seabird that nests in Menlo Park’s salt flats. PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF CHE FICO / COURTESY OF ANDYTOWN / JOHANNA HARLOW
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