Burlingame's Old Post Office and Bus Depot Are Becoming Places to Eat, Right Beside the New Town Square

In January 2023, Tim Stannard climbed a ladder and went in through a window to see Burlingame's old post office for the first time. The 1941 building had been lifted onto stilts and moved about 100 feet to clear space for Town Square construction. He told the San Mateo Daily Journal that it was "perfectly preserved." He signed a lease soon after.

That restaurant opened on Oct. 1. A short walk away, the city-owned 1939 Greyhound depot on Howard Avenue has been leased to a local sandwich maker who wants to bring back the counter that used to be there. When the ribbon was cut at Town Square in April, the plaza was the headline. This fall, the two old buildings at its edges are what give downtown's new center its character, and both are being returned to public use rather than replaced.

The post office was set on stilts so the square could go in

Town Square sits between Park Road on the west and Lorton Avenue on the east. Construction started in 2025, and the city opened it on April 2 with Champagne, face painting and a silent disco after current and former councilmembers cut the ribbon. Mayor Michael Brownrigg told the crowd he had been pushing for a town square since his 2009 council campaign.

The post office was the one structure the project could not simply work around. It had to come off its footing, sit on stilts during construction and then become part of the finished block. That is when Stannard saw it. He runs Bacchus Management Group, the company behind Spruce in San Francisco, the Village Pub in Woodside and Selby's in Atherton. He told the Daily Journal he had been looking for a Burlingame location for the better part of 20 years.

Eater SF reported that he wasn't looking for a new space at all. His team was deep in the buildout of Augustine on Santana Row when a friend got him to promise he'd take a look. He brought along designer Stephen Brady, who has done a lot of historical work, and both were struck by the soaring ceilings, the preserved terrazzo floor and the brass work. "My jaw just dropped and so did Steven's," Stannard told Eater.

According to the Daily Journal, Bacchus worked under the strict guidelines that apply to a historic building, alongside the city and its preservation architecture firm. The marble wainscoting, terrazzo floor, brass trim and crown molding that customers once walked past to buy stamps are now part of the main dining room.

What the 1941 rooms serve now

The Old Post Office sits on Park Road next to the square, and Chef Jonathan Granada wrote the menu with the building in mind. He worked at the French Laundry and later at Otium in Los Angeles. He told the Daily Journal he tries to keep "a 1940s building or old-school techniques" in mind when he develops a dish.

The signature is the duck. Eater reports it is dry-aged for 10 days, roasted in a custom carousel oven that turns the birds horizontally and carved tableside from carts made by the same maker that supplies Eleven Madison Park. Only six are offered each night, and you order one when you book. The butter that comes with the laminated brioche is stamped with an eagle, a nod to the building's postal past.

The more useful detail for a weeknight is that the restaurant runs at two price levels under one roof. Here is how the Daily Journal described service and pricing:

• Dinner: nightly, 5 to 10 p.m., fixed menu at $120 a plate
• Postmaster's Bar: open during dinner, à la carte, with a $27 cheeseburger topped with an egg whose white and yolk are cooked separately
• Lunch: Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., fixed $55 menu
• Brunch: weekends, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., fixed $70 menu

Eater adds that the bar menu also carries lobster rolls, steak frites and a classic cocktail list. In Stannard's words to the Daily Journal, the goal is for guests to celebrate an anniversary in the dining room or "just want to stop by and have a cheeseburger in the bar." Hours at a new restaurant can shift in its first months, so check the restaurant's own listing before you go.

The depot's sandwich line runs from Sam's to Gigi's

The second building has a simpler footprint and a longer local memory. The former Burlingame Greyhound Bus Depot at 1080 Howard Avenue was built in 1939, and the city owns it. It sits near the Caltrain station in downtown.

In 2005, Sam's Italian Sandwich Co. moved into the depot from Burlingame Avenue, according to a 2006 East Bay Times report. Sam's closed in 2020, and the Daily Journal reports that the city then converted the building to office space.

In 2025 the city went looking for a new tenant. Its request for proposals committed the city to preserving the building's appearance and required its written consent for any changes inside or out. Teresa Gee answered it. She opened Gigi's Cafe at 111 Anza Blvd. in 2018, and WhatNow, citing the San Francisco Business Times, reported that she signed a lease for the roughly 590-square-foot depot space. It runs an initial five years with two five-year extension options, so up to 15 years in total.

For Gee, this is personal. She told The Almanac she grew up eating at Sam's and visited its owner, Rino Betti, to tell him "the legacy was gonna live on." She told the Daily Journal:

"People that are still in Burlingame from way back in are really excited to see it transform back into a sandwich shop."

The plan Gee described to The Almanac in September is a smaller version of the Anza cafe, called Gigi's at the Depot. It is takeout only, with outdoor seating, grab-and-go salads, prebatched lemonade, tea and coffee, and no smoothies. Sandwiches run $16.50 to $26.99. The menu includes the Sam Sandwich, with salami, ham and Swiss and named for the old counter, and the Thanksgiving Dinner Sandwich, which the original cafe offers only every few months but which becomes a permanent item at the depot. In that same September interview, Gee said she expected a December opening.

Two buildings, one block, the same idea

Side by side, the two projects follow the same pattern. Each building was kept intact, emptied of its original use and handed to a food operator under preservation conditions.

The square itself is mostly open space. It has seating and gathering areas, trees, a fountain, a restroom and, according to the Burlingame-Hillsborough Times, a small center stage for community events. The first Music Trivia night was held there on Oct. 10, with food from Sapore Italiano at 1447 Burlingame Ave., Copenhagen Bakery & Café at 1216 Burlingame Ave. and Gigi's Cafe. The old buildings and the shops on the Avenue supply the food, and the plaza gives people a place to gather between them.

One newer arrival is on Lorton, at the square's eastern edge. Marufuku Ramen opened at 225 Lorton Ave. on Oct. 11, serving Hakata-style tonkotsu and chicken paitan ramen. The Times lists its hours as 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. straight through on Saturday and Sunday.

A December evening around the square

Winterfest falls on Friday, Dec. 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Downtown Burlingame and the city's Parks and Recreation department are putting it on, with the traditional tree lighting followed by a train ride around Burlingame Avenue and hot chocolate. Those two hours line up with the opening of dinner service on the square, so one evening can take in most of this block:

1. Start at Town Square between Park Road and Lorton Avenue, the downtown block that took 16 years of planning to build.
2. Walk over to Burlingame Avenue for the 5:30 p.m. tree lighting and the train ride.
3. Choose dinner by appetite. Ramen at Marufuku on Lorton runs until 9 p.m. A cheeseburger at the Postmaster's Bar requires no prix fixe commitment. If you reserved early enough to get one of the six nightly ducks, the dining room at the Old Post Office serves until 10.
4. On the walk back toward Caltrain, pass the 1939 depot at 1080 Howard Avenue, the building where Sam's served sandwiches for 15 years.

If your Winterfest plans include the Old Post Office dining room, book ahead, because the duck is limited to six a night and must be ordered with the reservation.

I care about old buildings because I've worked inside them. I know what it takes to preserve terrazzo, to bring a 1939 structure up to modern use without losing its face, and to work out who pays for what when a historic building gets a new tenant. If you own an older Burlingame home and wonder how much of its original fabric is worth keeping, I'm glad to walk through it with you. Julie Baumann. Let's Connect.