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The 1941 Art Deco post office in Burlingame has been reborn as a restaurant, opening October 1 with a menu that pairs theatrical tableside service and high-end technique with approachable pricing. Backed by the team behind San Francisco’s Spruce and several Michelin-recognized venues, the new venue aims to honor the building’s history while offering a modern, largely American tasting experience.
From post office to dining room
For nearly 20 years, Bacchus Management Group sought the right Burlingame site before a friend urged founder Tim Stannard to visit the old postal hall at 220 Park Road. Stannard and longtime designer Stephen Brady quickly recognized the room’s original details — soaring ceilings, terrazzo floors and brasswork — and committed to adapting the space for a restaurant without erasing its character.
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The opening team includes operators associated with Spruce, Selby’s and the Village Pub. In the kitchen, chef Jonathan Granada — who trained at The French Laundry and worked at Los Angeles’s former Otium — led the menu design, blending classical technique with influences from French, Chinese and Spanish cooking.
A menu built for the room
Granada has fashioned a program that splits between prix fixe tasting menus and a more casual a la carte selection served at the Postmaster’s Bar. He describes the food as “contemporary American”: layered with global techniques but meant to feel familiar and repeatable.
The opening offerings include refined small plates and showpiece preparations. The most elaborate centerpiece is a limited duck service — available for only six reservations per night — built around 10‑day dry‑aged birds roasted in a purpose‑built carousel oven and carved tableside. That service unfolds as four distinct presentations over roughly 20 minutes and features theatrical elements such as a pan‑made sauce finished with a brief flambé.
Other early highlights range from a Parmesan “gougère” reimagining and a laminated brioche finished with thyme and salted butter stamped with an eagle motif, to a white truffle risotto finished tableside and a New York strip served inside a vol‑au‑vent with bone marrow and brown‑butter mashed potato.
- Chef: Jonathan Granada, French Laundry and Otium alumnus
- Culinary style: Contemporary American with French, Chinese and Spanish technique
- Signature: Limited duck carousel service (six orders nightly, reserve in advance)
- Casual options: Bar menu includes a house burger, lobster roll and steak frites
- Price points: Six‑course dinner $120; lunch $55; brunch $70
- Phase II: Outdoor patio and 60‑seat glass house planned to open in April
The bar menu is intentionally grounded to serve everyday diners as well as tasting‑menu patrons. The burger receives particular attention — a six‑ounce patty on a house brioche with smoked cheddar, caramelized onions, crispy shallots and an egg prepared by confiting the yolk while frying the whites with guanciale for texture.
Opening schedule and what to expect
Service rolled out in stages: dinner began with the October 1 debut; lunch service was scheduled to start on October 12 with a menu similar to dinner but slightly pared back; brunch followed on October 17 with new morning‑focused dishes such as a buckwheat crepe filled with lemon ricotta and honey‑poached cranberries.
Stannard frames the restaurant’s pricing as “accessible luxury” — intended to preserve the grandeur of the dining room without pushing prices into the $300–$400‑per‑person range that some high‑end destination restaurants command.
Practical details
- Address: 220 Park Road, Burlingame, CA
- Hours: Lunch Monday–Friday 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday brunch 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.; dinner daily 5 p.m.–10 p.m.
- Reservations: Recommended, particularly for limited services like the duck flight
- Phase II timeline: Outdoor patio and glass house expected to open in April
This project folds preservation and contemporary dining into one room: an historic civic interior repurposed for modern service and seasonal cooking. For Burlingame residents and Bay Area diners, the Old Post Office represents an uncommon combination of spectacle and restraint — ambitious cooking presented with an eye toward repeat visits and neighborhood accessibility.
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