Two Downtown Concord Restaurant Spaces Have Waited Since 2024. Both Now Say They're Opening.

"OPENING END OF OCTOBER." That is the whole message on the new banner at Grant and Salvio. It gives no day and no year. Claycord ran a photo of it on October 1 and said the Blast & Brew sign under it had been up for at least two years.

A few doors down, in the same Salvio Pacheco Square, the room where Lima served ceviche for nearly nine years has a tenant lined up but no date. Those two spaces face Todos Santos Plaza more directly than almost any others downtown, and both have stayed empty longer than anything else on this list. Elsewhere in Concord this year, a Thai kitchen, a coffee chain and a seafood-boil restaurant opened. The plaza's two biggest gaps are being filled by operators who already run restaurants in other cities. How quickly each one opens is the fall story downtown.

The Corner E.J. Phair Held for 22 Years

Bay Area Telegraph places Blast & Brew at 2151 Salvio Street, at the corner of Grant and Salvio, in the space E.J. Phair Brewing Company used to occupy. The paper says E.J. Phair ran on that corner for 22 years.

The timeline since then is longer than most people would guess:

1. August 2024. Beyond the Creek reported that Blast & Brew was coming to Todos Santos Plaza.
2. July 2024. A menu from Blast & Brew's Atascadero location already listed Concord with the line "GRAND OPENING SUMMER 2024."
3. December 2025. Bay Area Telegraph's food critic was still unsure when, or whether, the restaurant would open.
4. October 1, 2026. The "OPENING END OF OCTOBER" banner went up. Two days later, Bay Area Telegraph noted that the banner gives no specific day.

As this publishes on October 22, the end-of-October window is about a week out.

The concept fits the corner's history. Blast & Brew's website calls it an American eatery and tap house with scratch-made comfort food and a self-pour beer setup. Bay Area Telegraph counts more than 26 rotating craft beers and wines, and lists burgers, a crispy chicken sandwich, a Bavarian pretzel and a Philly cheesesteak on the brand's menu. A Concord-specific opening menu had not been posted when that report ran.

One more detail points toward an opening. The company has a Concord careers page taking applications for managers, bartenders, cooks and pizza artisans. A hiring page doesn't set an opening date, but it does show a restaurant being staffed.

Across the Square, a Name Danville Already Knows

The other empty space belonged to Lima. Chef John Marquez opened it at Salvio Pacheco Square in late 2016, serving Peruvian ceviche, seafood and cocktails. It closed for good on December 31, 2024.

Bay Area Telegraph reported on September 2 that Sultan's Kebab is preparing to open in the space. The restaurant's own website listed the Concord address as "coming soon," and Visit Concord had also announced it. No firm date was given. The report said the restaurant could be ready within two to three months. Counting from early September, that points to sometime between early November and early December, if construction and permitting stay on track.

Sultan's Kebab is a familiar name south of Concord. The group has run a Danville location at 480 San Ramon Valley Boulevard since 2017, plus restaurants in Pleasanton, Livermore and downtown Campbell, with Saratoga also planned. Owner Fatih Ulas describes the restaurant as a tribute to his late father, Sultan Ulas, whose cooking and Turkish heritage shaped the menu. The business traces its roots to 2002.

The menu centers on charcoal-grilled kebabs, shawarma, kofte and falafel, served as plates, wraps, salads and rice bowls. The existing locations also serve hummus, mezze, Turkish breads, baklava and garlic feta fries, and the group says all of its meat is halal.

Two details from the published plans will matter most to the plaza. The Concord restaurant is expected to have a patio overlooking the plaza and to stay open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. It will be a more casual room than Lima was, with takeout and catering alongside dine-in.

The Two Spaces Side by Side

Both incoming tenants already run restaurants elsewhere, and both are replacing tenants that lasted a long time. Neither has given a firm date.

Meanwhile, the Rest of Concord Kept Opening

Two of the openings that did land in Concord this year came with announced dates, and a third is already serving.

• Chom Thai Kitchen opened August 11, 2026, at 2118 Willow Pass Road, Suite 100C. It serves a Thai-style brunch and a more traditional Thai dinner menu, according to Oaklandside's East Bay opening roundup.
• Philz Coffee set the grand opening of its first Concord location for Wednesday, August 26, at 1975 Diamond Blvd., Suite C-108, in the Willows Shopping Center, the same roundup reported.
• Bag O' Crab took over 4340 Clayton Road near Bel Air Drive, a building that previously housed New Lim's Garden, which closed in 2024, and before that an Arby's. Bay Area Telegraph covered the renovation in July, and the restaurant's Concord site now says "NOW OPEN."

Canasta Kitchen is the downtown name that went the other way. Its former restaurant at 2118 Mount Diablo Street, about a block north of the plaza, became Isla Restaurant in June 2024. In August 2026, Canasta announced it was "coming soon" back to Concord, but Bay Area Telegraph reported that the new address, lease status and opening date had not been disclosed.

The two spaces right on the plaza, held by their previous tenants for nearly nine and 22 years, are the slowest to turn over.

What the Plaza Looks Like Until Then

The Thursday evening farmers' market at Todos Santos Park closed its 2026 season on October 8, after running from 4 to 8 p.m. every Thursday since June 4. The Tuesday market keeps going year-round from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association.

That schedule connects to Sultan's Kebab's plans. A restaurant open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. with a patio facing the plaza would be serving during every hour of the Tuesday market. Bay Area Telegraph also notes the site is within walking distance of Concord BART and several downtown parking garages.

For the next several weeks, there are two dates to watch on Salvio Street. The first is the end of October, when Blast & Brew's banner says it will open. The second is the two-to-three-month window from the September report on Sultan's Kebab, which runs into early December. If both open on time, two of the plaza's most visible spaces will be serving food again before the end of the year, for the first time since Lima closed on the last day of 2024.

At Black Rose Real Estate, we follow downtown storefronts like these as closely as we follow listings, because what opens around a plaza shapes daily life for the people who live near it. If you want to talk through what's changing near Todos Santos Plaza, let's talk.