A regional food writer walked Solano Avenue in January and, in a SFGATE report, called it a hidden destination, a suburb quietly turning into one of the Bay Area's best eating strips. If you actually live here, you already knew that. What you might not know is what happened to two of the addresses that made her case, in the seven months since that piece ran.
Recent coverage has highlighted new restaurants on Solano Avenue. A look at the avenue also shows how existing businesses have changed. Two of the same storefronts that anchored earlier coverage didn't add capacity this year. They changed what happens inside them, and in one case, changed hands entirely.
The story everyone told about 2024
Start with what's true. Solano Avenue did add real capacity in 2024. Best Friends opened as a natural wine bar. Brezo opened serving Latin Californian food. Both were net additions, new kitchens and new pours where there hadn't been any before. Trace the timeline back further and the strip's reputation really starts with Juanita and Maude, the date-night spot near Solano and San Pablo that opened in 2017 and now serves a burger the Michelin Guide has ranked among the top five in California. The 2024 wave is what turned that slow build into a recognized food strip.
Those openings were part of the avenue's restaurant story. The changes at two addresses in early 2026 add another part of that story.
What happened at two addresses in early 2026
At 1501 Solano Avenue, the restaurant Fonda closed and Anahuac opened in its place on January 31, with a Mexican menu built around fajitas, enchiladas, and a large seafood list. Same storefront, different operator, different cuisine.
At 1106 Solano Avenue, Lulu, the Palestinian-inspired brunch and dinner spot, closed that same day, January 31, for what its team called an adjustment to business model and menu. It planned a reopening for February 14 as Lulu's Little Kitchen, with a new counter-service format replacing the original full-service model.
Put those two next to the 2024 openings and the pattern flips. In 2024, Solano Avenue gained kitchens it didn't have before. In early 2026, at two of its most-watched addresses, the avenue didn't gain anything. One restaurant changed owners inside the same walls. Another kept its address, changed its name to Lulu's Little Kitchen, and cut its own service model down to a counter.
| Address | 2024 | Early 2026 | What actually changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1501 Solano Ave | Fonda | Anahuac | New operator, new cuisine, same footprint |
| 1106 Solano Ave | Lulu (full-service) | Lulu's Little Kitchen | Same operator, counter-service reformat |
| Brezo | Opened 2024 | Still full-service | Net new dinner seats added |
| Best Friends | Opened 2024 | Still operating | Net new wine bar added |
These changes are one part of a broader picture of the avenue's restaurant scene.
None of this means the avenue is struggling. Solano Junction, the all-day breakfast and brunch spot near the Albany-Berkeley line, has kept its bottomless mimosa and full bar service running without a format change. Zaytoon still pours the craft cocktails built by Jessica Maria, who also owns Albany's Hotsy Totsy Club, and its full bar and happy hour crowd hasn't gone anywhere. The strip is stable, with businesses maintaining and changing formats across the avenue. Together, they offer a useful counterpoint to the changes at the two addresses above.
A different kind of neighborhood spot
A block over on San Pablo Avenue, Ocean View Brew Works has been pouring since 2018. It's a 3.5-barrel nanobrewery, family-run. One regular described it simply: it "feels like Albany's living room." Saturday trivia nights, a dog-friendly patio, food from the chef next door at Kitchenette. Its format and operator remain unchanged, offering another example of the range of businesses in the neighborhood.
Solano Avenue's recurring event calendar
The Solano Avenue Association has run a recurring calendar of events since 1974, when the Solano Avenue Stroll began as a street fair on this mile of road.
This year's lineup:
- Spring on Solano, Saturday April 4, noon to 5 p.m.
- Summer on Solano, Saturday June 27, 2 to 6 p.m.
- The Solano Avenue Stroll, Sunday September 13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Halloween on Solano, Friday October 30
- Winter on Solano, Sunday December 6
The Stroll is the big one, and it's two weeks out as of this writing. It's billed as the East Bay's largest street festival, drawing in the range of 100,000 people to a mile of the avenue that normally carries car traffic between the Alameda and San Pablo. The route includes a micro-parade that starts at Colusa in Berkeley at 10 a.m. and travels west to end at the BART tracks in Albany, near Masonic. More than 200 of the avenue's regular businesses stay open through it, alongside roughly 400 additional vendors, including food booths, artisans, and entertainers.
The Stroll predates most of the current restaurant roster and remains a recurring event on the avenue.
What to actually do with the next two weeks
If you're timing a visit to the avenue before the Stroll turns it into a pedestrian mall for a day, a few specifics worth knowing. Anahuac is seven months into its run at the old Fonda spot. Lulu's Little Kitchen has had since mid-February to settle into its counter-service format. Ocean View Brew Works runs trivia on Saturdays, and its patio is easiest to get a table at before the Stroll crowds start arriving in town for the following weekend.
Beyond the restaurants, the avenue's non-food storefronts are worth exploring too: Morningtide for clothing, Flowerland Nursery if you need something for the yard before fall planting, Hal's Office Coffee for something faster than a sit-down brunch, and the Albany Sauna if you want to end a Solano afternoon in a hot tub instead of a restaurant booth.
If you've been meaning to walk it before September 13, the next two weekends are the ones to do it. Once the Stroll closes the street, you'll be sharing that mile with a hundred thousand other people.
Solano Avenue keeps changing shape without changing its address, and that's a distinction worth knowing whether you're grabbing dinner tonight or thinking harder down the road about what it means to live one block off this stretch. If that second question is on your mind, Pirnia Homes can walk you through what a home near this corridor is actually worth right now. Request a personalized home valuation whenever you're ready to talk specifics.
