Downtown Tiburon's First Holiday Season After the Big-Name Restaurants

On its last weekend on Main Street, the Caviar Co. served hot dogs. The tasting room at 46A Main St. stayed open noon to 7 p.m. on Oct. 16 and 17 and noon to 6 p.m. on Oct. 18. It honored every reservation and took walk-ins as a thank-you, then closed after more than five years on lower Main Street, The Ark reported. Local delivery and online orders continue through thecaviarco.com.

That makes it the third big change to downtown Tiburon's food scene this year. When the Tiburon Holiday Festival fills Main Street on Dec. 5, the street will look different from last December. Most of the year's new arrivals are places to shop, play and pick something up. The landlord who spent a decade courting celebrity chefs has filed plans for its next downtown sites that leave out storefronts entirely.

The chef plan for downtown, and what remains of it

Since 2012, a large share of downtown has had one owner. A&C Ventures bought the late Barbara Zelinsky Abrams' commercial portfolio that year. Its buildings include the ones housing Bungalow Kitchen, Caffe Acri, Malibu Farm and Cinelounge, plus the Maritime Center across from the downtown fire station and the Golden Gate Ferry terminal.

According to The Ark's June coverage, A&C wanted to remake downtown as a fine-dining destination by recruiting chefs with national reputations. Two restaurants carried that plan. Petite Left Bank bore Roland Passot's name, and Bungalow Kitchen was built by Michael Mina. Both chefs have won James Beard Awards and Michelin stars.

Both restaurants lost their founding operators within a month. Michael Mina's group handed Bungalow Kitchen to a new operator on June 1. On June 22, Petite Left Bank closed after nearly four years at 1696 Tiburon Blvd., when its parent, Vine Hospitality, shut all seven of its Bay Area restaurants.

Bungalow Kitchen wants to be a weekly stop

Bungalow Kitchen still has its name and its waterfront spot at 5 Main St. Since June 1 it has been run by Clive Collective, a hospitality group based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Its new operator described a different goal for the room than the one it opened with. Clive co-founder Justin Massei told The Ark in June that "prices will come down a little bit." He said he wanted families to come weekly, not just for special occasions, and he planned to add weekday lunch once staffing allowed.

"Step one, really, is getting to know our community. That's like the No. 1 thing for us is to reconnect with the neighbors, let them know that we're here, shake hands, introduce ourselves, listen and learn a bit for these first 30, 45 days."

Justin Massei, Clive Collective, speaking to The Ark in June 2026

As of early November, the restaurant's reservation listing showed weekend brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner runs 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 4 to 8 p.m. on Sunday. A&C endorsed the handoff in May. CEO S.G. Ellison said he was "excited to see [Clive] build upon the restaurant's success."

What opened instead

Most of downtown Tiburon's 2026 openings have been shops and counters. Four of them were open for their first holiday season here:

• California Mahjong House, Ark Row. San Rafael friends Maureen Riley and Daria Lovette opened it on Aug. 26. It sells tiles, mats, racks and accessories. Its eight tables host open play and lessons, so it works as a place to spend an afternoon as well as a store. Schedules are on californiamahjonghouse.com.
• F.L. Woods, 21A Main St. This nautical clothing store opened by mid-June. The Ark called it the brand's first West Coast store.
• Marin Service Course, The Boardwalk. The bike shop opened its second location on July 25, in the space Diana's of Tiburon left in April 2025.
• Paradise Coffee, 1775 Tiburon Blvd. A mobile trailer at Point Tiburon Plaza, open since late April, serving coffee, sandwiches, breakfast burritos and other grab-and-go food.

Three of the four sell goods or run classes. The fourth serves food from a trailer.

December on the street

That same mix shapes the town's biggest December event. The Tiburon Peninsula Chamber has set the Tiburon Holiday Festival for Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 5 p.m. downtown. Plans include gingerbread-house decorating, photos with Santa, free face painting at Servino Trattoria on Ark Row and a toddler train if the weather allows. Wine bars, restaurants and other businesses along Main Street will serve hot cocoa, treats and specialty cocktails.

The rest of the month is on the calendar too:

Musae sings twice on Dec. 6, so the 1 p.m. show leaves the rest of the afternoon free. The Sausalito parade is the only listing off the peninsula. Its 6 p.m. start makes it an evening outing across Richardson Bay.

Ferries change their hours before the holidays

The Angel Island Tiburon Ferry is on its winter schedule. In November and December there is no service Monday or Tuesday and no regularly scheduled service Wednesday through Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays, boats leave Tiburon at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and return from Angel Island 20 minutes later. The same three departures run on Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving. The ferry closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, according to the Angel Island Ferry schedule.

Golden Gate Ferry's 2026 schedule card, effective April 13, shows no service on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, or Christmas Day, Dec. 25. Nov. 27 runs on a holiday schedule. The card warns that holiday schedules may change, so check the current Golden Gate Ferry card before a trip into the city.

What A&C filed in October

On Oct. 22, A&C Ventures submitted two preliminary applications to the town for 127 rental units on three Tiburon Boulevard sites, The Ark reported. It is working with San Diego-based developer Naturally Affordable Housing.

• 1601 Tiburon Blvd. and 4 Beach Road, the old Bank of America site and its parking lot: 77 units
• 1600 Tiburon Blvd., the former Shark's Deli site at the corner of Beach Road: 19 units in a four-story building
• 1525 Tiburon Blvd., the lot next to Town Hall: 31 units in a four-story building

This is A&C's second attempt. It filed a preliminary application for 120 units in December 2024 but did not follow it with a formal application by the June 2025 deadline. The new version has 20 lower-income units, up from eight, and 197 parking spaces, up from 163.

All three sites are in the downtown mixed-use zone the town created in 2023. The applications seek waivers and concessions that would let the buildings skip the zone's retail component and exceed its three-story, 45-foot height limit. According to the plans, the design calls for landscaped courtyards facing the street, roof decks, and wood-toned and natural composite materials. Parking would sit on puzzle lifts inside each building's footprint.

A&C spokesperson Rob Poetsch called the design preliminary. Under the state's Housing Crisis Act of 2019, a formal application has to follow within 180 days for the preliminary filing to keep its locked-in standards. The Ark's reporting says the project could face no more than five public hearings across the Design Review Board, the Planning Commission and the Town Council, including any appeals. For now the proposal is a pending application. On the three sites it covers, it would put homes where the zoning had anticipated storefronts.

If you own near downtown Tiburon and want to understand how this year's changes to Main Street, Ark Row and the Tiburon Boulevard sites relate to your home's value, Christina & Karla - Home In Marin can walk you through it. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and we'll give you a current, local read on your home.