Norita's Bar & Grill Cocina Mexican Coming Soon to Oak Park

The new tenant of the former Margarita's Mexican Grill in the Oak Park Plaza at 702 Lindero Canyon Road will be Norita's Bar & Grill - Cocina Mexicana. More details TBA.

Karma Baker in Oak Park Announces They Will Be Closing on March 30th

Karma Baker announced this morning on its Instagram page that its last day of business will be March 30th. “The decision has not been easy for us. Despite our best efforts to avoid closure, circumstances beyond our control have led us to this point.”

Karma Baker originally opened in the Pavilions Plaza at the southwest corner of Lindero and Kanan in Oak Park in October 2014.

Charcoal Niku Now Open in Oak Park

Thanks to Kassandra B for the heads up that Charcoal Niku recently opened its doors at the Oak Park Plaza at the northeast corner of Kanan and Lindero Canyon Roads, next to Cafe Sapientia (in the former Tantra Indian Cuisine). Charcoal Niku offers Japanese steaks, seafood, sushi and more.

Visit www.charcoalniku.com for more information. Call 818-206-3308 to make reservations. Opens nightly at 5pm.

Zen Garden Chinese Cuisine in Oak Park Closing September 30th; Yunnan Garden to Open in the Coming Weeks

UPDATE: Yunnan Restaurant now open as of mid-November.

Got word this week that Zen Garden Chinese Cuisine in Oak Park at 668 Lindero Canyon Road is going through a change in ownership. It will be operating through Friday, September 30th, then in the coming weeks will reopen as Yunnan Garden, offering authentic Yunnan/Sichuan style Chinese food.

Zen Garden originally opened in May 2013, giving it a nine year, four month run. Osaka Sushi was the previous tenant in that spot for you local history buffs.

Best wishes to Lin and Yao of Zen Garden in their future endeavors.

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Chime In On Favorite Items at Urbane Cafe

Today, the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Page hosted its 36th day in a row of daily gift card drawings at local eateries. We’ve been raising funds from local residents and businesses and using these funds to purchase gift cards and gift certificates. In turn, we’ve been giving free publicity in the form of a drawing each day, rewarding one lucky participant the gift card. It’s been a lot of fun and we plan to continue these drawings as long as we continue to receive donations.

Donations can be made via credit card at bit.ly/CVGFund or via PayPal at paypal.me/ConejoValleyGuide.

(We’ve covered quite a number of eateries so far, including Country Harvest, Grabbagreen, Little Calf Creamery, Prawn and Basil, Parma Pizza, P&L Burger, El Sancho Loco, Hatch Cafe, Coaches Ice Cream, Tifa Chocolate & Gelato, Made in Italy, Pedals & Pints, Toppers Pizza, The Latigo Kid, Vegan Thyme, Thousand Oaks Fish & Chips, Five 07 Coffee Bar, Mouthful Eatery, Los Agaves, Side Street Cafe, Twisted Oak Tavern, Joi Cafe, Cafe Sapientia, Jack’s Donuts, Tabu Shabu, Holdren’s Steak House, Chocolatine, Q Sushi, Newberry Candy, Snapper Jacks, Novo Cafe, D’Amore’s Pizza, Pacific Fresh Grill, Bandits BBQ, Carrara Pastries, Historia Bakery, Boney Mountain Pizza Co., Los Dos Amigos and Urbane Cafe.)

Tom Holt opened the first Urbane Cafe in 2003 in Ventura and this popular fast casual eatery has since grown to 19 locations. Urbane Cafe Thousand Oaks opened in April 2015. There are also local locations in Agoura Hills, Camarillo, Simi Valley and Oxnard. Their menu includes freshly made, sandwiches, salads, bowls and soups. Their freshly-baked focaccia bread is a standout! Learn more at urbanecafe.com.

Here the Urbane Cafe menu items that received the most attention from CVG fans:

• Cranberry Brie Sandwich received quite a bit of love!

• Lots of support for the Farmers Market Salad

• Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich sounded good to many

• Meat lovers would like to sink their teeth into the Chimchurri Steak Sandwich

• Pesto and Sundried Tomato sandwich is loved by many

• The Santa Maria BBQ Sandwich has a lot of supporters

• The So Cal Sandwich is quite popular

• The Californian Sandwich - very popular with our vegetarian friends

• Other items receiving mentions include Cilantro Chicken Salad, Cilantro Torta, UC Banh Mi, Turkey Club Sandwich, the Ahi Salad (a favorite of mine, along with the Cranberry Brie), Bella Portobello Sandwich, Protein Salad, Fiesta Bowl and others.

Jessica remarked “GET THE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES! Your life will never be the same.” Others echoed her sentiment. Keep that in mind as you perhaps go on a run to pre-burn some calories!

El Taco Chico Now Open in Oak Park

El Taco Chico is now open at the former Baba's Cafe at 640 Lindero Canyon Road (at Kanan) in the Oak Park Shopping Center. Baba's Cafe opened in May 2017 in this former home of the Sub Contractor.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Menu includes a full array of Mexican fare, scramble bowls, burgers, tortas, salads, sandwiches and more.

Cafe Sapientia Now Open in Oak Park

Temporary sign up at Cafe Sapientia in Oak Park. Permanent sign in a few weeks.

Cafe Sapientia is now open in the Oak Park Plaza, 706 Lindero Canyon Road (cross street Kanan). Cafe Sapienta is a coffee shop offering high-quality single-origin based coffee drinks, teas and and an assortment of other drinks. I had the blended Orange Refresher and it was cold and refreshing - reminded me of an Orange Julius.

Also featured at Sapienta are snow cremes - a combination of snow-like shaved ice and ice cream, with flavors that include Oreo, Matcha, Mango, Strawberry and Original. These premium desserts include fresh fruit and other ingredients.

Learn more at www.facebook.com/pg/cafesapientia or call 805.883.8199.

Oreo Snow Creme

Sapientia Coffee Roasters Opening Soon in Oak Park

UPDATE: Opened on Monday, June 24th.

The former Green & Bean in the Oak Park Plaza (northeast corner of Lindero Canyon and Kanan Roads) will soon be reopening as Sapientia Coffee Roasters. Although the sign on the window indicates April 2019, I’m told that the latest target date is mid to late June.

Sapientia will serve up fresh-roasted coffee, single origin expresso-based coffee drinks, teas, fresh juices, pastries and more.

Stay tuned!

Thanks to Amelia S. once again for the heads up.

Tantra Indian Cuisine & Bar Now Open in Oak Park

Shout out to Michael K., who made us aware that Tantra Indian Cuisine is now open at the former home of Charhouse BBQ & Grill at 706 Lindero Canyon Road (at Kanan) in Oak Park. No website or Facebook Page at this point, nor a phone number available. But hey, it looks like they are worth checking out!