Award-winning S.F. bakery Tartine to return to Mill Valley roots at Strawberry Village
Renowned Bay Area bakery Tartine will make its Marin debut at the Strawberry Village shopping center later this year, while popular East Bay Latin American restaurant Cholita Linda is also planning its first North Bay location at the outdoor mall.
Both are expected to open in 2025, though no firm dates have been identified, according to representatives for Edens, the real-estate developer that owns the center.
Tartine’s expansion means residents will no longer have to make the drive into San Francisco — or brave the notorious hourlong lines — for the bakery’s acclaimed sourdough, pastries and lunch items like seasonal quiches, omelets, smoked salmon and avocado tartines and hearty salads.
The Marin location also marks a return to Tartine’s roots: Husband-wife baker Chad Robertson and pastry chef Liz Prueitt got their start with Wood-Fire Baking in Point Reyes before they opened Bay Village Breads in Mill Valley in 1999. They left Mill Valley for San Francisco in 2002 to open their first Tartine location in the Mission district. In 2008, they won the James Beard Foundation Award as the best pastry chefs in America, and Bon Appétit magazine called Tartine “America’s most-influential bakery” in 2017.
Tartine, which now has two other locations in San Francisco and six each in Los Angeles and Seoul, South Korea, plans to set up in about 3,091 square feet of space across two long-vacant storefronts in the same cluster as Safeway, Calico Corners and High Tech Burrito, and across the way from Rims & Goggles. Representatives could not be reached by The Ark’s press deadline.
Cholita Linda will be located farther down the same corridor, in a currently vacant a 2,192-square-foot storefront across from SkinSpirit and Bella Boutique.
Its location in Strawberry Village will also be that restaurant’s first foray into Marin after establishing four locations in the East Bay — in Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley and Walnut Creek — and one in San Francisco’s Ferry Building.
Oakland native Vanessa Chavez and her husband, Murat Sozeri, first opened the restaurant as a farmers market stand at Jack London Square in 2008. The menu reflects Chavez’s roots — her mother is Peruvian Chinese and her father is Cuban and Mexican — with Latin American-influenced street food, including Baja fish and carnitas tacos, sandwiches and aguas frescas.
Sozeri said he and Chavez were looking to expand their restaurant to other locations in the Bay Area and it made sense to open up a spot in Marin County because there was not one there yet.
“It’s always exciting to open a new restaurant,” Sozeri said.
He said he likes growing the business and sharing the concept and brand to new customers.
“Marin is just beautiful,” he said noting that each of their restaurant locations has its own character.
“Marin County, just the whole environment and location spoke to us.”
Sozeri said he and his wife signed the lease for the Strawberry location on March 4 and will hopefully open later this year.
Bringing in the new restaurants is among a series of moves Edens has made in an effort to rejuvenate the center since purchasing it in 2022, including opening an outdoor greenspace for gathering and live music, installing public art and giving the center new paint and signage.
Alexander Ragonese, the vice president of development and investment at Edens, said in a release the additions of the two restaurants, alongside other improvements at the center, are part of “tremendous complements to the vibrant community hub that Strawberry Village has provided this community for decades.”
Reach Naomi Friedland at 415-944-4627.