Bay Meadows

Wursthall is on its way to Downtown San Mateo and is expected to open by year-end! Peninsula’s resident food scientist and Serious Eats veteran and author of “The Food Lab”, J. Kenji López-Alt has partnered with Adam Simpson and Tyson Mao, the same folks behind Grape and Grain. López-Alt is tasked with designing the kitchen, working out operations, and crafting the menu, and will continue to oversee the kitchen after opening, while Simpson will serve as general manager. Together, they will open Wursthall, a German-style beer hall with California sensibilities in downtown San Mateo.

“Adam and Tyson both grew up in San Mateo. A lot of what this has to do with is we wanted to make a place that we loved. A place where we wanted to take our own families and friends,” López-Alt said. “We’re not creating some cookie cutter model that can be replicated.”

The restaurant will go into a historic 14,000-square-foot building in the heart of downtown (310 Baldwin Ave.), formerly occupied by Italian restaurant Ristorante Capellini. Wursthall will have two destinations within it: a beer hall upstairs, and a cocktail bar downstairs.

Eater SF reports the beer hall will be full-service, serving semi-classic German fare with California influences, like beer and mustard-braised pulled pork sandwiches, Rancho Gordo bean salad with pumpkin seed oil, pretzels from Backhaus Bakery served with beer cheese, and sauerkraut. Rotating sausages won’t strictly stick to European styles, with potential takes on kosher hot dogs, and other Americanized versions. There’s also talk of a burnt caramel apple strudel with smoked sea salt.

Anne Moser, a German immigrant who owns Backhaus Bread, will be baking those pretzels for the restaurant as well as German breads, buns for the sausages and what Lopez-Alt is calling “pretzeled peanut butter-chocolate croissant bites,” Mercury News reports.

30 taps of German and local craft beers, curated by Simpson, will be on offer, alongside a few wines. Downstairs, the cocktail bar will serve mixed drinks and spirits, no food.

The team hopes to open Wurst Hall by the end of the year. In the meantime, they’ll host pop-up dinners at a San Mateo kitchen space to test out menu items. Stay tuned for more details closer to opening. You can follow the progress on their Website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

As we develop community, we want to see how you live or play at Bay Meadows and beyond. Share your fun San Mateo lifestyle photos with our community by using #baymeadowslife and check out our Twitter and Instagram profiles to stay updated on everything #baymeadowslife related. See how this blended lifestyle of a little bit urban and a little bit suburbs gives you the very best of Midurban living. For easier event, photo, and building updates, make sure to follow our Facebook page.