If you have lived in San Anselmo for more than a couple of summers, you already know the rhythm. Creek Park fills up on Saturdays, Insalata's stays busy on Wednesdays, and the Avenue thins out by nine. That baseline has shifted this year, and August is where the shift is easiest to see.
Three things happened in a short window. A team with a Slanted Door résumé took over the old Kientz Hall space and opened Tu Tập in July. Insalata's picked up a 2026 MICHELIN Bib Gourmand. And the Town committed the Avenue to a full summer of Friday and Saturday evening street closures for Live on the Avenue, running until September 12. Taken together, they suggest a downtown that has decided pedestrians and dinner service matter more than curbside parking convenience. If you have been out of the loop since June, here is what is actually on the street right now.
The Avenue itself is closed on weekend evenings
This is the change most residents feel first. From June 20 through September 12, the stretch of San Anselmo Avenue running through downtown closes to cars from 4:30 to 9:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Free live music runs from 6:00 to 8:30pm on two stages, with the Creek Park Amphitheater set into its redwood grove and a second stage at Town Hall Plaza pulling foot traffic further up the block. The one skipped date is July 4.
That closure window is longer than the music itself by design. The idea is to give restaurants a two-hour tail on either side of the concerts, so a table at Insalata's or a pizza at Creekside can bleed into a walk down a car-free street without anyone rushing. Creekside Pizza & Taproom is the presenting sponsor, which is worth mentioning because it tells you who among the local operators is betting on the format sticking around.
If you have been curious about the aluminum cups that started appearing with take-out drinks in July, that is part of the same program. The Town has been collecting feedback on them through its site.
Two new rooms worth knowing about
The restaurant turnover on the Avenue is not incremental this year. Two openings, one on the Avenue proper and one up near Red Hill, are the ones to walk into first.
Tu Tập, 625 San Anselmo Avenue. This is the former Kientz Hall space, which sat quiet long enough that most residents had stopped watching it. It opened in July as a refined Vietnamese restaurant from a team behind Slanted Door and Real Restaurants. The menu leans on wok cooking and claypot dishes, with a French influence running through it and Northern California produce underneath. There is a rooftop bar with Mount Tam views, which is the detail most people miss on the first walk-by. The distinction to pay attention to is that this is a primary address for the operators, not a satellite of a San Francisco flagship. In practical terms that means the chef is more likely to be in the kitchen on a Tuesday.
Pretti Platters, near Red Hill Shopping Center. Opened May 19 in the freestanding building that previously housed Auryn Thai. Four longtime friends who bonded over their Thai heritage nearly two decades ago put this together, with a chef friend brought in for menu development. The framing is casual daytime, but the menu goes well past brunch. Monterey Bay charbroiled branzino with Meyer lemon beurre blanc. Steak frites au poivre with chimichurri. A 16-ounce bone-in heritage pork chop over celery root purée. Kaluga Reserve caviar with warm housemade roti if you feel like it. On the lighter side there is a watermelon radish and little gems salad, a Parisian croque monsieur with Gruyère and Black Forest ham, and a Dutch pancake that has been getting attention. Co-owner Fah Intapura sources produce from a friend's farm on her drive in.
Both rooms opened within about eight weeks of each other, which is unusual for a downtown that typically absorbs one new restaurant a year.
Insalata's picked up a Bib Gourmand
Chef Heidi Krahling's Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurant, named for her late father Italo Insalata, was added to the 2026 MICHELIN Guide as a Bib Gourmand, the category the Guide uses for good cooking at accessible prices. California added seven new Bib Gourmand tables in this cycle, and Insalata's was one of them.
If you have been going for years, the recognition does not change what you order. The potato-leek soup made green with watercress purée, the grilled lamb skewers with cumin yogurt, the takeout counter in the back with house-baked bread. What changes is the reservation book. Bib Gourmands attract Bay Area diners who track the Guide, so weekends are going to feel tighter through the fall.
The concert lineup, distilled
The full Live on the Avenue calendar runs long. For the August weekends, the shows worth putting on the calendar look like this:
| Date | Creek Park Amphitheater | Town Hall Plaza |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, Aug 1 | Shana Morrison & Caledonia | Koi |
| Fri, Aug 7 | Soul Ska | The Mad Maggies |
| Sat, Aug 8 | Hall Pass | Sunhunter Band |
The season lineup also includes the Traveling Wilburys Revue, Zydeco Flames, Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s, and rotating slots for local youth bands. All shows are free, all run 6:00 to 8:30pm, and both stages are within a five-minute walk of each other, which means you can catch pieces of both sets on the same evening without much effort.
A practical note. The Creek Park stage is a lawn-and-picnic setup under the redwoods, so bring a blanket if you want to sit. Town Hall Plaza is standing and pedestrian, closer to the restaurants, and easier if you are eating your way through the night.
The quiet things happening in Creek Park
Not everything worth knowing about happens after dark.
On Monday, August 3 at 2:30pm, there is a free Bubble Show at Creek Park. It is aimed at kids, and if you have a grandchild visiting or a neighbor's family in town for the week, it is the kind of thing that saves an afternoon.
On Friday, August 8, the San Anselmo Historical Commission runs one of its docent-led walking tours of the historic Hub, led by Dick Miner. The tour covers the role the railroad played in shaping the town and the way the businesses and architecture along the Avenue have changed. If you have lived here for a while and never done one, this is the year to. The remaining 2026 dates are September 12 and October 10, all departing from Creek Park.
Also on the community calendar: 2026 sign-ups are open for San Anselmo Rec girls' softball for TK through 9th grade. Not August-specific, but worth mentioning while it is on the list.
The pattern under all of this is that the Avenue is being used as a room, not a road. Restaurants are opening as primary addresses. The Town is closing the street for a quarter of the year. The Michelin Guide is paying attention. None of that was true two summers ago.
What to actually do this month
If you have a Friday open, walk down after 5:00. Park once, eat somewhere you have not tried, catch a set at Creek Park, and let the Avenue closure carry the rest of the evening. Tu Tập for the rooftop and the wok. Pretti Platters for the Dutch pancake or the pork chop if you want dinner disguised as brunch. Insalata's for the lamb skewers before the Bib Gourmand crowd catches up. Creekside for a table on the sidewalk during a concert.
If you have out-of-town guests coming in, August 8 is the strongest single day on the calendar. The Historical Hub walking tour in the morning, Hall Pass and Sunhunter Band in the evening, and enough restaurants within a two-block radius to make the middle of the day easy.
If you are the kind of neighbor who tracks what the town is doing, the extended paid parking in the Creek Park lot came out of the October 14 Town Council meeting, and the Creek Park Plaza project is expected back on-site in 2026. Neither is a reason to change your weekend, but both are the kind of thing that shapes what the Avenue looks like next summer.
San Anselmo has always been a town people move to because they wanted less of San Francisco and more of a walk. The strange thing about 2026 is that the walk itself has gotten more interesting. If you are thinking about how the shifts on the Avenue affect your home, your next move, or a property you are watching in the neighborhood, Rick van der Wal is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
