State Street Market's 2026 Tenants Are Built to Lean on Each Other

Sam Ghadiri, president of Bedrock Restaurant Group, was asked by phone why he chose State Street Market for Laughing Monk Brewing. He answered with the weekly calendar. "Thursday is the farmers market, they have live music Wednesdays and Fridays, trivia on Tuesdays, it's such an activated space," he told the Los Altos Town Crier, "and the folks over at State Street really try to draw the community in."

He also chose to open without a kitchen. The other Laughing Monk locations run as gastropubs. In Los Altos the company runs only a bar and sends hungry guests to the stalls around it. The other changes at 170 State St. this year follow the same pattern. Each new tenant relies on its neighbors for food, staff, seating or foot traffic. As a result, the market now runs less like a group of separate stalls and more like a single shared operation.

A Bar That Borrows Its Menu

Laughing Monk soft-opened March 6 in the space Murdoch's Bar used to occupy. The company started in 2016 in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood, initially specializing in ales. It later merged with Faultline Brewing Company, which belongs to Bedrock Restaurant Group. Its other locations are a taproom in Bayview and gastropubs in NoPa, Scotts Valley and Sunnyvale.

The Los Altos bar has nine taps. Three pour core beers and six rotate with the seasons. Cider, cocktails and martinis round out the list, and the lychee martini got an early mention. Ghadiri calls it "a true bar" and says guests looking for food can explore what the market's vendors offer.

That plan only works if there is good food a few steps away. The market's food stall directory currently lists these vendors:

• Konjoe Burger
• Konjoe Eatery
• Little Blue Door
• Little Sky Bakery
• The Good Salad
• The Penny Ice Creamery
• Orenchi Ramen
• Orenchi Sushi
• Laughing Monk Brewing

Only one of those nine pours drinks without serving food. With Murdoch's gone, it is now the market's only bar.

One Owner, Two Counters

In mid-May, Joey Camacho turned Miko's CALiTALIA into Konjoe Eatery. Miko's had opened in the market about a year and a half earlier, and Camacho already ran Konjoe Burger next door.

"The brand is an extension of Konjoe Burger," he told the Town Crier. "We're focusing more on things like sandwiches … brisket, loaded waffle fries, and then carrying that kind of barbecue theme onto the pizzas too." The two counters keep separate staff and separate menus under one name. Camacho said the California-Italian concept had been "narrowing to the cuisine type," and "CALiTALIA just didn't really feel like us."

He gave a reason for the change. He has seen low foot traffic at downtown restaurants, and he moved Miko's away from a narrow concept to bring more customers in. Inside a food hall, a menu that suits more people does more than help one stall. A group that splits between ramen, salad and brisket still comes in together and sits at the same tables. That group then becomes a possible customer for the bar that has no food of its own.

The Bakery Built to Supply Other Towns

The next tenant takes the idea furthest. Coffeebar is preparing a café and bakery at the market, which founder and CEO Greg Buchheister described as the chain's 11th store and fourth Bay Area location. The layout puts a baking production center near the front of the store, on the side between Third and State streets. Buchheister said Los Altos will bake for the Menlo Park, Sunnyvale and Redwood City stores too.

At first the pastries will travel the other way. WhatNow reported on Sept. 19 that during the soft opening, pastries will come from the Menlo Park store. It also said the Los Altos shop will eventually become the company's main pastry facility for the Bay Area.

The opening date has moved. The Town Crier said construction delays pushed it from summer into fall and expected it by the end of September. In early September, Coffeebar's locations page listed the shop as "Coming September 2026." The Almanac's Sept. 15 roundup lists it for early October. No source has confirmed the doors are open yet.

When it does open, guests will order right in front of the pastry case. Buchheister has said the most popular items are the cappuccino, the matcha latte, the breakfast burrito and the avocado toast. He is especially proud of the house chai, which is made from real herbs, tea and spices. Seasonal drinks in recent coverage include a pistachio rose mocha, a marzipan latte and a yuzu caramel latte. The coffee is roasted in Reno. Buchheister is also planning a separate patio seating area. "One of the nice things about Los Altos is that it's really nice all the time," he said.

He has seen this kind of start before. "One of the things I loved when we opened up Menlo Park (in 2018) was that people came out of nowhere, and you could see all these people, and they hadn't seen each other in months or years," he said.

Coffeebar also fills a gap in the market's hours. Bars, ramen and ice cream cover the evening. A coffee counter that serves breakfast and lunch brings people in during the morning.

A Block Away on Main Street

Main Street changed this year too, with standalone restaurants that operate on their own. Tre Monti at 270 Main St. served its last customers May 2 after eight years. Owner Giovanni Messina told the Town Crier that high rent, uneven business and the lack of capital or investors led him to close before the restaurant took on too much debt. Three weeks later, on May 22, chef-owner Gavin Liang opened Haru Japanese Restaurant at 325 Main St.

The people who track downtown do not see a pattern in the closure. Assistant to the City Manager Anthony Carnesecca said the city sees no significant change in turnover or vacancies compared with previous years. Scott Hunter, executive director of the Los Altos Village Association, called it "an unfortunate end of a longtime restaurant."

"Restaurants in general always have a tighter profit margin, and so it's always a struggle to be a restaurant. I don't envy any of them, but I don't consider it a sign of things that are happening around town." Scott Hunter, Los Altos Village Association

Hunter is describing the same tight margins that shaped this year's changes at the market. Inside the hall, those margins are spread out. Tenants share the seating, the programming and the steady flow of people who come for the Thursday market or Tuesday trivia. A bar without a kitchen and a second counter run by the owner next door both depend on that shared setup.

October Runs Through 170 State

This month's downtown calendar points back to the market again and again. The Downtown Los Altos events page lists the State Street farmers market every Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m., through Oct. 29. An earlier Town Crier preview gave the end date as Oct. 15, so check before the last Thursday.

The wine stroll relies on the market the most. The Chamber's listing promises wines from 19 wineries at twenty tasting sites, eight bands, a free collectible glass and a map. Check-in happens at a single location, Veterans Community Plaza at Main and State, and staff will check ID for every attendee. Most tasting sites are small shops that can't open their restrooms to a crowd. The public restrooms for the night are inside State Street Market.

Food is limited along the route too. Health Department rules allow tasting sites that aren't restaurants to serve only pre-wrapped individual snacks. Organizers open check-in an hour early so people can eat first, and the event runs rain or shine. On Oct. 23, that early hour lines up with the market. Orenchi Ramen, the Konjoe counters and The Good Salad are all a short walk from check-in, along with a bar whose own business model assumes its guests will eat somewhere else.

Coffeebar's arrival is the next change at the market, and we're following it with interest. If you are thinking about what downtown activity means for a home near the Village, or what a renovation could do for a property within walking distance of State Street, Jackie Schoelerman and Richard Schoelerman can walk through it with you. Schedule a Private Consultation.