What do three new restaurants opening in Riverbank have in common? Hint: It’s the owner
Downtown Riverbank is ripe for revitalization, and Modesto restaurateur Randy Rocha is doing his part with not one, not two, but three new restaurants he plans to open in the area.
The owner of north Modesto’s The Tap Room and former owner of The Twisted Pig restaurants has set his sights on downtown Riverbank and three formerly vacant spaces that soon will be new food and drink establishments. He hopes to have them all ready by the time the popular Riverbank Cheese & Wine Festival rolls around the second weekend of October.
Now, Rocha didn’t set out to open three restaurants at the same time. But that’s how it worked out, when one opportunity and then another and another presented themselves.
“It’s just one of those things that happened,” Rocha said. “And then you go, why have two when you can have three?”
The last project he signed onto, Daily Dose Bistro, is the farthest along and should open in the first part of September. The space, on Sante Fe Street between Glam Salon and Get Toasted, had been vacant for years. Another couple had begun work on their own cafe in the building, but decided to move out of state instead and sold to Rocha and his business partner, Janet Smallen.
Rocha and Smallen’s families have been friends for the past 15 years, and they’d long talked about wanting to open a restaurant together. When the approximately 1,300-square-foot space became available about 10 months ago they jumped at the chance to turn it into a coffee, beer, wine and small plates restaurant.
They plan to be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with longer hours on the weekend. Smallen and Rocha said they want a contemporary, laid-back vibe to the space, where people can drop in for a pint of beer from one of their 16 draft taps, or pour themselves a glass or a sample from their 8-bottle automatic wine dispenser. They’ll also have shareable plates, sandwiches, paninis and other small bites. The space will seat about 40.
Now, if you’re hungry for a full meal, just walk directly across the street to Rocha’s second project: The Black Sheep. The full-service restaurant and bar is taking over the former Red Carpet Lounge building. The 2,500-square-foot space will have a large bar, dining room and outdoor patio.
He plans to build the menu off his Portuguese roots, so expect some Basque and family-style options. He said the focus will be on being a neighborhood spot with fresh food and drinks that can seat more than 100. The name, he said, is self explanatory.
“It’s OK to be different, just be yourself and be a good person,” Rocha said.
The interior has been torn out and reframed, and Rocha has transformed what was a weedy unused lot next to the building into a spacious outdoor patio with built-in fire pits and shade structures. Once open, they plan to have music, entertainment and events in the space. The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner, and the bar will be open until 2 a.m. on weekends.
And then finally, just two blocks north of his Sante Fe Street restaurants, will be The Pump House. Rocha is partnering with friend Toby Von on the project. Together they plan to transform a former storage building on the corner of third and Atchison streets into a full-service restaurant just across the street from the historic Del Rio Theater.
The new eatery will be a pub-style place, a little like his Village One neighborhood Tap Room, which opened in 2013 on Sylvan Avenue in Modesto. The name is an homage to a place Von and his late wife used to love to eat in Escalon. The new 2,600-square-foot restaurant is also a reference to irrigation pumps and the region’s agricultural history.
Juggling opening three new restaurants at once has been a challenge, Rocha said. But he has good partners for two of the plans, and more than a decade of experience running restaurants in Modesto. It also helps that Smallen is a longtime city of Riverbank employee with planning department experience, to help navigate the process.
Now, with his sights set on Riverbank, Rocha said he hopes his new restaurants and places like the existing Get Toasted and Pizza Plus will help attract even more new development downtown.
“You know for a long while this place was pretty desolate. But it has all this potential,” Rocha said. “There are a lot of opportunities in Riverbank.”
This story was originally published August 29, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
