The 3700 block of El Camino Real has a housing plan moving forward. Celia's Mexican Restaurant sits at 3740 El Camino Real. Down the same block, near Curtner Avenue, Palo Alto's Architectural Review Board has approved a seven-story, 183-unit building. Its application calls for demolishing the existing buildings at 3727-3737 and 3773-3783 El Camino Real.
This year a new Japanese restaurant and a Thai counter from a San Francisco startup opened a short drive from that block. The stretch of El Camino south of Page Mill Road is what one council member called the city's "most affordable retail," and those lower rents are the reason it holds a taqueria open until 11 p.m., a sushi bar and a chef-driven dinner room on the same road. The city's answer to the housing that's coming is a map, adopted in February, that marks which of these blocks stay retail.
The cheapest storefronts in Palo Alto
Council members said it plainly when they were drafting the map. At a January 2026 Retail Committee meeting covered by Palo Alto Online, members pointed out that El Camino rents usually run lower than rents on University Avenue, California Avenue or at Stanford Shopping Center.
"It has been our most affordable retail, and you get retail functions there that can't afford to be elsewhere in our city, and yet the occupancy has been high in general," Council member Pat Burt said, as quoted by Palo Alto Online.
For comparison, the University Avenue retail vacancy rate was 13.4% in Q1 2026, according to CoStar figures reported by Palo Alto Online. California Avenue was at 5.4% over the same period. Burt's point was that El Camino keeps its storefronts filled while charging less than either of them. The council's Feb. 4 coverage named Happy Donuts, El Grullense and Celia's as the kind of long-running businesses members wanted to protect from displacement.
Two 2026 openings that show what low rent attracts
The two biggest food openings on this stretch this year look nothing alike, and that range is what lower rent makes possible.
HolyShred, at 3924 El Camino Real, opened Aug. 8 in the former Siam Fine Thai space. It's a fast-casual Thai counter, and most dishes carry at least 40 grams of protein at $13.50 to $16.25. The shredded chicken noodles at $13.50 are the top seller. Its founders opened their first store in San Francisco and told Palo Alto Online they want to build the first fast-casual Thai chain in the U.S. The room has about 50 seats but only four designated parking spots. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and noon to 9 p.m. on weekends.
Yutori, at 3375 El Camino Real in the Ventura neighborhood, opened in stages. Its konbini market and cafe opened in April and quickly drew long lines. In late September it soft-opened the last piece, a full-service restaurant and bar. The dining room seats 72, with another 30 on the patio, and it serves dinner only. Brunch is expected in the spring. Chef-owner Jerome Ito, who is also behind Go Fish Poke Bar and Taro San Japanese Noodle Bar, keeps the menu to 15 dishes. Small plates run $19 to $36 and large plates $34 to $98. A four-seat chef's table sits closest to the open kitchen. Francisco Carranza, formerly of Viridian in Oakland and Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco, runs the bar. His Ume Chuhai pairs Ito's housemade umeshu with shochu, elderflower and tonic. Ito told the paper the grand opening was planned for late October or early November, so it may fall right around now.
On the same road you can now get HolyShred's $13.50 shredded chicken noodles or Yutori's $98 cut of A5 Shinshu Wagyu. The newcomers are filling the gap between cheap and expensive, and they aren't pushing out the long-running places to do it.
The housing pressure behind the map
The city spent two years making it easier to build homes on El Camino south of Page Mill. It loosened height, density and parking rules and expanded a housing incentive program that's expected to add 550 units. Most of the applications that followed are in Ventura and Barron Park. Three projects show what that looks like at street level:
- 3150 El Camino Real, the former Fish Market site. Palo Alto Online reported that a 368-unit project broke ground there in August 2026, with completion and leasing targeted for spring 2029. The Fish Market and a McDonald's on that site have both closed, according to earlier Palo Alto Online coverage.
- El Camino at Curtner Avenue. The Palo Alto Daily Post reported in January that the Architectural Review Board approved the 183-unit building on Celia's block, subject to changes. The project is proceeding under the state law known as the Builder's Remedy, with about 23 units set aside for low-income households.
- 2675 El Camino Real, just north of Page Mill. Palo Alto Online reported in October on an application to replace the Chipotle building with an eight-story, 156-apartment building with ground-floor retail. So far it's only an application, with no closure or construction date.
Council member Keith Reckdahl, who chairs the Retail Committee, summed up the concern in the same Palo Alto Online report: "the number of units we gain in this area is pretty small, but the impact to retail can be quite large."
Three nodes, block by block
On Feb. 9, 2026, the council adopted Resolution 10274, which updated the El Camino Real Retail Node Map. It replaced a temporary rule that had protected retail along the entire corridor from Page Mill to the city's southern border. Three narrower segments are now protected, and new development inside them has to include ground-floor retail.
| Node | Rough boundaries | Businesses named in coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Central | Matadero Creek to Los Robles Avenue | Largest and northernmost node |
| Triangle | Between El Camino Real and El Camino Way, plus commercial parcels across El Camino Way | Fuki Sushi, Tofu House |
| Bike to School | The Charleston/Arastradero/El Camino intersection | A Walgreens and several car dealerships |
City staff left some parcels out on purpose. The staff report weighed parcels with little or no existing retail, sites already planned for housing, and how feasible housing would be on shallow lots. The stated goal, according to the planning department, is "clusters of retail that can provide goods and services to the surrounding neighborhood." The map doesn't keep any particular business in place. It requires that new buildings inside the nodes keep space for retail.
Eating the stretch, south to north
With the map in mind, here's the corridor as a dinner route. Addresses come from each restaurant's own listing or local coverage, and hours change, so check before you go.
- Fuki Sushi, 4119 El Camino Real. A long-running sushi room in the Triangle Node that takes reservations through its site.
- HolyShred, 3924 El Camino Real. The quick option. Come at lunch, or plan on parking nearby.
- Celia's Mexican Restaurant, 3740 El Camino Real. Pickup and delivery are available through its location page.
- Taquería El Grullense M&G, 3636 El Camino Real. It lists daily hours of 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and online ordering, making it the latest kitchen on the route.
- Yutori, 3375 El Camino Real. Konbini and cafe by day, chef's-table dinner by night. Try the Nikkei ceviche with blue-fin tuna, salmon and local halibut ($32).
Two of these five opened this year, and the other three came up by name in the coverage of the map. Heading north on this route, you pass the approved Curtner corner project in the 3700 block and then reach the former Fish Market site at 3150, where construction has started. Together the two projects would add 551 homes along the same stretch as these counters.
Questions about how these South El Camino projects and the retail map might affect a property you own or are watching nearby? Lyn Jason Cobb and the team follow these corridor changes closely and would be glad to talk them through with you. Schedule a Consultation whenever it suits you.
