Where Portola Valley Eats This November, From 3130 Alpine Road to the Schoolhouse Lot

In the last 20 months, two new kitchens have come to Portola Valley. Neither one built anything new. Both moved into storefronts that other restaurants had already used inside the Ladera Country Shopper at 3130 Alpine Road. Most of what changed about dinner out here happened at that one address. Meanwhile the older fixtures, a creekside roadhouse and a Thursday market beside a 1909 schoolhouse, decide the shape of the season by the days they close.

One address, three kitchens in a row

TAVERNA came first. The Almanac reported in March 2025 that the Palo Alto Greek restaurant was opening its second location in Suite 300, in the space the Old Port Lobster Shack used to occupy.

A few doors down, the sushi space went through two changes in the same year. In April 2025, the Almanac reported that Koma Sushi would bring dishes from Kanpai Sushi onto its menu starting June 2 and add a five-course omakase. That November, Hibari soft-opened in the former Koma Sushi space.

So the restaurants at this address have been replaced one by one, and the result is a center offering Greek dinners, a Japanese tasting counter and a market under one parking lot. Here is how the two restaurants compare going into the holidays.

Hibari reaches its first anniversary on Nov. 17

Kappo is a style of dining in which the chef prepares a sequence of dishes in front of the guests. At Hibari, that means sashimi, housemade tofu, nigiri, handrolls and soup. According to the Almanac's December 2025 profile, the restaurant was created by longtime friends Jesse Sun and chef Takashi "Taka" Sega. Sega previously led the sushi counter at Nobu in Palo Alto.

The menu is built on what is available that week, which matters more in November than in summer. Sega told the Almanac:

"I select whatever the best ingredient of the day is, and we make up the dish that we think is best to present that ingredient to serve to the customer. If it's not in season, we don't eat."

When it opened, the Almanac listed these prices:

• The reservation-only counter: a two-and-a-half-hour dinner starting at 6 p.m. for $200, with optional sake pairing
• The dining room: a 16-course prix fixe for $150 or an 11-course petit tasting for $88
• Lunch: à la carte, with 11 sets ranging from $18 to $66
• A three-course kids' meal for $18 to $22

Those figures come from last December, so check the current menu before you book. Sega's two favorites were the goma kanpachi don, a dish he picked up from a former coworker from the Hakata region, and the yurinchi set, Japanese-Chinese fried chicken with a tangy soy-based sauce. One feature isn't on the printed menu. If you order donburi, the staff will pour fish miso broth over the second half of the bowl to make chazuke.

With its first anniversary close, the restaurant is still getting regional attention. The Midpeninsula Life dining guide from September 2026 includes Hibari on its list of new Midpeninsula restaurants. Resy's Bay Area list, updated Oct. 27, also names it. The flowers in the dining room come from Ladera Garden & Gifts next door.

TAVERNA keeps the longer hours

For a dinner you don't have to plan ahead, TAVERNA keeps the most hours in the center. According to its Portola Valley site, lunch runs 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and dinner runs 3:30 to 9 p.m. every day. Saturday and Sunday open with brunch from 10:30 a.m. The current lunch and dinner menus both list moussaka, lamb rib chops, an Ora King salmon fillet and an ouzo-steamed whole fish.

Thanksgiving from the same parking lot

Bianchini's Market fills out the address for the holiday. On Oct. 19, Bianchini's opened Thanksgiving preorders for its Complete Turkey Dinner, priced at $299.99 for 2026 and sized for 10 to 12 people. It comes fully cooked with warming instructions. Each dinner includes:

1. A 12 to 14 lb. Diestel turkey
2. 5 lbs of mashed potatoes and 2 quarts of corn bread stuffing
3. 2 quarts of green beans, a quart of turkey gravy and a pint of cranberry sauce
4. A dozen King's Hawaiian rolls
5. An 8-inch Upper Crust pumpkin pie

The online order page offers pickup at either the Portola Valley or the San Carlos market. The announcement doesn't give an order-by date. It only encourages early reservations.

Zott's sets the holiday schedule from the other end of Alpine Road

A few miles up Alpine Road at 3915, the oldest kitchen in town stays open longer than most into the season but closes firmly on the holidays. Rossotti's Alpine Inn is open Tuesday through Sunday and closed Mondays. Saturday and Sunday start at 10:30 a.m., and Friday and Saturday nights run until 9:30 p.m. Its FAQ says it closes Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The same page describes the outdoor beer garden along Los Trancos Creek as fully heated with a partially covered section.

The current owners grew up here. SFGATE's August 2025 history traces the business back to Casa de Tableta in 1852, then the Wunder name in the early 1900s and the E. Rossotti Beer Garden after Prohibition. The Alpine Inn Beer Garden name dates to 1956. When the property went up for sale in 2018, three Portola Valley families bought it in partnership with Greg St. Claire and the Avenir Restaurant Group. SFGATE also reported a 400-square-foot kitchen expansion in 2025. The added grills, ovens and industrial dishwashers allowed the inn to switch from compostable serveware to enamel dishes.

Inside, the historic tavern has 50 seats, 12 rotating beers on tap and four TVs. The beer garden has four more TVs. The tavern says it is not booking live entertainment for now.

Thursdays at the Schoolhouse lot, on winter hours

The Thursday market is the town's own food fixture, and it has been shaped by the calendar from the beginning. The Portola Valley Farmers Market started on June 13, 2013, as a six-week trial the Almanac covered at the time. It now runs every Thursday in the Schoolhouse Parking Lot at 765 Portola Road. San Mateo County lists it as a year-round certified market that runs 2 to 6 p.m. and closes at 5 p.m. in winter.

The schedule on the Town calendar runs 2 to 5 p.m. this season. The market meets Nov. 5, 12 and 19 and skips Thanksgiving on Nov. 26. December has three dates, Dec. 3, 10 and 17.

The lot's name comes from the building beside it. Portola Valley's Red Schoolhouse is a one-room school built in 1909 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It sits next to Little People's Park, the Town Center playground with a covered wagon and a rustic cabin.

The rest of the month, by date

Most of the other November dates are at the same Town Center campus or at Windy Hill:

• Through Friday, Nov. 6: At Windy Hill Preserve, the connector between Hamms Gulch Trail and Eagle Trail is closed for bridge repairs. Midpen says to bypass it on Alpine Road.
• Saturday, Nov. 14, 6:30 to 9 p.m.: The Parks and Recreation Committee's Trivia Night at Town Center Community Hall, 765 Portola Road.
• Tuesday, Nov. 17: Midpen's docent-led National Take a Hike Day dog hike covers about seven miles at Windy Hill, led by Docent Naturalists Padma Satish and Yudi Fu. It is also Hibari's first anniversary.
• Thursday and Friday, Nov. 26 and 27: Town Hall is closed for Thanksgiving, there is no farmers market that Thursday, and the Alpine Inn is closed on Thanksgiving Day.

If you'd like to talk about where Portola Valley is headed, starting with what has opened or changed hands at 3130 Alpine Road, Warren Real Estate LLC is glad to have that conversation in confidence. Request a confidential consultation whenever it suits you.