This afternoon's Burlingame Fresh Market, Thursday, Oct. 29, from 3 to 7 p.m. on Park Road just off Burlingame Avenue, is the last Thursday session of the season, according to the Burlingame-Hillsborough Times. In past years the end of the Thursday season meant one fewer reason to be on that block until spring.

This year it's different. The building in the middle of the market's stretch, the former Burlingame Main Post Office at 220 Park Road, opened on Oct. 1 as a restaurant. The U.S. Postal Service sold the building in September 2014 and stopped operating there four months later. The Thursday market gave Park Road four hours a week. Dinner alone at The Old Post Office gives it 35. Park Road goes into winter busier than it has been in more than a decade.

What Ends Today, and What Doesn't

Only the Thursday market is ending. San Mateo County's listing for the Burlingame Fresh Market shows two markets: a Thursday market from 3 to 7 p.m. listed for a May-through-November season, which this year ends with today's session, and a Sunday market from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. that runs year-round. The California Department of Food and Agriculture's statewide directory, current as of Oct. 1, 2026, puts the Burlingame Fresh Market at 200 to 240 Park Road at Burlingame Avenue, with both Sunday and Thursday dates.

That address range holds the whole story. The new restaurant sits at 220 Park Road, in the middle of the stretch the market already uses. After today the market and the restaurant share the block on Sundays only. The rest of the week belongs to the post office building.

Closed Since 2015, Then Moved 120 Feet

The San Francisco Standard puts the closure in 2015, after more than 75 years at the center of downtown, and it took a long time to bring the building back. As part of Dostart Development Company's redevelopment of the site, the entire historic structure was temporarily moved about 120 feet in 2023 so an underground parking garage could be built beneath it. A six-story office complex now stands behind it, as SFist reported. That office building, 220 Park, covers 185,000 square feet. The San Francisco Standard reported in March 2026 that it had opened the year before and was fully leased.

The restaurant went into the old post office lobby, and the building's historic status meant much of that room had to stay as it was. SFGATE describes the early 1940s building as having Spanish and Art Deco touches. The original marble wainscoting, quarried locally, stayed, along with the terrazzo floor inlaid with brass and the brass teller windows and mailboxes. SFist also notes a locked glass memo case whose key has long been lost. Above all that, the 92-seat dining room has 600-pound chandeliers hanging from a 25-foot ceiling, and 350 yards of brown-sugar mohair cover the walls above the marble.

The operator will be familiar to anyone who lives on this side of the Peninsula. Bacchus Management Group also runs The Village Pub in Woodside and Spruce in San Francisco. Founding partner Tim Stannard told the San Francisco Chronicle, as SFist reported, that "The Village Pub is the living room for Woodside," and that Bacchus "wanted the Old Post Office to be that for Hillsborough and Burlingame." He told SFGATE it was the group's most expensive restaurant to launch.

Four Ways In

A "living room" only works if neighbors can drop in without planning a special-occasion dinner. The opening details show the restaurant offers several levels of commitment. Lunch on weekdays started Oct. 12 and brunch on weekends started in mid-October, so the full schedule has only just begun.

According to SFist, the $120 dinner includes laminated brioche rolls and a canapé, a choice of first course and entrée, and desserts from pastry chef Kyle Caporicci, including a "tipsy cake" with brandy cream and vanilla bean gelato. Executive chef Jonathan Granada came to Bacchus from Los Angeles and describes the menu as contemporary American with nods to Asia, Spain and France.

The dish that needs the most planning is a dry-aged rotisserie duck for two at $80. Only six are served each night, and only by reservation. The breast is carved with a sauce finished at the table, and the legs go on a binchotan grill. With six a night, that's 42 a week for the whole dining room, which is worth knowing before you show up for a birthday dinner expecting to order it.

At the other end, the Postmaster's Bar is the one part of the building that doesn't ask for a reservation. The restaurant's reservations page says the lounge seats guests first-come, first-served during regular hours.

The Park Road Week, Starting in November

Put the market's winter schedule next to the restaurant's posted hours and the block's week looks like this:

• Sunday: The Fresh Market runs from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and brunch next door starts at 11. For two and a half hours, the market and the restaurant are open at the same time on the same stretch of Park Road. Dinner follows at 5.
• Monday through Wednesday: Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., then dinner and the bar from 5 to 10 p.m.
• Thursday: The 3-to-7 market slot is empty until the Thursday season returns in the spring. Lunch and dinner continue as usual, so the evening hours the market used to cover now go to the bar and dining room.
• Friday: Same schedule as Monday through Wednesday.
• Saturday: Brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., then dinner at 5.

Sunday is the day that changes most. The market used to be the only thing on that block on a Sunday morning. Now you can do your produce shopping and have brunch without moving the car.

One thing still isn't settled. City commission minutes from March 2026 say the roughly 275-space underground garage at 220 Park had to be operational and open to the public. That requirement doesn't tell you how the garage operates today, so check before counting on it for a Sunday market run.

A Short Walk Out, and the Next Date on the Calendar

Park Road isn't the only downtown street with a new fall opening. Marufuku Ramen opened at 225 Lorton Ave. on Oct. 11, bringing Hakata-style ramen to downtown, according to the Burlingame-Hillsborough Times. With that and the post office, downtown has two October openings within a short walk of each other, one built around a $120 prix fixe and the other around a bowl of ramen.

The next date to mark is Friday, Dec. 4. The Downtown Burlingame Business Improvement District lists Winterfest and the tree lighting for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. After the traditional lighting there's hot chocolate and a train ride around Burlingame Avenue. Dinner at The Old Post Office starts at 5, so a table booked for after the lighting puts the evening's two events a block apart. Until then, the Sunday market and the restaurant's posted hours set Park Road's weekly schedule.

I've watched downtown Burlingame change for decades, and seeing the old post office lit up again is one of the more welcome changes in a long time. If you're a Burlingame or Hillsborough homeowner wondering what changes like this mean for the blocks around your own street, I'm glad to talk it through over coffee. Stephanie Nash | Let's Connect.