‘The food speaks for itself’

“It’s where I belong and where I want to be,” Munoz said. “I love being in the kitchen, cutting and cooking and preparing, staying busy and giving it my best.”

Over time, he worked his way up the food chain to bussing and waiting tables until he had saved up enough money to start his own business with his brother and brother-in-law. They bought a restaurant in San Pablo and ran it for a few years. When they sold it, he said he used that money to buy the restaurant location of West Coast Cafe.

“Buying this place is the best move I have made my whole life,” Munoz said.

The space was a Chinese restaurant and then Italian before he bought it.

He decided to name his restaurant West Coast Cafe because he liked how it sounded, but later realized customers thought it sounded more like a coffee shop than it did a white-tablecloth styled Italian restaurant.

“It was a mistake, but it’s too late now, the food speaks for itself, it takes time for people to understand that it’s a fancy dining place, and my idea was it was something good for San Bruno,” Munoz said.

He’s been open for 18 years, but he said the first three were the most difficult. Then he said things started to pick up for years until the pandemic crushed him. If it wasn’t for the community, he said, he may not have made it through the pandemic.

“I didn’t have a paycheck for a year and survived on savings to outlast the pandemic,” Munoz said. “But at least I am here and I didn’t lose the place.”

He curated the menu on all his favorite dishes from other restaurants he used to work for, but gives it his own twist.

Reviewers on Yelp, a restaurant review website, noted the cozy ambiance and ample parking behind the business. One of the most talked about dishes is the calamari steak. It comes sautéed with lemon capers and white wine sauce, sautéed mixed vegetables and roasted potatoes. Another favorite is the vitello saltimbocca that comes topped with prosciutto and mozzarella cheese, sautéed in a sage white wine sauce.

Other interesting dishes include gnocchi al pomodoro o gorgonzola, which comes with house-made potato dumplings in either a fresh tomato sauce or a spinach and gorgonzola cheese sauce. The West Coast salad is a house specialty, it comes with marinated calamari, scallops and prawns over a bed of organic greens. Munoz said he makes tiramisu and creme brulée in house. The restaurant doesn’t serve hard alcohol, but does have a selection of both domestic and imported wine.

What separates West Coast Cafe from other restaurants is the quality of the ingredients and the care he puts into his recipes. He said the entire menu is of dishes he enjoys.

“If I don’t want to eat it, I won’t serve it to anybody else,” Munoz said.

All the menu items are under $30 and Yelp reviews note it for being reasonably priced.

Munoz said things seem to be getting back to normal, more recently. People have been traveling more from San Francisco to visit, he said.

The restaurant is his second home, he said, and on any night he can be seen in his chef’s coat conversing with guests.

The restaurant is at 466 San Mateo Ave. in San Bruno. It is open every day for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and then reopens for dinner from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

nick@smdailyjournal.com

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