Livermore’s Zephyr Grill and Pleasanton’s Cook’s Seafood Close Doors

Two longstanding Bay Area dining businesses with Tri-Valley locations are closing their doors this week: Zephyr Grill & Bar at 1736 First St. in downtown Livermore will hold its final day of service on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, after more than 22 years in operation (The Independent), while 98-year-old Peninsula institution Cook's Seafood abruptly closed both its flagship Menlo Park market and restaurant and its newer Pleasanton location on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026 (The Almanac, Mountain View Voice).

Zephyr Grill & Bar Closes Downtown Livermore Location After 22 Years

Husband-and-wife owners Lynn Tei and Randy Tei announced in an early October Facebook message to customers that Zephyr Grill & Bar at 1736 First St. in Livermore will close on Saturday, Oct. 31, after several months of unsuccessful efforts to find a buyer to carry the restaurant forward (The Independent). Having opened in June 2004, the downtown restaurant served steaks, seafood, pasta, and burgers — including braised short ribs and Cajun shrimp penne — and rebuilt and reopened after a July 2025 fire forced a multi-month closure.

Operations manager Jose Ferreira noted that only the Livermore location is closing; the owners' 2 East Contra Costa restaurants — Zephyr Grill & Bar in Brentwood and Smith's Landing Seafood Grill in Antioch — will remain open. Ahead of the Oct. 31 finale, Zephyr's remaining hours in Livermore are 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday (The Independent).

Cook's Seafood Abruptly Shutters Pleasanton and Menlo Park Locations

In Pleasanton and Menlo Park, Cook's Seafood closed both of its locations on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, after 98 years in business (The Almanac). Counter clerk Dan Dowler, who applied to then-owner Roy Crumrine on Nov. 1, 1972 and worked at Cook's Seafood for 55 years (briefly retiring in 2024 before returning to work weekends), received a text message around 3 a.m. on Oct. 29 from current owner Roy Crumrine Jr. stating that all Cook's Seafood locations had closed on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. As of 2 p.m. on Oct. 29, Dowler said he had not received further updates, and Roy Crumrine Jr. did not respond to requests for comment.

Founded in 1928 in Menlo Park by policeman-turned-entrepreneur Bill Cook, the fish market and restaurant was sold in the 1940s to Robert Rahe and in 1963 to Roy Crumrine, an employee since 1955. Known for fresh swordfish, mahi mahi, orange roughy, Dungeness crab, lobster, fish and chips, sand dabs, petrale sole sandwiches, crab Louie salad, clam chowder, and cioppino, Cook's Seafood opened its Pleasanton expansion last year after first announcing plans for the site in 2017, and long-time Menlo Park resident Linda Hubbard called the closure a major loss to the community (Mountain View Voice).