The Giant Artichoke Restaurant, a Castroville fixture that\u2019s showcased Monterey County\u2019s famous green bracted produce for 61 years, is set to close its doors Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The restaurant announced the closure Monday in a Facebook post that stated the building’s owners had put it up for sale and the restaurant owners were selling their recipes. The 3,726-square-foot property is listed for $1.9 million, down from its original $2.3 million asking price.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry Guys Wednesday September 30 will be our Last day of operation,\u201d the post said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had the Restaurant for 25 years and it\u2019s been an honor serving our community and faithful customers, buts (sic) time to move on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The real estate listing indicated that the closure comes as the owner sought to retire.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe existing operator, a family member of ownership, is retiring and the property will be delivered vacant at closing, creating a unique opportunity for immediate repositioning or redevelopment without tenant complications,\u201d the listing on LoopNet.com said.<\/p>\n
Juan Salazar, a restaurant employee reached by phone Tuesday, told SFGATE that the closure is bittersweet after his 23-year career at the iconic roadside stop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sad that it\u2019s closing, but it\u2019s a good opportunity for something new,\u201d Salazar said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A giant green artichoke sculpture outside the main entrance has for the better part of a century lured passing tourists and locals to pull over for a photo. The San Francisco Examiner\u00a0reported in 1986 that the restaurant opened in 1965 and originally featured a 6-by-3-foot sheet metal thistle positioned on the roof. It was later replaced by a massive 16-foot artichoke sculpture in 1971.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis big piece of American kitsch is a favorite landmark for many travelers, even appearing in People magazine this summer,\u201d the Examiner wrote.<\/p>\n
The storied Castroville restaurant has remained a mainstay on Merritt Street ever since. Over the years, customers have flocked to the restaurant to savor its extensive artichoke menu that pays homage to Castroville\u2019s biggest export. The menu includes artichoke bread, artichoke nachos and fried artichoke hearts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fate of the giant artichoke sculpture following the sale is unknown. Salazar was not available for additional questions. Neighboring business the Giant Artichoke Cafe said that it would remain open following the Giant Artichoke Restaurant\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Giant Artichoke Restaurant, a Castroville fixture that\u2019s showcased Monterey County\u2019s famous green bracted produce for 61 years, is set to close its doors Wednesday. The restaurant announced the closure Monday in a Facebook post that stated the building’s owners had put it up for sale and the restaurant owners were selling their recipes. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[58,55,56,53,102,57,534,81],"class_list":["post-38547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-cuisine","tag-california-dining","tag-california-food","tag-california-restaurants","tag-california-wine","tag-sfgcentralca","tag-sfgfood"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117362798328100222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}