Chantilly closed its doors on El Camino Real in Redwood City on Saturday, April 1. The restaurant had operated there since 1999, when it relocated from Palo Alto and the owners changed its name from Chantilly II to Chantilly.
Kittrell and Gus Talasaz, the original owners, were joined by executive chef and partner Bernabe Oropeza and his wife Maria in the early 1990s, according to the restaurant's website.
"We thank the four generations of families, corporations and dedicated patrons who walked through our doors, helping make the Chantilly one of the top eating establishments in the Bay Area," the four co-owners wrote in an email on Wednesday, declining to comment further.
The two-story building at 3001 El Camino Real afforded Chantilly with private dining rooms — where "for over three decades, some of the most significant Silicon Valley deals have occurred," the restaurant's website reads — plus a private bar, a floor dedicated to special events and a large wine cellar, partially on display in one of the popular private rooms, The Wine Room.
Chantilly's private Wine Room, pictured in 2002. Palo Alto Weekly file photo.
A 1994 Palo Alto Weekly review of the second iteration of the restaurant describes the original Chantilly on Ramona Street as a "haunt for high-tech movers and shakers."
"Muckety-mucks from Intel, Intuit, Microsoft, AMD, National Semiconductor, Hewlett-Packard and all the other big names in the Valley were closeted in the private rooms of Chantilly II while the rest of us ate in the main dining room and wondered what deals were being cut behind those doors," reviewer Laura Reily wrote. "The jury's still out on whether technology's titans will pull up a chair at the new Chantilly, but everyone else seems to have settled right in."
For fans of Chantilly, reminisce with a review of the original Palo Alto location from 1994.
